Tip of the Week: 5 Simple Ways to Stay On Top of Network Security

Security is a top priority in today’s business environment, especially following high-profile hacks of notable enterprises. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that these hacks could have been prevented if both the employees and employers of these organizations followed strict security best practices for their technology. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be hard to teach your team how to properly use technology.

Understanding best practices for security is often a pretty straightforward process, but sometimes it can be a bit tricky to explain. To help, we’ve outlined five of the best security practices that your business can take advantage of to maximize data security.

• Frequently change passwords: Your team should always be practicing password security. Everyone should be using different passwords for all of their account login credentials, all based around the idea of the complex password: lower and upper-case letters, numbers, and symbols. It’s recommended that you take advantage of an enterprise-level password manager to help in remembering your optimized passwords. You should make sure to change your passwords often, which helps to improve security.
• Monitor access logs: There are several users who access your network on a daily basis, and every time they access it, there should be a log of who signed in when, and where. This helps to keep the security of your mission-critical systems in control. You should especially keep an eye on administrator accounts. If hackers get ahold of sensitive administrator credentials, they could legitimately log into your infrastructure and cause untold amounts of damage. This is dangerous because it completely bypasses your security measures, so monitoring your access logs can clue you in on who’s accessing the network, and when.
• Restrict on a user basis: You have many employees, but not many of them need access to sensitive information in order to perform their duties. For example, the average employee probably doesn’t need access to payroll information or personal records. That information should be privy only to management and financial or human resources staff. Limiting internal exposure to sensitive information helps to keep critical information from leaking out through unauthorized sources.
• Integrate basic security measures: In cyber security, the most basic technologies can help you achieve maximum data security. Solutions like firewalls, antivirus, web content blockers, and spam filters, can all be very helpful toward limiting what threats make it into your network, and how you deal with the ones that do. All of this technology can be found in a Unified Threat Management solution, making it an ideal investment to optimize network security.
• Monitor and maintain technology solutions: Your business uses so many pieces of software that it can be challenging to keep up with all of the upgrades and patches. If you aren’t using the latest versions of applications and software, you’ll be taking an unnecessary risk by violating compliance codes and potential data breaches. Preferred can remotely monitor your business’s network for any new developments or issues that need to be resolved. We can apply patches remotely so you don’t have to.

For more information about how to keep your business safe from potential threats, contact Preferred at 708-781-7110.