How Secure Is Your Network Security?

Posted by Christina Aguglia on 09/03/17 02:19 PM
Christina Aguglia

There is nothing more vital to the success of a company than its network security. Without highly secure connectivity, both your people and your company are at risk. According to our partners as Cisco, network security refers to any activity designed to protect the usability and integrity of your network and data. It includes both hardware and software technologies.

how secure is your network?

Router security: Router Security is your front line of defense- protecting your data from malware, intrusions and other advanced threats. With router security you can simplify branch management, respond quickly to threats, get visibility, analytics and lower your costs while simultaneously boosting your performance. Keeping up with growing speeds without sacrificing performance is a critical priority for any company.  Business-class routers equipped with additional security features are referred to as Unified Threat Management or UTM gateways. They can include a handful of features strategically designed to secure your network including: anti-spam, anti-virus and content filtering for blocking the dangerous websites. Typically users already have anti-virus applications on their devices, making these gateways act as double protection. In terms of overall network security, we recommend setting up a "guest" network for other wireless users with its own distinct log in and security level. This keeps your company's information on its own platform while still giving others internet capabilities.    

Network visibility: We live in a volatile environment where network visibility is crucial to business operations. If you can't see what's on your network, you are incapable of controlling it- leaving your organization in a very vulnerable state. Network visibility helps in allocating A1 bandwidth to critical business applications. It also helps with network monitoring and fast troubleshooting, application monitoring and profiling, capacity planning and awareness of network trends and also detects unauthorized WAN traffic. If you're looking to achieve best-in-class network visibility, establish baselines for normal network performance. 

Next-Generation firewalls: Firewalls put up barriers between internal trusted networks and external un-trusted ones (the internet). These firewalls either allow or block traffic on your device, ultimately saving you from harmful viruses. Firewalls can also log all attempts to enter a private network or an individual computer, and set an alarm when suspicious or contentious activity takes place. Some firewalls can even monitor and log all outbound data traffic and prevent unauthorized access to resources on external networks. Research shows that an unprotected computer system will come under attack within the first 15 minutes of Internet use- making the demand for these softwares greater than ever.  

VPN and Endpoint Security Clients: Virtual private networks (VPNs) encrypt the connection from an endpoint to a network, often over the internet. VPNs ensure high business security, as anyone intercepting the encrypted data cannot access or read it. These networks make remote work possible from any location. With the proper login credentials, users can access their company's data from their homes or favorite coffee shop. A VPN is also used to hide browsing activity from your local network and ISP, to access geo-blocked websites and to bypass Internet censorship. All of these uses can help benefit your company, ensuring efficient work time and a secured network.