How a Network Security Company Can Help Businesses

The modernization of technology has provided companies all over the world with information and communication solutions that has changed the way businesses operate. However, along with the conveniences offered by modern technology comes a whole host of security threats that all companies should learn to address. This is why looking for practical and reliable network security solutions is very important.

Network security covers all the measures and requirements that a company or organization needs to protect the network, computer systems as well as all the resources which are network accessible. Through securing your company's network, your data, programs and IT infrastructure would be protected from unauthorized entry and any malicious activity. You would also be able to regularly monitor and measure the effectiveness of your company's network.

Today, companies can easily hire a security company that would be able to provide them with all the services that they need. Among the things that security companies offer include the protection of the valuable information assets, the provision of data availability and the preservation of the privacy of clients, employees and suppliers.

There are several stages which most security companies follow in order to create a structured security system for a business or organization. One would be the definition of the environment and the assets. This would include the organization as well as its interactions its clients, partners, suppliers and customers. It also covers the process of information valuation. It is important to cover this stage as establishing the value of your assets would be the best way to determine the appropriate cost of a network security plan.

The second stage would be the analysis of security risks. This includes the evaluation of the types of threats that your company or organization is most vulnerable to. These threats would include those which are accidental and intentional as well as those which are natural and man-made. Some of the possible effects of threats to your company's information assets would include copying, modification, destruction and unauthorized disclosure.

In order to come up with a solid security approach for your company, a security solutions provider would also be evaluating several factors and aspects that your company may or may not already have. This would include procedural security, personnel security, physical security, disaster recovery plan, environmental security, media security, hardware and software security and system security. Once they have a good idea how your business operates, they would be able to set up a suitable network security system.

If you liked this article, you should read Network Security Company and Computer Security Companies.

Data Security; Are Your Company Assets Really Secure?

Is your data secure? Think again. Securing data is unlike any other corporate asset, and is likely the biggest challenge your company faces today. You may not see it, but almost all of your company's information is in digital form somewhere in the system. These assets are critical because they describe everything about you; your products, customers, strategies, finances, and your future. They might be in a database, protected by data-center security controls, but more often than not, these assets reside on desktops, laptops, home computers, and more importantly in email or on some form of mobile computing device. We have been counting on our firewall to provide protection, but it has been estimated that at least fifty percent of any given organization's information is in email, traveling through the insecure cyberspace of the Internet.

Digital Assets are Unique

Digital assets are unlike any other asset your company has. Their value exceeds just about any other asset your company owns. In their integral state they are worth everything to your company; however, with a few "tweaks" of the bits they are reduced to garbage. They fill volumes in your data center, yet can be stolen on a keychain or captured in the air. Unlike any other asset, they can be taken tonight, and you will still have them tomorrow. They are being created every day, yet they are almost impossible to dispose of, and you can erase them and they are still there. How can you be sure that your assets are really safe?

Understanding Physical Security Architectures

Physical assets have been secured for thousands of years, teaching us some important lessons. An effective security architecture uses three basic security control areas. Let's assume you want to create a secure home for your family; what would you do? Most of us started with the basics; doors, windows, locks, and perhaps a fence. Second, we rely on insurance, police protection, and we may have even purchased an attack dog or a personal firearm. Given these controls, you may have taken one more step to provide some type of alarm. Not trusting your ears to detect an intrusion, you might have installed door and window alarms, glass break sensors, or motion detection. You may have even joined the neighborhood watch program in your area. These are the controls everyone uses, and they are similar to the controls that have been used since the beginning of mankind.

Which is most important? Looking at the three categories of security controls used, the first consists of protective devices that keep people out; doors, windows, locks, and fences. Secondly, alarms notify us of a break-in. Finally we have a planned response control; the police, use of a firearm, or recovery through insurance. At first glance it may appear that the protective controls are the most important set of controls, but a closer look reveals that detection and response are actually more important. Consider your bank; every day the doors are open for business. This is true of just about every business, home, or transportation vehicle. Even the bank safe is generally open throughout the day. You can see it from the bank teller counter, but step over the line and you will find out how good their detection-response plan is.

Evaluating your Company's Approach

Now look at your digital assets; how are they protected? If you are like most organizations, your entire security strategy is built on protection controls. Almost every organization in America today has a firewall, but does not have the ability to detect and respond to unauthorized users. Here is a simple test; run a Spyware removal program on your system and see what comes up. In almost every case you will find software installed on your system that was not installed by an authorized user. In the past this has been an irritation; in the future, this will become the program that links uninvited guests to your data. Bruce Schneier, a well known security author and expert writes in his book, Secrets and Lies, "Most attacks and vulnerabilities are the result of bypassing prevention mechanisms". Threats are changing. The biggest threats likely to invade your systems will bypass traditional security measures. Phishing, spyware, remote access Trojans (RATS), and other malicious code attacks are not prevented by your firewall. Given this reality, a detection response strategy is essential.

It's time to review your security strategy. Start by asking three questions. First, which assets are critical to your business, where are they located, and who has access to them? Second, what threats exist? Determine who would want your data, how they might gain access, and where the possible weaknesses in your security architecture lie. Finally, how comfortable are you with your company's ability to detect and respond to unauthorized access. If someone wants access to your data, preventative measures alone won't stop them.

Begin planning a balanced security architecture. Start by adding detection controls to your prevention architecture. This does not mean simply adding intrusion prevention software (IPS), but rather creating a system to proactively monitor activity. Intruders make noise, just like in the physical world, and with proper event management, combined with zero-day defense technologies of IPS, network administrators can begin to understand what normal activity looks like and what anomalies might be signs of an attack. In a recent interview with Scott Paly, President and CEO of Global Data Guard, a Managed Services Security Provider (MSSP), Scott said, "Threats such as worms and new hacker techniques constantly morph, so the most viable model for optimum security is a blend of preventive and predictive controls based on analysis of network behavior over time". By balancing prevention, detection, and response, companies can defeat most of the latest hacker attempts.

David Stelzl, CISSP is the owner and founder of Stelzl Visionary Learning Concepts, Inc. providing keynotes, workshops, and professional coaching to technology resellers. David works with executive managers, sales people, and practice managers who are seeking to become market leaders in technology areas that include Information Security, Managed Services, Storage and Systems solutions, and Networking. Contact us at info@stelzl.us or visit http://www.stelzl.us to find out more.

Employees Need Security Training To Keep Secrets About The Company

We all understand what it is like to have our secrets spread far and wide when we do not want them to be. Indeed, for companies, this is a much worse situation since their secrets could cost them a lot of income in the end. What some companies are doing nowadays is to get security certification so that employees realize that they should not talk too freely about what goes on at work, and should also not gossip across departments either. Security training covers all kinds of aspects and this is very serious business indeed.

Most companies will be connected to the internet via desktop computers throughout the different departments. However, in these days of cyber hacking, it is a dangerous idea to think that no one is spying on what the company does. Sensitive information is very easy to glean if firewalls and other safety measures are not in place.

This becomes very apparent when a company is developing some new gadget or idea which they usually spend enormous amounts of money on. All it takes is an information leak, from unruly employees or clever hackers, and the company could lose out on the income that this new idea should have generated. Therefore, all key personnel should be trained to not leak information to anyone, not even people that they know well.

The media is very often the culprit when information is leaked. They just love to spread scandals about the place, if stories in the press are to be believed. They usually pay big money for such stories too since this is what makes people buy the newspapers so it is well worth the risk when spies want to make some cash. This could well be stories of a personal nature or secrets that the company will certainly not want to leak out. For example, some companies will dispose of waste materials in the wrong fashion just to save cash and this they like to keep under cover. However, this is possibly illegal and this is just the type of scandal that the media pays big bucks for.

It is clear then that most companies have secrets, legal or illegal, that they want to keep to themselves. Of course, most companies have the scruples not to get mixed up in illegal actions, so it is these which value their privacy in connection to new products etc which are about to hit the market.

This third-party company will come in and monitor the flow of information from one department to another, and how each individual section of the workforce handles the information that pertains to them. Since most departments do not really need to know what goes on elsewhere in the company, it may be a good idea to keep them in the dark about what goes on elsewhere. By clamping down on gossip and cross talking between departments, the company has at least a chance of keeping new products under cover until the launch date arrives which will certainly make it the market leader for this particular product.

Stewart Wrighter recently studied new security certification sites online while conducting research for an article. He also studied new security training sites online while conducting research for an article.