Please know I consider our customers all of the above so the title applies to all.
This past weekend many of you read or saw the news reports on the multiple cyber-attacks that were worldwide and hit many high profile companies like FedEx. I received several emails from folks in Charlotte, NC asking if they are protected and if not what do they need to do in order to become more protected. Myself or my co-workers responded to those pro-active inquiries directly but we felt it best to send an email to all partner-clients reviewing details of how to best protect a network.
You will see many tools are currently in place but several clients may want to consider addition layers to best protect a network or, if an attack occurs, how to best react.
First, the bad news; no network can ever be completely secure. Hackers or alike spend their days and nights trying to find holes in networks that will allow them to access your data. Defending against them is a challenge. Your job as well as ours is putting roadblocks in place to prevent them from spending too much time on your network thus causing them to move onto easier ‘prey’. Should they find a way to access your network, the very least we need to have in place is a plan that allows us to react to it properly. That plan is a healthy Backup of your data… specifically a cloud backup.
Data Backup: When all else fails, nothing beats a good backup. At some point in time, someone will unfortunately make a mistake by going somewhere on the web or clicking on an email link and you will need a solid backup to correct the problem. Whether a file was inadvertently deleted, or an entire system was compromised, you will need to have the ability to restore files to your systems. Bestintech offers not only local backup solutions, but cloud-based solutions to get your information off-site and out of harm’s way. With a few simple clicks of the mouse, you can be on your way to recovering all of your important data should your data ever be compromised.
Security Appliance: Layer 1 in protecting your network is a good security appliance like the SonicWALL offered by Bestintech. A strong firewall is the first step in securing your network from Internet threats. This device not only acts as a firewall, but should also serve as a Gateway Anti-Virus that is capable of scanning files before they even get inside the perimeter of your network. It should be capable of DPI (deep packet inspection) of both in-encrypted and encrypted packets as they traverse the device. The SonicWALL’s offered by Bestintech do all of those items, plus Intrusion Prevention Services, Content-Filtering, and a new service called Capture. With Capture, another level of security is added wherein a file that has never been seen by the device is not allowed to pass through until it has been analyzed by the security servers at SonicWALL and given a passing mark.
Anti-Virus (Layer 2): PC and server protection are your next points of contact for files and information that comes from the Internet. Having a strong antivirus solution is pertinent in helping keep malicious files off your systems. Bestintech's preferred solution for this is Bitdefender, which is currently rated one of the top scanning engines in the world today.
The End-Users (Layer 3): An often overlooked, but VITAL, piece of the solution to keeping your information secure is the training of your users. With all of the technology that we can put at your disposal, the easiest system for a hacker to compromise is the system working the keyboard, YOU! It's called Social Engineering, or Social Hacking. Tricking users into following a link or opening a file is dozens of times more effective that trying to brute force your way into a network. Bestintech offers online training to help educate your users on the kinds of things to look out for, and how to react when they encounter them.
To answer the client-specific question; “what about me specifically?”. Well, the short answer is, if you are on a Managed Services Agreement with Bestintech and have a cloud backup along with a managed firewall, you have the tools in place to protect your network. The only missing piece would be the educational training described in The End-Users (Layer 3) section. The training is affordable and easy to schedule. If you do not have those pieces in place then please respond to me and I will share what it would take to add those tools of protection. If you are unsure, please ask. I think you know I will respond quickly and in a manner you should expect.
Finally, please follow Bestintech, on Facebook (@BestintegrationTech) and/or Twitter (@Bestintech2001). We constantly post educational tools on those social media outlets to help educate folks in Charlotte, NC.
Question/comments? Please send at your convenience.
Regards, Scott
H. Scott Donaghy
President Best Integration Technologies, Inc.
Charlotte, North Carolina
O: 704.540.6965, ext 210 877.710.6985