On a personal level, network security may be no more than installing antivirus software and checking firewall settings. For a business or organization, however, effective network security goes far beyond these basics and is part of business continuity planning. An intruder entering a company?s network can steal and eventually exploit data or disable a system. Rather than take a risk every time your employees get on the internet, make sure your company?s network security policy is comprehensive and involves risk assessment and management.
Network security encompasses a system?s usability, reliability, integrity, and safety and addresses outside and internal threats. Because both large and small businesses are affected by hackers and other online criminals, a multilayered network security policy for hardware and software must be in place. Aside from protecting your data, network security is required by industry regulations, including FFIEC and GLBA for finance and HIPAA for healthcare.
If your company?s network security policy is not effective or up to date, what can happen? Credit cards, medical records, or other personal data stored in an electronic information system can be stolen and exploited, especially through identity theft.
Your business, as a result, ends up losing customers, faces lawsuits, and does not comply with industry standards.
Hackers and online criminals are constantly developing new security threats. However, the threats, no matter how powerful, fall into one of the following categories:
? Viruses and worms ? malware that enters a system through malicious code from an attachment.
? Trojan horses ? malware embedded on a website that can be difficult to expunge.
? Phishing ? a ruse to obtain username and password information through authentic-seeming websites, emails, or telephone calls.
Phishing emails and websites often mimic those from banks or PayPal.
? Pack sniffers ? monitors that enter a system to capture and scan data for usernames and passwords.
? Zombie computers ? spam emitted from a network device. The excessive spam disables a network, allowing an intruder to enter easily and steal data.
Regular network assessments must be part of your company?s IT security policy. Such assessments involve penetration tests, social engineering, vulnerability scans, and other system examination in order to find weak points in which an intruder can enter. Thorough scanning addresses external and internal vulnerabilities. A network security professional conducting the scan will provide a report of all findings and offer solutions for fixing them.
Source: http://www.haz-split.org/business-security/network-security-for-a-business-or-organization.html
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