Research on the construction and optimization of network security protection system for small and medium-sized enterprises
Li, Yujie (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202504176830
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202504176830
Tiivistelmä
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) experience major cybersecurity hindrances because of their restricted resources and rising cyber threats in addition to their limited technical capabilities. However, using existing security frameworks such as NIST CSF, ISO/IEC 27001 and Zero Trust, provide us with robust security guide for our businesses but they are overly complex or too costly and as such not affordable for SMEs to effectively implement them. Considering the cost, scalability and adaptability, the aim of this thesis is to present a framework that is a cost effective and scalable network security framework appraised for SMEs by attaching perimeter security, internal network protection and endpoint security to not only boost cyber resilience but also maintain operational efficiency.
Qualified research methods were used which combine expert interviews with literature reviews to examine security resource usage and management performance alongside cost-functional assessment. Findings indicate that firewalls, IDS/IPS, and network segmentation increase system security but degrade system performance thereby necessitating resource optimization strategies. Also, physical constraints for SMEs are the reason why they can afford to use affordable security solutions like cloud-based security integration and automated security configurations.
Existing established models provide structured security policies but do not have features suitable for small and medium enterprise implementation. The suggested framework resolves this deficiency through its focus on deployment simplicity combined with automated functionality and adaptable framework structure.
This thesis concludes that SME cybersecurity resilience can be significantly enhanced through strategic security optimizations using threat detection powered by AI, Zero Trust adaptations, and hybrid cloud security solutions. Along with the prospect of applying AI based automation and regulatory requirements alignment as well as cybersecurity training to SMEs, future research should be designed to further improve SME cyber posture while not placing many resource constraints.
Qualified research methods were used which combine expert interviews with literature reviews to examine security resource usage and management performance alongside cost-functional assessment. Findings indicate that firewalls, IDS/IPS, and network segmentation increase system security but degrade system performance thereby necessitating resource optimization strategies. Also, physical constraints for SMEs are the reason why they can afford to use affordable security solutions like cloud-based security integration and automated security configurations.
Existing established models provide structured security policies but do not have features suitable for small and medium enterprise implementation. The suggested framework resolves this deficiency through its focus on deployment simplicity combined with automated functionality and adaptable framework structure.
This thesis concludes that SME cybersecurity resilience can be significantly enhanced through strategic security optimizations using threat detection powered by AI, Zero Trust adaptations, and hybrid cloud security solutions. Along with the prospect of applying AI based automation and regulatory requirements alignment as well as cybersecurity training to SMEs, future research should be designed to further improve SME cyber posture while not placing many resource constraints.