Technology for network security is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of managing network security includes receiving sampled packets. The sampled packets represent packets being sampled from network packet traffic in at least one location in a network. The sampled packets are converted into an appropriate format for analysis to form converted packets. Moreover, the converted packets are sent to a first group including at least one security device for analysis. If an event message is generated by the at least one security device as a result of analysis of the converted packets, the event message is received from the at least one security device. Network security is evaluated based on the event message and security policies and is adjusted based on that evaluation. The method may be implemented with a network manager.