Networking and Cybersecurity

A network that performs and a security posture that protects.

Network problems become security problems. Security problems become network problems. I approach both as a single discipline because that is what they are. Good architecture solves most issues before they become incidents.

"Most security problems are architecture problems. Fix the architecture and the security follows."

Tell Jeff My Problem

The Background

Network security built into the design, not added to the end.

Most organizations discover their security gaps in the worst possible way -- after something goes wrong. A misconfigured firewall, an overly permissive access control, a flat network where lateral movement is trivially easy, a VPN that was never properly segmented from production systems. These are not exotic problems. They are common ones, and they are all architecture problems.

I have designed network infrastructure for healthcare systems where a misconfigured access control had direct patient safety implications. I have built environments that passed federal IL5 security audits and PCI-DSS assessments on the first submission. That is not because I got lucky. It is because security was designed in from the beginning -- not layered on at the end when someone asked if the environment was secure.

I have deployed and managed Cisco and Juniper infrastructure in enterprise environments. Routing, switching, firewall configuration, access control lists, network segmentation, VPN design, QoS, and the monitoring that tells you when something needs attention before it becomes an outage or an incident.

What I Work In

Platforms and standards with real production experience.

Cisco IOS, Cisco Catalyst, Cisco ASA, Cisco Meraki. Juniper EX series, Juniper SRX. Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet firewalls. pfSense and OPNsense for smaller deployments. IPsec and SSL VPN configurations on all major platforms.

For identity and access: Active Directory, Azure AD (Entra ID), RADIUS, LDAP, MFA implementation, single sign-on integration. For network monitoring: Nagios, PRTG, Zabbix, SolarWinds, Datadog, and custom alert configurations that produce signal rather than noise.

For compliance: PCI-DSS network segmentation requirements, HIPAA network security controls, NIST 800-53 controls applicable to network infrastructure, and IL5 federal compliance requirements for cloud and on-premise environments. I have built and documented the evidence packages that auditors actually want to see.

Design Principle

Security is not a product you install. It is a property of the architecture. If the design is wrong, no tool fixes it.

What I Can Help With

Specific problems I solve.

Networking and security engagements range from a single-site firewall review to a multi-location enterprise network redesign. Here is where I spend most of my time.

Network Architecture and Design

LAN and WAN design, switching architecture, routing design, redundancy and failover planning. Whether you are building a new network from scratch or redesigning one that has grown organically into something unmaintainable, I document the design before touching anything in production.

Cisco and Juniper Networking

Configuration, optimization, and troubleshooting on Cisco IOS, Catalyst switches, ASA firewalls, and Meraki cloud-managed infrastructure. Juniper EX switching and SRX security. OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, VLAN configuration, port security, and the QoS policies that make voice and video behave on a shared network.

Firewall Configuration and Management

Firewall rule review, cleanup, and redesign. Access control lists that reflect your actual security policy, not the accumulated history of every one-off rule added over the years. Cisco ASA, Palo Alto, Fortinet, pfSense, and cloud-native firewalls in AWS and Azure.

VPN and Secure Remote Access

Site-to-site IPsec VPNs, SSL VPN for remote users, split tunneling configuration, and the access policies that ensure remote access is actually controlled. I have designed remote access solutions for organizations with strict compliance requirements and those that just need their people to work securely from anywhere.

Network Segmentation

VLAN design, DMZ architecture, micro-segmentation, and the firewall policies that enforce segment boundaries. Limiting blast radius when something goes wrong is one of the most valuable things you can do to your network. Most organizations are far less segmented than they think they are.

Security Assessments and Gap Analysis

I review your network architecture, firewall rules, access controls, and security policies against a defined framework and document what is missing. Not a penetration test -- a practical architecture review that identifies the gaps most likely to cause a real problem and prioritizes them by risk and remediation effort.

Access Controls and Authentication

Active Directory, Azure AD, RADIUS, LDAP, MFA deployment, and privileged access management. Role-based access that reflects the principle of least privilege rather than what was convenient when people were onboarded. I have implemented identity and access controls in environments where the auditors were checking every permission.

Compliance-Oriented Architecture

PCI-DSS network segmentation, HIPAA security rule controls, NIST 800-53 applicable to infrastructure, and IL5 federal compliance requirements. I design environments with the compliance requirement in mind from the start and document the architecture in the way auditors need to see it. Audits passed on the first submission, not the third.

Monitoring, Logging, and Alerting

Network monitoring, SIEM log aggregation, firewall log review, and the alerting configuration that tells you when something unusual is happening rather than after the damage is done. Nagios, PRTG, Zabbix, Datadog, Splunk, and cloud-native monitoring tools. Dashboards that show what matters, not everything that is measurable.

The Process

How It Works

Networking and security engagements start with understanding what your environment looks like today and what it needs to look like when the engagement is done.

Tell me the problem.

Slow network, unreliable connections, a compliance requirement you need to meet, a security concern you cannot quantify, or an infrastructure that has never been properly documented. Describe what is wrong or what you need. I will assess what is actually happening.

We agree on what solved means.

I document the current state and what the target state needs to look like. Network diagrams, security requirements, compliance controls, access policies. You review and approve the design before anything in production is changed. Changes are planned with rollback procedures.

I go to work.

I implement, test, and document. Configuration backups before any change. Testing in a maintenance window when possible. Network diagrams, firewall rule documentation, and operational runbooks are delivered as part of the engagement -- not as an optional add-on. You own the environment when I am done.

Get Started

Have a networking or security problem?

Tell me what is not working or what you are trying to protect. Whether it is a network that is underperforming, a security posture that needs to be assessed, or a compliance requirement that needs to be met -- describe the situation and I will tell you how I would approach it.

Backed by the Jeff Norton Guarantee.

Tell Jeff My Problem View All Solutions