Sampled flow data, such as sFlow, can leave critical blind spots in network security, making it hard to detect threats like lateral movement or command-and-control traffic. Riverbed recommends full-fidelity (unsampled) NetFlow/IPFIX or its own SteelFlow for security use cases. Full-fidelity flow ensures no loss of visibility, providing reliable forensic detail and faster root cause analysis during incidents. While sFlow may be efficient for general monitoring, it lacks the granularity required for thorough security investigations. Riverbed’s Unified NPM combines flow and packet data for robust threat detection and response.

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