Having an online presence for business activities is a necessity. This is true for businesses in all industries, irrespective of their size. Since most businesses thrive on communication, leads, and transactions online, they are bound to run into attackers prying on their vulnerabilities and eventually making money from them. To help fight against them, network security is the primary and most effective protective barrier.

The following applications and measures will help you keep out cyber attackers and breachers. It will also help you protect your data and your customers’ information.

Web Security

You or your co-workers will inevitably browse external web links on your computers at work. Web security comes in handy as a basic precaution against external threats. It helps you block threats by denying access to a wide range of unsecured websites and ads.

As a small organization, it is usually best to outsource web security to firms that constantly update their database of blocked sites. This ensures that new threats are immediately blacklisted, and your data remains secure.

Keeping web security measures up to date is easy and recommended:

  • Keep Windows updated and check for new updates at least once a week.
  • Keep Windows updated and check for new updates at least once a week.
  • Keep Windows updated and check for new updates at least once a week.
  • Keep Windows updated and check for new updates at least once a week.

VPN

In recent times, work from home has become a norm. Especially in this scenario, it has become even harder for companies to securely transmit data between their users; if intercepted, data can be accessed by hackers. VPNs (virtual private networks) are a way of encrypting data from point to point. All data that travels through this secure network is authenticated and, even if intercepted, cannot be deciphered by external users.

Large organizations rely heavily on VPNs. In fact, some businesses only allow access to their internal systems and applications through authenticated VPN networks.

Firewalls

Interactions on the web are usually two-way. If you click on a link, you are accepting whatever it is you clicked on. Therefore, firewalls are important for basic protection; you could click on something harmless that could be a virus in disguise. Firewalls only let trusted or authorized traffic flow into your network.

Setting up defined rules for specific traffic to enter your systems is what firewalls are all about. However, firewalls need to be updated regularly to allow or block traffic from specific apps or websites.

While your basic hardware (such as routers) and software (such as Windows) have decent firewalls, it might be a good idea to have external aid with a firewall. It is good practice to have an IT firm check your systems and advise accordingly.

Access Control

One of the oldest ways of limiting chances of attacks or breaches is to allow access only to specific personnel. Like the signs say ‘authorized personnel only’. This ensures that anyone without authorized usernames, passwords, or even specified computing machines, cannot access your data.

This zero-trust strategy is robust and widely used. Even so, alone, it cannot withhold a sophisticated attack; one infected user could jeopardize the entire security system.
If your data is sensitive – for example, has customer credit card details – opt to work with an IT firm to help establish dynamic and automated access control systems for your business.

Email Security

Emails are essentially the fastest and easiest ways for attackers to breach your security. From attachments to links, emails are a leading way for hackers to install malware or viruses in your systems.

Fortunately, protection against harmless and phishing emails is relatively simple if you go with the right email security tools or IT Service Provider. Simple applications also help in this regard; most anti-viruses have email protection software as a service. This also encrypts outbound email messages, thus securing information sent out through emails against unauthorized receipts.

Anti-virus Software

If you run a simple and smaller network, good anti-virus software will provide basic protection. Avoid free software as they usually skimp on important features such as automatic real-time responses against new threats and optimizing network settings for better flow of secure data.

If you are unsure of which anti-virus software to get, ask a professional networking firm for advice. Keep anti-virus auto-updates on as well; malware is always evolving to get one step ahead of anti-virus.

Pro-tip: Run anti-virus software alongside Windows basic protection to have an additional layer of security.

Incident Response

For extensive protection, partner with or outsource incident response operations to a network security company. Incident response systems help in establishing responses to ‘what-if’ scenarios. In case of a cyber-attack, they prepare the system to immediately respond accordingly.

Incident response services help contain attacks, provide remedies instantly, and even restore lost data.

Protect Your Business and Protect Yourself

Whether it is your source of income or your online presence, being connected to the web means you are connected to customers as well as attackers. While most ways of protecting yourself and your systems can be handled individually, the degree of aid will vary based on the size and scale of your network. Do not skimp on protecting your valuable assets, make sure you have the right cybersecurity in place to protect your networks. Employing these solutions could save you time and money.