Securing your Network

Securing your Network

Securing a network requires many considerations, planning, testing and re-testing. Some of the most important tools to include are:

  • Firewalls
  • Vulnerability Testing
  • Guest Networks for Wireless
  • Offsite Backups

Firewalls

Firewalls are a company's first line of defense. Firewalls sit at the edge of a network and act as a gatekeeper. Some of the many security benefits a firewall can provide are:

  • Blocking out hackers - firewalls aim to block anyone attemtpting to gain unauthorized access to network resources.
  • Hiding unique details about internal equipment - this includes the types of equipment in use, operating systems and applications. Hiding network resources from external parties is important because it reduces the target a company might otherwise have.
  • Managing traffic - by monitoring all incoming and outgoing traffic, a firewall can provide a great deal of helpful information about traffic patters, usage, and even those machines whose usage suddenly spikes, as is often the case of computers with malware.




Securing your Network Vulnerabilities


Vulnerability Testing

Having a vulnerability assessment done on a network provides critical information about what applications might have known vulnerabilites. Addressing a vulnerability before it is exploited is key to securing a company's network.

  • With the information provided by vulnerability testing, the necessary updates and patches can be applied to prevent those vulnerabilities from being exploited.
  • Vulnerability assessments can also provide valuable insight into which applications are not being updated regularly. With this information, policies can be created to ensure said applications are managed more frequently to prevent them from regularly having vulnerabilities.
  • By reporting information about SSL certificates, including vulnerable encryption protocols, a company can protect itself in a more proactive manner.


Guest Networks for Wireless

Creating secondary wireless networks is an important security step to every company with a wireless network. Some of the many security benefits a secondary wireless network provide are:

  • Providing internet access to short term contractors or sales people while keeping them from accessing the internal network resources.
  • Allowing visitors or clients to access the internet while keeping their traffic separated from company traffic and resources.
  • Keeping company traffic separated from all other traffic for the purposes of reports, content filtering and traffic reporting and prioritization.




Offsite Backups

Offsite Backups

How Offsite Backups Play a Part

Offsite backups are an important step in securing your network. If all other protections fail, having offsite backups allows you to restore the company's data. Cloud backups are one of the most efficient ways to implement an offsite backup solution and provides many additional benefits including:

  • Data availability - files backed up to the cloud are available 24/7.
  • Automation - backups run automatically based on job scheduling. Unlike other offsite backups, there is no hardware to rotate or deliver. Instead, data is automatically rotated in the cloud.
  • Disaster recovery - cloud backups fulfill the disaster recovery business requirement because they are located offsite while also being available 24/7.
  • Fast Recovery - If something catastrophic happens, recovering company data from a cloud backup is simple and fast.

More Information

For information about cloud backup plans, visit the Desktop & Laptops page, the Server Backups page or visit the Choosing the Right Backup Plan page to find the perfect plan for your unique environment.


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