What is YOUR RISK Level?

ima_nva_frontWell, we would all like to think it is. But, how many of us really know? When was the last time you assessed your network and looked for holes or vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to disaster. We make sure our house, office and cars are constantly locked, but what are we doing about our networks. They too need to be checked and rechecked as the environment out there gets worse and worse. The good news is that we know how to check our house, business and car. The bad news is that most of us don’t know enough about our own networks to know what to do. Way too often we rely on someone else for this and that by itself add to your risk level. Continue reading “What is YOUR RISK Level?”

Are You At Risk?

Every network is at Risk. What we do to reduce the potential of that risk turning into a breach falls on you, me or the IT guy. Simply buying stuff of the shelf, or internet, and plugging it in puts us at risk. So, first we have to understand what it is we need to do. Educate ourselves on the various risks that exist and thus allowing us to make a better determination of what we need. Many of today’s risks are simply policies and procedures that we need to follow. But, unless someone with the right background tells you, how would you ever know. So, simply knowing and understanding today’s risks immediately gives you an upper hand and better lowering your Risk Level. Continue reading “Are You At Risk?”

Is Your Network Support Solution Working For You, or Are You Working For It?

We just launched our Network Vulnerability Assessment program. It is a NO-OBLIGATION assessment of your Network. Find out just how at Risk You Are? Our goal is to educate those who take advantage of this service on what risks are out there. How vulnerable is your network. And with that solutions to tighten things up. I wish I could promise each and everyone 100% security, but we all know that that is impossible. All we can do, based on what we have and can afford is do our very best to secure our networks. Continue reading “Is Your Network Support Solution Working For You, or Are You Working For It?”

Say it Once, Say it a Million Times

The other day I had a referral call as they were having issues with their network and needed some quick help. Within just a few minutes of surveying their network I had my answer. I didn’t know what the problem was, or how bad it was, but I was quite sure I knew why. And it is probably one of the biggest, and equally, one of the most common problems out there.
The old adage, that the strongest chain is only as strong at it weakest link. Well, utilizing a ‘consumer’ grade router for a network and then having the wireless setup so that employees/customers can get online is a DISASTER just waiting to happen. And so it did for this client and so many others. Just cause it works at home or a friends, is by no means reason to trust it for protecting your business. Most of the time when I explain that in this scenario that any wireless user has access to your entire network they look bewildered. — Well, what else would you expect! And if you are saying “I have a password”, just as my new client stated, wake up! Think about it, now your patients, clients, employees or any of their friends now have it too. And betting bottom to dollar, it will be one of them that hacks you. Scary huh!
If you must rely on ‘consumer’ grade routers or products for your firewall protection. Then additional hardware, configuration and setup is 100% necessary if you also want to provide secure wireless. Even if it is for your employees! An unhappy employee is just as likely to give you something to remember as is your run of the mill hacker.
Your data and your network are your livelihood. Is it worth the risk. And sadly, this won’t be the last time I see it happen. No matter how many times I say it!

Where’s My Data

In the past, I maintained a backup of my primary working drive on my laptop, so that when I was mobile I had what I might need. However, I had to change my way of thinking, and operation as I feared the day that I would lose or my laptop would get stolen and all that data would be compromised. So, I had to change how I did things.

Now when I travel, I maintain no uncompromisable data on my laptop. If I do need to work on a file, or get something, it takes only a few minutes to securely connect my laptop to my network and away I go.

This same connection provides me full UTM protection as I would have from my office. The downside to this is that I have to have an internet connection and it takes a few extra minutes to get connected. The upside is, that the most I will ever lose is the laptop, and they are replaceable. Certainly a good excuse to upgrade.

So, if you are one of those mobile workers, and you keep private data on your laptop, this might be a good time to consider changing the way you do things.

UTM – Explain

UTM stands for Universal Threat Management. In today’s market we are no longer in fear of viruses as they are now only a small part of the threats against us and our computers. Let’s take a look at some of the key threats; gateway and network anti-Virus (GAV/NAV); anti-Spam (AS), Phishing (AP), Intrusion Protection (IP), Application Intelligence (AI) and Content Filtering (CF).

How do we manage all of this? If you have a business or even a small home office with more than one computer you address these threats at the point of attack. Each computer. And the more computers you have the more UTM applications you have running. As the number of computers grows, so does the number of application and along with it, yearly renewals to keep it up to date. And as you increase this number, you magically increase the chance of something going wrong. And the last thing you want is an unprotected device.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take the UTM from each device and put it in one place and have it protect the network instead of the computer. That is primarily what a Firewall Device is designed to do. Not only does it greatly reduce the overhead of maintaining UTM on each device, it centrally controls it. It also increases the security level of your network as now as any would be attacks are now at the firewall device rather than your computer.