How Secure Is Your Network?
To compete in today’s global economy a solid online presence is a necessity. In other words, your website is the virtual equivalent of your physical office building. And just as you protect your office building with gates, locks, and security monitoring systems, so should you protect your company’s network and online infrastructure with the proper network security solution.
Putting the proper consideration into securing your network should go without saying. After all, most of your company’s sensitive data is likely located somewhere on your server, from financial statements to client lists and of course proprietary information. But network protocol is a foreign area to most upper level executives and decision makers. Especially in small business environments where personnel is limited network security often time falls to support position employees to find and implement some all inclusive package, which may present itself as the be all end all answer but rarely fulfills all the companies network security needs.
If you are one of those businesses, not quite fortunate enough to have an in house security department, how do you really know your company’s confidential information is really protected? To solve this dilemma many companies turn to network security experts in the IT field. But like any other field, some are better than others, and you want to be sure your company is working with the most reputable professionals.
The first thing most network security specialists will do is perform a network security assessment for your company. The purpose of this assessment is to test the vulnerability of your network and infrastructure systems. Let’s say you discover a leak somewhere in your yards sprinkler system. You don’t start by replacing all the sprinkler heads and hope you’ve stumbled upon the answer. You search the pipeline for the source of the leak, and then patch or replace the cracked or damaged section. The same can be said with your virtual network, step one is testing to uncover potential threats to your network and infrastructure. Once the experts have identified potential weak spots in your infrastructure together you can them develop a plan to resolve those risks.
Another method for securing your online infrastructure and network is known as penetration testing. If you’ve ever walked through an Ikea showroom you’ve probably witnessed one form of penetration testing in action; the ongoing demos of weights dropping into chairs corresponding to a ticker above. Penetration testing is not a new concept to the world of business. Why do they do this? It’s simple; they want to show us, the customer, that their product is superior because they’ve tested the maximum possible number of times in the maximum possible ways. Car manufacturers are notorious for undergoing deep penetration testing procedures before releasing a new line. The same philosophy rings true in the technology world. You want your network to be protected to the best possible level at all times, then the goal is not to simply test your network protocol once and roll it out, it is ongoing penetration testing to ensure your infrastructure is always protected from ongoing would be malicious attacks.
There are a lot of factors your organization needs to consider when doing business online in the 21st century. These are just a few of the security issues you need to be ready to respond to. There are a number of other online risks and compliance issues facing businesses today, from PCI compliance to data acquisition, even online confidentially of client records. It’s up to you as the executive or IT manager to make sure your company isn’t left behind in a world of constant change and technological advancement. And while we can’t all be experts in every field, it’s nice to know there are companies out there that specialize in network security to help keep our companies online and well protected.
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