Tips For Organizations’ Network Security

As and when a company grows, the amount of data they handle on a daily basis goes up as well. This information can be either customer or employee centric or even sensitive details of the company. With a majority of businesses handling their data on a desktop connected to Wi-Fi or Wireless LAN, it’s important to make sure that the data is safe and secure at all times. If you are worried about your data being lost and not having disaster recovery solutions in place, you need to understand how you can go about achieving it.

Information is powerful, and a breach of network security could have numerous motives behind it. These include an intention to damage company reputation or cause loss of customers and capital. Worrying about these disasters is natural, but you can take measures to make sure that it doesn’t happen. Here’s what you can do if you aren’t confident about your company’s network security.

1. Create a network security culture and policy in the company

Simply talking about network security to your employees won’t do the job. You need to formalize things by preparing an official document containing network security policies. This clear and comprehensive document would serve as a handbook for all your employees to follow regularly and refer to whenever they are in doubt about proceeding ahead. Conduct regular training sessions to make sure that your employees are able to identify risky data or important data assets and know how to proceed with disaster recovery in case something unforeseen happens.

2. Enforce a strong password policy

You will need to get proactive regarding passwords. Enforce a strong password policy and discourage your employees from putting common or simple passwords such as ‘Admin’, ‘Company Name’, ‘Password’, ‘abcdef’, etc. Ask them to keep complex codes that are eight characters or more in length and have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one special symbol.

You should also implement protocols where employees are required to change the password every 90 days or so. Do not allow them to log into their systems if their passwords haven’t been updated after every quarter.

3. Prevent employees from downloading any software

Not all employees who have the privilege to download a new software on their work desktops have the knowledge about network threats. When someone doesn’t know that a particular download could introduce malware or viruses on the computer, the risk increases. This is why you need to block employees from installing software from the web and allow only a handful of trusted staff who’re well versed with network threats to download things.

4. Install firewall

 A firewall is your first line of defense in the case of a network attack, which is why you need to make sure that it is installed for the entire network of your servers and is always up-to-date. They keep an eye on every fishy looking or unauthorised process and block suspicious or risky files from entering into the network.

Disaster recovery can be incredibly costly in severe cases, whereas constant prevention by means of network monitoring is low cost and easily manageable on a regular basis. This is why you need to make sure that you always conduct network monitoring in the form of firewalls.

5. Use VPNs to encrypt your entire network

Even with high level authentication, phishing attacks or malware could enter your server and affect numerous systems. Even if the attacker is able to spy on one system and find an unencrypted channel, they can gain access to numerous passwords, documents, and more. This is why it’s always a good idea to not just encrypt vital and sensitive data channels but the entire network itself. VPNs are a great way to go about it, thus keeping the entirety of your network and data safe and secure from attacks at all times.

6. Consider hiding your SSID

SSID or Service Set Identifier can enable someone to find the exact address of all your systems in your network. To be able to keep this information private, it’s recommended that you hide your SSID. Simply go to the ‘General Setup’ page of your Wireless LAN and check the box that says ‘Hide SSID’. The network’s SSID won’t be broadcasted anymore, and no one can locate this identifier to target attacks on your company.

7. Remove all login and access credentials of ex-employees

An ex-employee may or may not have bad intentions towards your company. Either way, you must guarantee that you’re clearing corners by removing all login and access credentials that were given to them. This ensures that they cannot access crucial information after they’ve formally resigned. Disable all security keys and access codes. It’s also wise to check the access logs regularly and monitor if there are any activities from ex-employees or other unauthorised personnel.

8. Implement content filters

A great way to block access to malware and unforeseen phishing attacks is by implementing content filters. This way, you need to identify every URL and malicious site and confirm that all of them are blocked on their own. There are several categories of content filters that you may opt for, such as malware, illegal software, pop ups, forums and newsgroups, streaming, downloads, social networking, bots, phishing and fraud, spam sites, hacking, and more.

Final thoughts

We understand how problematic a network attack can be, and it can seem like a big task to secure your entire company’s network. However, if you are proactive and are able to implement a few network security protocols effectively, you can easily prevent your company from numerous phishing attacks, malware, viruses, adware, and more. All you need to do is stay on your toes, conduct regular checks, and make sure that your firewalls, VPNs, firmware, and more are regularly maintained and updated.

Perform auditing and mapping regularly to cover all corner cases of risky situations in both software and hardware. Keep your employees informed of all new network security protocols and advise them to follow each regulation rigorously.