5 Solutions To Keep Your Business IT Secure
There are many solutions that your IT service company can implement to keep your business IT secure. We’ll talk about five of them here.
1. Use A Firewall.
Are you segmenting your network with a firewall? Why is this important? Because firewalls reduce the number of pathways into your network.
A firewall is a defensive system that "sits" between your IT network and the Internet. It can help to keep your data safe from outside intruders.
A firewall also implements security protocols within your network. This is a specific set of rules that the firewall will use to filter out unwanted intrusions. A firewall determines what data packets are accepted, denied, or dropped based on its policy.
For example, your firewall policy can be set to allow traffic to go to your web server but deny all other traffic. Your IT provider will translate this policy into a series of technical statements called a ruleset that tells the firewall what to do.
Your firewall is an integral part of your layered cyber defense. But all firewalls need monitoring and maintenance, just like all devices on your network. Your IT services company should do this as part of your routine maintenance.
They'll set rules to automatically respond when unwanted changes are detected in firewall events. With firewall monitoring tools, they'll be notified of changes in firewall rules and run policy checks to detect security violations. This mitigates issues with firewall security.
2. Make Sure You Have An Intrusion Detection System (IDS).
This will detect security events at the very beginning stages. Like a firewall, it also monitors your network for malicious activity or policy violations.
IDS acts as a safeguard for IT system security after other technologies fail. It’s a part of any good multi-layered IT security solution.
Once an attack or abnormal behavior is detected, an alert can be sent to your administrator. Malicious activity is reported using a Security Information and Event Management system (SIEM).
Some IDS’s can respond to intrusions and block them. These are called intrusion prevention systems (IPS).
3. Ask Your IT Provider About SOC Solutions
Security Operation Centers (SOC) scan your network using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The logs are then reviewed by IT professionals so you have protection 24/7. It delivers 24/7 threat monitoring, advanced analytics, threat intelligence, and human expertise in a combined incident investigation and response.
A SIEM solution can generate thousands of alerts each day, but many are false positives. To efficiently process the output, security engineers must make sense of a SIEM’s output to fine-tune the correlation rules and determine which alerts require further investigation or immediate attention. Manual or automated workflows must be in place to act on the output accordingly.
Ask your IT provider about a Security Operations Center-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) solution. It addresses all network security concerns. It offers a single pane of glass that can provide security to SaaS, cloud, and on-premise IT solutions, to protect your confidential data.
SOC-as-a-Service is on the rise across industries and among businesses of all sizes. Companies can't assume the risk of cyberattacks. They've realized that they need a security solution that fills the gap that just using antivirus or firewalls leave. It monitors credential use, user activity and APIs (Application Program Interfaces).
SOC-as-a-Service provides cybersecurity monitoring for all your critical devices. It uses advanced analytics and correlation to detect threats and generate automated notifications 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Then real-life security analysts review your security data every day for human oversight and compliance.
4. Secure Remote Access Into Your Network With A VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) will encrypt data to keep your network secure. This encrypted connection helps to ensure that your sensitive data is safely transmitted.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts data channels so your users can remotely access your IT infrastructure via the Internet. It allows your users to conduct work remotely while preventing unauthorized people from accessing their traffic.
A VPN works by encrypting data at the sending end and decrypting it at the receiving end. Essentially, data is sent through a "tunnel" that can't be entered without the right encryption. It provides secure remote access for things like files, databases, printers and IT assets that are connected to your network.
5. Limit Authorization With User Permissions
Employ role-based access controls with secure logins. Limiting your employees' authorization with role-based access controls prevents network intrusions and suspicious activities.
Define user permissions based on the access required for their particular job. For example, your receptionist might not need access to client data.
Also, know who has access to your data, and enforce a “need-to-know” policy. Restrict access to data to only those who need it to do their jobs.
