Is My Business Network Safe? Triple Check These Network Security Points

Keeping your network safe should be a high priority for your business or organization. Wombatsecurity.com kept statistics on 2017 security breaches. To summarize these frightening statistics, there was a whopping 1,120 network reported breaches total last year. The number of records exposed? Get this: 171,611,916. Yeah, that’s a TON of data stolen.

How was it stolen? Every breach is different because of the software used and the code written to bypass it. Meaning, there is no one way to hack something or someone. Although it feels inevitable, tightening down your network can significantly help your chances of not being hacked. How? Let’s get started!

Your Network Security Infrastructure Should Be a Brick Wall Between You and Hackers

That’s right – a brick wall of technology. Here are the bricks that, combined with great security software, stand between you and the jerks trying to steal your info.

Router

Your router is one of the biggest contributors to keeping your business safe. Even if you’re a small store that displays something, you should avoid a ‘Walmart grade’ router. Having a better router can be critical in protecting your data.

When helping a company upgrade their network, I always go to the same brand router. The brand I previously mentioned in our 33 IT Brands You Can Trust More Than Gas Station Sushi blog is Zyxel. Within the Zyxel router, you can purchase more security than what is already on the device. We highly recommend each of our clients purchase the extra security subscription. Alongside the extra security, you can configure an app patrol, content filter, and groups based on your company’s different divisions.

Finally, you can check your router’s logs to see how many times it has been attempted to be logged into. This will give you an idea as to what ports they may be trying to infiltrate, so you can double check to make sure they are closed!

Computers

These are the bread and butter of every modern-day company. They’re everywhere: Your office, your house, in your car, even in your pocket. Any and all computers and devices on your network should have some sort of anti-virus on them. Having a good antivirus shouldn’t even be a question. If you believe in the saying “you get what you pay for,” then you’re on the right track.

When it comes to a network’s antivirus, going cheap isn’t necessarily the best option.

keep your computers regularly updated, as Windows comes out with new security updates. Speaking of keeping updated, you should be on a 3-5 year replacement plan to keep up with the current operating system (OS).

Server(s)

Much like your computer, you need to keep an updated version of an antivirus running on the server. Again, like your computer, you should be keeping updates rolling in as you may miss critical updates to your security.

On your server, you have the ability to open and close inbound and outbound rules from your domain. Keeping your server firewall on is crucial. Yes, you may run into some complications if your firewall is blocking a program. However, you can always go in and allow it through.

Generally speaking, you should always keep a variety of unique and random passwords, but this is a great rule of thumb when dealing with your servers. If you have multiple servers running, you don’t want the password to be the same.

Are You Ready to Become a Network Security Hero?

Ever wish you could just monitor your entire network easily? Well, good news: You can! There are several third-party software systems that allow you to monitor an entire network from your computer. The network monitor I use is SolarWinds, formally known as GFI Max. With this service, I am notified of outages and other network abnormalities. If you don’t currently have one in place, I would suggest it as you may just spot something before it becomes a security hazard.

Keeping your network safe can be a lot of work. You could ultimately spend a lot of time on ensuring you are safe before and after a breach. Trust me, spending a lot of time in the preventative stage will always outweigh the time and money spent on the recovery process after a breach. Stay safe, and don’t become another statistic.