With the number of businesses that are connecting to the Internet and using cable modems, DSL lines, and T1 circuits, the need to secure their connections is not only necessary but also simply due diligence on the part of the company. Businesses rely on their Internet connection to send credit card payments through, to run their VoIP phones, and even to host their webpage. If Internet connectivity is disrupted then business can not operate as usual.
In order to insure that the connection to the Internet is secure there are some basic methods that can be utilized that are fairly cheap and will more than pay for themselves with the increased security and uptime of the Internet connection. A business does not need to make sure their network is as tight as an Army base; they just need to make sure they are more secure than others so that attackers will target the easier sites and leave theirs alone.
The very first thing that needs to be put in place at each and every Internet connection is a firewall. All businesses should have a hardware firewall that protects and separates their business from the Internet. A cable modem with built-in firewall may be adequate for a household, but a business should look at a commercially available firewall such as a Juniper firewall 5 series, a SonicWall firewall, or even a Cisco SOHO. These are all inexpensive and are easy to manage and configure. A firewall is the first step of protection that keeps out those who do not need to have access to the internal business network. Essentially installing a firewall is similar to installing locks on a house. Only those with the proper keys can access the house just as only those who have been specifically granted access can access the network behind the firewall.
Once a firewall has been installed, configured, and is working properly a business is going to want to look at the computers themselves. There are two things that need to be done on all the machines that will insure that the machines stay up and operational longer than those that are left unprotected. The two things are necessary are: patching the machines for the latest updates for both the operating system (OS) and the applications, and then installing antivirus software.
The patching of the systems will insure that the vulnerabilities that virus/worm writers are using to exploit and take over machines will not be effective against a patched machine. By patching the machine the entry door is closed and the worm will not be able to gain access. Application patches update their tools and software being used on the machine. With the latest patches this too will make it more difficult for attackers to exploit machines and gain entry to them.
Antivirus software is an absolute necessity on machines. System administrators and users can become annoyed with it as it is a resource hog but that is because the software is tasked with protecting the system and they continually scan the system for infections. When used in "real-time" mode each file is scanned before downloading, uploading, or being saved to the disk. This is important when reading emails, sending emails, or even surfing on the Internet.
There are many other steps that can be taken to give a business a stricter security posture. However, by taking the above steps a business can rest assure that they have taken the due diligence and installed the most basic security measures in their business that will make it difficult for an attacker to gain unauthorized access to a business's network.
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Written by Benjamin corll
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