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Network Security Basics For Businesses
Protect your Network Computer and network security is not only about the hard- or software that you use, but also about the human sitting in front of it. A user who honestly believes that the bank of Nigeria wants to offer them 12.6 Million US Dollars will click their way through every "Are you sure?", "Allow access?" or "Confirm security exception?" popup that the operation system, browser or virus scanner throws at them to get it. By doing this, the user has effectively invited trouble into the network. Social engineering is the unifying threat that puts all computers and their users at risk. One way to protect your network is to filter out all undesirable traffic at the edge of the network in your internet gateway, before it can reach all your workstations and users. This is a good primary line of defense. There are various internet management suites available that allow you to control your network traffic. A professional network security suite should at least allow you to: * filter web traffic and prevent access to inappropriate websites, such as chat rooms, news sites, sports results or adult entertainment. * scan web downloads and email for viruses * block instant messengers such as MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, etc * block P2P and other file sharing software * require user authentication to access internet resources * firewall the network to prevent unauthorized access to your network resources * manage internet bandwidth usage The beauty of this solution is that you can maintain your network security, set up a web filter, virus scanner and your firewall rules at one central point in your network, instead of having to make sure that the virus definitions for each and every computers anti-virus suite are kept up to date. This is also known as unified threat management. There are various web network security solutions out there for Windows and Linux as well as proprietary hardware appliances that have all the required functions built in. Typically such solutions are subscription based, but the price also depends on the number of clients inside your network and number of features you want. Further steps to secure your network and IT infrastructure * Update your systems. Keep your operating systems and applications up-to-date and install the latest security patches. * Security policy. Make sure your workers don't bring any use any removable media such as USB-sticks, iPods or CDs to work and don't open any unexpected email attachments. * Strong passwords. Enforce a password policy that won't allow weak and easy-to-guess passwords such as 'qwerty', '123456', names, car brands or sports teams. Good passwords should be meaningless, not in any dictionary and be a mix of upper/lowercase letters and numbers. * Secure your data. Backup at least daily, and also make sure you can restore the backup quickly if required to. Store the backup media at a different physical location. * Change the default administrative log-ins after you install new applications. Change administrative passwords regularly. * Decide if you want to outsource your Network Security to a local specialist, or if you have the manpower and knowledge to handle the setup and maintenance by yourself. * The internet isn't the only gateway into your servers that must be secure. Keep physical security of the servers in mind in case of unauthorized access to the hardware. * Your network security is a process, not a state. Keep your IT staff trained so they can keep up with the latest security developments. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com www.microsoft.com/security/default.aspx www.wingate.com/products/wingate/index.php www.safeatoffice.com/ |
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