Tag Archive for: cybersecurity

Data protection regulations require your business to assess all possible threats to the sensitive data your business stores or manages. While businesses tend to focus most of their attention on external threats, they often overlook insider threats that exist right under their noses. Knowing the warning signs of insider threats is vital to your cybersecurity success.

The market is flooded with cybersecurity solutions that promise to protect your business from all kinds of cyberthreats. However, they cannot guarantee or even assure you of protection against insider threats.

Your employees may form the first line of defense against cyberattacks, they can also be vulnerable. All it takes is one of them acting out of line to cause damage to your business. To put this into perspective, Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report stated that 30 percent of breaches involved internal actors.

The last thing you need is your business falling foul of an insider threat and facing regulatory action for failing to mitigate it. In this blog, we will help you understand some important points to consider. There are different types of insider threats, and warning signs you need to look out for. Here are some tips to help you devise a defense strategy to mitigate these threats in a way that will convince most compliance regulators. Not to mention: keep your business safer.

Knowing Insider Threats Better

As the name suggests, insider threats refer to security risks that originate from within your organization. Essentially, an insider threat is someone who is a part of your business network or has access to it. It could be a current employee, consultant, former employee, business partner or even a board member. Insiders with access to your business’ sensitive data can compromise the integrity of the data for any reason that suits them. You could even be a threat to your own security without knowing it.

Let’s take a look at the two types of insider threats you must assess, monitor and mitigate.

The Malicious Insider

A malicious insider is anyone with legitimate access to your business’ network and data, who decides to exploit the privilege either for financial gain or out of spite.

Out of the 4,716 insider incidents that were studied by the Ponemon Institute and IBM in the Cost of Insider Threats: Global Report 2020, 23 percent were related to criminal insiders. Moreover, the report pegged the annual cost to companies due to criminal insiders at $4.08 million.

The Negligent Insider

A negligent insider is a regular employee who falls prey to a cyberattack. A hacker then exploits his/her mistake to compromise your business’ sensitive data. They are said to be negligent because they have either ignored existing security policies or haven’t been vigilant enough to identify and protect themselves from cyberattacks.

The Cost of Insider Threats: Global Report 2020 by the Ponemon Institute and IBM found that 63 percent of security incidents that were caused due to insider threats were related to negligence. The annual cost to companies came in at $4.58 million.

Imagine your business suffers a data breach due to one of these insider threats. Then imagine you are punished by a regulator for not taking appropriate measures to avoid such a breach. That would be a nightmare scenario if ever there was one.

While you mull over that, here are some warning signs you should watch out for to identify potential insider threats before it’s too late.

Warning Signs to Watch Out for

Accurately identifying insider threats to your specific organization can be a tough task. Below are some early warning signs you can watch out for. These signs can be categorized as behavioral and digital.

Please pay close attention to the list below. Keeping a keen eye out for these signs and recognizing unusual patterns could give you the impetus you need to fight insider threats.

Behavioral Warning Signs

An employee or a stakeholder could be a potential insider threat if he/she exhibits any of the following behavioral patterns:

  • Attempting to bypass security controls and safeguards
  • Frequently or unnecessarily spending time in the office during off-hours
  • Displaying a disgruntled attitude against co-workers and the company
  • Violating corporate policies deliberately
  • Discussing new opportunities and/or the possibility of resigning

Digital Warning Signs

Some of the digital actions mentioned below are telltale signs you must closely monitor:

  • Accessing or downloading substantial amounts of data
  • Attempting to access data and/or resources unrelated to his/her job function
  • Using unauthorized devices to access, manage or store data
  • Browsing for sensitive data unnecessarily
  • Copying data from sensitive folders
  • Sharing sensitive data outside the business
  • Behaving differently from their usual behavior profile

Keeping Insider Threats In Check

There is one way you can avoid regulatory action following a compliance audit. It is by producing documented evidence of the preventive and corrective measures you have taken to safeguard your business’ sensitive data from insider threats.

Here is a list of some of the measures that should feature in your defense and response plan:

  • Identify and document where your business’ sensitive data lies
  • Control access to sensitive data and define privileges for stakeholders based on their needs
  • Build suitable infrastructure that monitors abnormal behavior and raises timely alerts
  • Enhance your regular risk assessment by adding insider threat parameters to it
  • Introduce a robust security awareness training program for all stakeholders
  • Devise a strategy to investigate a breach caused due to insider threats and get notified accordingly

Promptly taking these steps will go a long way towards significantly securing your business from insider threats. It will also help in convincing regulators that you are committed to ensuring data protection.

It’s time to make this a priority at your next management meeting. Especially since cyberthreats have recorded an unprecedented surge during the ‘new normal.’ You certainly wouldn’t want an insider threat making the situation any worse, would you?

Remember, you aren’t alone in this fight.

Let us help you tackle this deadly cybersecurity menace and avoid regulatory action for non-compliance.

Get in touch with us today!

 

 Article curated and used by permission.

Insider threats are among the most dangerous cyberthreats out there. Yet, organizations of all sizes seem to be either reluctant or negligent when it comes to fighting them. Over 50 percent of organizations don’t have an Insider Risk Response Plan and 40 percent don’t assess how effectively their technologies combat insider threats.1 Even though 59 percent of IT security leaders expect insider risks to increase in the next two years, very little is being done to prevent them from causing serious security incidents.

With the threat growing bigger by the minute, disaster could strike at any time. If you still aren’t worried, just remember that the average time to identify and contain a data breach is 280 days. This should give you an idea of the possible damage a single data breach could cause to your business.

This brief article will attempt to throw some light on the types of insider threats you must detect and mitigate, the damage they could cause, the user attributes that increase these risks, and the security controls you should implement to prevent, reduce and combat insider threats.

Understanding Insider Threats

Simply put, an employee or contractor who wittingly or unwittingly uses his/her authorized access to cause harm to your business is considered an insider threat. The Ponemon Institute’s Global Cost of Insider Threats Report 2020 lists three types of insider threats:

  • A careless or negligent employee or contractor who unwittingly lets a hacker access your business’ network. Over 60 percent of incidents in 2020 were related to negligence.
  • A criminal or malicious insider who abuses his or her privileged access to your business’ network to either steal or exfiltrate sensitive data for financial gain or plain old revenge. Criminal insiders were involved in 23 percent of breaches in 2020.
  • A credential thief who poses as an employee or a contractor to gain access to sensitive data and then compromise the data for financial gain. Credential theft led to 14 percent of breaches in 2020.

The Serious Damage that Can be Caused

Even a single security breach caused by an insider threat can result in serious damage to your business in the following ways:

  • Theft of sensitive data: Valuable data such as customer information or trade secrets could be exposed following a breach — an ordeal Marriott International survived in early 2020. Hackers abused a third-party application used by Marriott for providing guest services, to gain access to 5.2 million records of Marriott guests.
  • Induced downtime: The downtime following a breach impacts your business in more ways than one. As mentioned earlier, it can take a long time for you to ascertain the details of a breach and then control the damage. This period can drain your business resources like it did to a company in the UK who had to eventually shut shop after a disgruntled employee deleted 5,000 documents from its Dropbox account.
  • Destruction of property: A malicious insider could cause damage to physical or digital equipment, systems or applications, or even information assets. A former Cisco employee gained unauthorized access to the company’s cloud infrastructure and deleted 456 virtual machines, jeopardizing the access of 16,000 users of Cisco WebEx. The tech major had to shell out $2.4 million to fix the damage and pay restitution to the affected users.
  • Damage to reputation: This is a guaranteed consequence of a security breach when you fail to combat insider threats. Should you suffer a breach, investors, partners and clients may immediately lose confidence in your business’ ability to protect personal information, trade secrets or other sensitive data.

User Attributes That Aggravate Insider Threats

The likelihood of a security breach caused by an insider could be significantly increased due to:

  • Excessive access provided to several users in the form of unnecessary permissions or admin rights
  • Haphazard allocation of rights to install or delete hardware, software and users
  • Usage of weak login credentials and bad password hygiene practices by the users
  • Users that act as a single point of failure since no one keeps their access under check (a phenomenon common with the CEO fraud)

Building a Resilient Defense

As a business, you can undertake a list of security measures to build a resilient defense to combat insider threats. This should be a proactive defense strategy rather than a reactive one. Some of the immediate measures you can take include:

  • Assessment and audit of all systems: Direct your IT team to assess and audit every system, data asset and user in order to identify insider threats and document it thoroughly for further action.
  • Restriction of access and permission controls: Not every employee needs to have access to every piece of data. You must review and limit unnecessary user access privileges, permissions and rights.
  • Mandatory security awareness training for all users: This measure is non-negotiable. Every user on your network must be trained thoroughly on cyberthreats, especially insider threats, and on how to spot early warning signs exhibited by potential insider threats such as:
    • Downloading or accessing substantial amounts of data
  • Accessing sensitive data not associated with the employee’s job function or unique behavioral profile
  • Raising multiple requests for access to resources not associated with the employee’s job function
    • Attempting to bypass security controls and safeguards
  • Violating corporate policies repeatedly
  • Staying in office during off-hours unnecessarily
  • Enforcement of strict password policies and procedures: You must repeatedly encourage all users to follow strict password guidelines and ensure optimal password hygiene.
  • Enhancement of user authentication: Deploy enhanced user authentication methods, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA), to ensure only the right users access the right data securely.
  • Determining ‘baseline’ user behavior: Devise and implement a policy to determine ‘baseline’ user behavior related to access and activity, either based on the job function or the user. Do not be counted among the 56 percent of security teams that lack historical context into user behavior.
  • Ongoing monitoring to detect anomalies: Put in place a strategy and measures that will identify and detect abnormal/anomalous behaviors or actions based on ‘baseline’ behaviors and parameters.

Detecting insider threats and building a robust defense strategy against them can be a tough task for most businesses, irrespective of size. Unfortunately, the longer you wait, the greater the chance of a security lapse costing your business its entire future.

However, you certainly shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help. The right MSP partner can help you assess your current security posture, determine potential insider threats to your business, fortify your cybersecurity infrastructure and secure your business-critical data.

It may seem like a tedious process, but that’s why we’re here to take all the hassle way and ensure your peace of mind remains intact throughout this fight. All you have to do is shoot us an email and we’ll take it from there.

 

 Article curated and used by permission.

  Data Sources:

  • Ponemon Data Exposure Report 2021 by Code42
  • Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach 2020 Report 2020
  • https://www.ekransystem.com/en/blog/real-life-examples-insider-threat-caused-breaches
  • https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/businesswoman-sentenced/
  • https://www.ekransystem.com/en/blog/real-life-examples-insider-threat-caused-breaches

Microsoft Teams is now considered one of the best platforms for businesses to use for communication. What many may not realize is that Microsoft Teams is the number one secure communication platform.

Microsoft Teams is not only the governmental choice for secure communication, but many other sectors of business have realized its potential. Let’s take a look at five reasons why Teams should be your choice!

Reason 1: Microsoft Teams has over 90 regulatory bodies supporting it.

Everything from the Department of Defense in the United States to the Financial Supervisory Authority in Denmark has given Teams the seal of compliance. When you use Microsoft Teams, you can be certain you are in compliance with any number of federal or international laws.

Reason 2: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is easily deployed.

There are many articles on the use of multi-factor authentication in workplaces but many businesses haven’t made the switch. With Microsoft Teams, MFA is easy to implement. It will require users to provide additional forms of verification to prove their identity, thus preventing the account from attacks.

Reason 3: Endpoint Manager built in!

Having an endpoint manager built right in will allow your organization to manage devices and apps and to enforce access on any devices. The power will be in your hands!

Reason 4: Secure guest access!

You can control exactly what information guests outside of your organization can access. This will allow you to add guests without worry.

Reason 5: Encryption!

Teams encrypts all data in transit and at rest using the Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), one of the most secure methods of encryption. Your data from video, audio, files, chat, and desktop sharing are all secured end-to-end.

As you can clearly see, Microsoft Teams is a secure and powerful communication tool revolutionizing the world. As working from home becomes commonplace, many organizations now must look to tools like Teams to help them organize and collaborate. Never settle for an unsecured platform! Try Microsoft Teams today!

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for all businesses to follow to protect themselves and their data in this modern world. Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework can help your organization become more focused on protecting its critical assets and make you safer from attackers.

Let’s explore what the five Core Functions are, and what they mean!

  1. Identity: Companies must develop an understanding of their environment to manage cybersecurity risk to systems, assets, data, and capabilities. To comply with the first Function, it is essential to understand your current risks and exposure and put policies and procedures into place to mitigate those risks.
  2. Protect: Organizations wishing to comply with this Function must protect themselves and their assets. To comply, your organization must control access to digital and physical assets, educate users, put processes into place to secure their data, and deploy advanced protective technology to ensure security.
  3. Detect: A company that ignores the third Function is doomed to fail in the event of a cybersecurity incident. Continuous monitoring solutions that detect unordinary activity and other incidents or threats to operational continuity are required to comply with this Function. You need to protect your business from these forms of attacks and you’re your organization compliant.
  4. Respond: If a cybersecurity event happens, companies must have the ability to contain and stop the incident from spreading. To comply, your organization must craft a response plan, practice it frequently, make back up plans, and set clear delineated response measures for issues. A company is only compliant if it can stop the threat within a reasonable time.
  5. Recover: Companies wishing to be compliant with the fifth Function must develop and practice disaster recovery plans. They should have proper backups in multiple locations and ensure that they are regularly going over their disaster recovery options.

Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework can ensure that your company is resilient to cybersecurity threats and attacks.

Contact PCnet today to learn more about our security offerings to keep you and your organization safe from threats and compliant with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework!

What is ransomware? Why do so many places seem to get it? What happens if you get it? Is there anything you can do to protect yourself and your business?

Let’s explore these questions in this article and ensure that you and your business can survive any attacks.

What is ransomware?

Great question! Ransomware is, at its simplest explanation, malware that holds your data for ransom. Essentially, once infected, it will prompt you to send money, usually in the form of untraceable cryptocurrency, to a person or persons who will then send you the decryption key. Usually, the ransomware has a couple of days before it erases all the data on the disk. It is highly infectious, spreading across a network incredibly quickly.

Why do so many places seem to get it?

Ransomware is incredibly easy to spread. It also is incredibly hard to stop unless you have a strong IT infrastructure. Ransomware is also non-discriminatory, meaning it will go after individuals and businesses large or small. It doesn’t matter if you only have 10 employees, you are as much a target as a large hospital with thousands.

What happens if you get it?

Don’t pay! Take all devices offline! Call an IT company immediately! These three steps must be taken immediately, to limit the damage. Chances are, if you already have backups, getting ransomware won’t be a major deal. That is to say, it will be a minor inconvenience if the situation isn’t made worse. One or two computers down are far easier to recover than all the devices on your network. Ideally, you are already partnered with an IT company (like PCnet) that will help mitigate both the risk of infection and any negative side effects of an infection.

Is there anything you can do to protect yourself and your business?

Absolutely! The first thing you should do is ensure that you have a disaster recovery plan in place. Next, find out what your backup situation is (if you even have any). Then, you’ll want to reach out to either your internal IT staff or an IT company (like PCnet) to help assess vulnerabilities, training, and plans for when something goes wrong. Plan like something will go wrong and you’ll make it far less likely that something ever actually will. The best thing you can do for yourself and your business is to educate everyone. Make them aware of the dangers and ensure everyone knows what to do in the event of an issue.

Ransomware is bad. There is no mistaking that, but it doesn’t have to happen to you. Protect yourself and your business by being proactive and protecting the data that you rely on daily. Ensure you have plans for an emergency and rehearse them at least once a year.

Contact PCnet today and we can help you plan for – and ideally completely prevent – a major disaster!

According to the DoD, recently many emails have been going around claiming to have information about COVID19 (or coronavirus, the Wuhan Flu, or any of several other names). Reason Labs in coordination with the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (or HC3) reviewed several of these emails containing links to malicious sites. Let’s take a look at some of the ways people are trying to spread malware via email.

They are claiming to be legitimate websites with maps from John Hopkins University about the COVID19 virus

Websites such as corona-virus-map[dot]com (please do not search for that!) put malware-laden code inside what appears to be a legitimate COVID19 tracker. It has a map that appears to be tracking the virus but is heavily infested with malware!

They make an official-looking email!

One of the most common ways people get malware onto their computers is through email. Since most individuals today are aware of the threat, they try to look at their email a little more carefully. The problem is many of these emails look to be from legitimate sources. Pay close attention to the originating email. Even if it is the correct spelling, use common sense to determine if the email should be opened (i.e. you’re not expecting one).

They post in links that seem legitimate

Many email spammers will post hyperlinks into an email that says one thing, but points in a different direction. An example would be a hyperlink to google.com point to obviouslyavirus.net. They can edit the text to point wherever they want. Never click on links you’re not 100% sure are legitimate.

Scammers will always try to gain the upper hand in Cybersecurity. Through due diligence, common sense, and attention to detail, you can ensure they don’t get the best of you! Always check websites before going to them, check the sender, and check any links sent out!

Running your business is tough enough. The last thing you need is hackers stealing your data or hardware malfunctions breaking down the productivity workflows of your organization. However, IT service providers can be an extra pair of hands you need to run your company.

These professionals find quick solutions to some of the most common business problems, so you can focus your energy on something else. 

Here’s how an IT service provider can solve three of your biggest business challenges.

Problem 1: Cybersecurity

You may remember these headlines.

Facebook Hackers Likely Hit Most Users,”

It’s 3 Billion! Yes, Every Single Yahoo Account Was Hacked in 2013,”

Data of 143 Million Americans Exposed in Hack of Credit Reporting Agency Equifax.”

Even with large corporations, cybersecurity is a bigger problem for your business than it’s ever been. Small businesses risk even more – 60% of them go out of business within six months of a cyber attack

If you don’t have proper cybersecurity and disaster recovery strategy in place, you could jeopardize your reputation. 

The Solution

IT service providers manage multiple facets of your IT infrastructure for you, so you can concentrate on other areas of your business. 

These professionals minimize the chances of hackers from stealing your valuable data through security measures like endpoint protection, machine learning, antivirus protection, and analytics.

Problem 2: Downtime

Downtime can have a significant impact on your business. Whether it’s the result of a power outage or a natural disaster, downtime results in loss of productivity, fewer business opportunities, and low employee morale.

Moreover, only 2% of organizations say they recover from a downtime incident in less than an hour.

The Solution

An IT service provider gets your business up and running again quickly after a downtime incident. These companies utilize disaster recovery and business continuity plans to ensure you don’t lose valuable data and your staff get back to work as soon as possible.

IT service providers don’t just respond to downtime events. They prevent downtime, too. They carry out all the IT tasks that you don’t have the time to do yourself, such as regular system checks and hardware maintenance.

Completing these tasks greatly diminishes the chances of a downtime disaster happening in the first place.

Problem 3: Customer Service Issues

You know how important customer service is to the success of your company. How would you feel if consumers jumped ship and took their business elsewhere because of issues with your computer systems, for example?

Companies with a well-crafted customer service strategy have an average customer retention rate of 92%. If you skimp on service, however, you could lose out on sales.

The Solution

An IT technology provider improves efficiencies and limits downtime. From installing the latest software updates to managing network security, service providers take care of IT support issues in real-time and prevent these problems from happening in the first place.

IT service providers prevent customers from canceling appointments or stopping service as a result of hardware and software malfunctions. As a result, you can provide better service and manage customer expectations.

Customer service, downtime, and cybersecurity are three of the biggest challenges facing your business in 2019. You can’t tackle these problems alone. Investing in an IT provider will streamline many of your day-to-day business tasks and improve productivity in your workplace. 

How Can PCnet Help You?

The team at PCnet is adept at helping organizations thrive through the right IT and ERP solutions that fit their individual needs. Have a challenge that you think we can help with?

Reach out today – we’re happy to help.

For organizations in the healthcare industry, it’s crucial to take extra precautions to protect private patient data. Since 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has upheld a higher standard for organizations in the healthcare sector and scrutinized how they manage their networks. If found in violation of any HIPAA compliance requirements, organizations can expect substantial noncompliance fines and a tarnished public image. In this post, we’ll examine some best practices your organization should be following to keep your network and your patients protected.

Encrypt Health Information

If you aren’t yet, you need to be encrypting all electronic protected health information (ePHI) on your network. That’s because almost two-thirds of all significant data breaches involving ePHI happen because laptops or other portable devices are lost or stolen while storing unencrypted health information.

Unencrypted data are essentially visible to anyone with access to the physical device. Encryption, however, encodes data so it can only be decrypted and read by users with authorized access. Encrypting data is a relatively straightforward step you can take to make it much more difficult for private data to end up in the wrong hands, even when a device is lost or stolen.

Require Complex User Passwords

Require every user on your network to secure their account with a password that uses a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols. Complex passwords are much more difficult for cybercriminals to guess. At the same time, don’t permit anyone on your network to save or store passwords on devices. While that may require an extra step at login, requiring a password at every login is the first line of defense for unauthorized network access.

Implement Ongoing Training

If you want to take a proactive approach to protecting network data, you need to prioritize ongoing training that keeps your team on their toes. Train your team to be on the lookout for suspicious emails that may be phishing attacks and never to relay private healthcare data via email. At the same time, you can use training to cultivate a culture that takes network security and HIPAA compliance seriously. Doing so can be helpful when it comes to following the next best practice.

Guard Against Word-of-Mouth Violations

When staff members share private patient data via a personal conversation, this can constitute a HIPAA violation. Ensure your team understands that conversing about patient data with unauthorized individuals is never acceptable.

Create an Incident Response Plan

In the event of a data breach, you need a concrete policy in place, so everyone on your team knows his or her role to contain the breach. As part of your ongoing training, your team should practice what to do following a data breach, so they feel comfortable and confident in their roles.

Leverage a Third-Party Vendor

A third-party provider can help you take your network security platform to the next level. Make sure you’re working with a partner who prioritizes cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance as much as your organization does. Clarify how they plan to protect private patient data while preparing you for ever-evolving security threats. Taking the time to shop around and find a healthcare IT solution optimized for your needs is often worth it.

Springfield, MO IT Support

If you need help protecting your network, securing private patient data, and training your team to guard against ever-changing threats, contact the experts at PCnet today. We specialize in HIPAA compliance and healthcare IT solutions to keep your network and patients protected at every level.

We’ve all done it before: A notification pops up asking if you want to update your operating system or an application, and you hit “ignore” because you’re in the middle of something more important. However, instead of ignoring that notification, it’s worth taking note and addressing the update later on. In this post, we’ll clarify the importance of regular software updates as they relate to network security.

Software Vulnerabilities

Software developers don’t update programs for the sake of troubling you with popup notifications. As software vulnerabilities become known, developers continually update and patch programs to make them safer. If they didn’t, cybercriminals would exploit security loopholes in the software your team uses on a day-to-day basis.

In fact, the Equifax breach in 2017 that affected as many as 143 million Americans was found to be due employees ignoring software updates. Failing to update software regularly is inviting cybercriminals to exploit your network data.

Improved Application Performance

On top of patching security vulnerabilities, developers also pay attention to user-reported software usage, bugs, and runtime errors. They use this feedback to discover how people are using their applications, along with which features are useful and which aren’t. With these insights, developers use ongoing updates to streamline application performance while enhancing the most popular features and transitioning away from outdated tools. If you want to get the best user experience from your applications, you need to be continually installing software updates as they’re released.

Updates Made Easy

Many of today’s applications make it easy to install updates by allowing you to schedule them when it’s most convenient. If you don’t have time to install an update right now, chances are you can schedule it to take place during your lunch break or right after you leave the office for the day, so your device is ready to go the next morning.

Software Update Best Practices

If you want to make sure you’re getting the most from your software updates, follow these tips:

Prioritize Security Software

Above all else, you should always ensure your security software is up-to-date. Cybersecurity developers continuously release patches and updates in response to evolving network threats, so failing to install updates can leave your data vulnerable.

Turn on Auto Updates

If you don’t want to be bothered with update notifications, many software programs allow you to enable automatic updates, so they’re installed without disturbing you. Generally, you can schedule auto updates to take place at a set time, or they’ll automatically occur when your device isn’t being used.

Research Security Threats

If you want to be an informed user, taking a little time to research the latest security threats can help you ensure your software is keeping you protected. With some research, you’ll be able to read update notes and understand precisely how software updates are protecting your network devices.

Springfield IT Support

As Springfield’s cybersecurity experts, the team at PCnet is here for all your technology needs. Whether you want to ensure your network stays protected in the hands of experts, or you just need help finding the right security software for your operations, PCnet can help. Contact our team today, and we’ll show you how much more technology can do for you.

As we covered in another post, firewalls are a critical aspect of any network security platform. That’s because a firewall stands as your network’s first line of defense from malicious external attacks. If your business is looking to upgrade to the latest in firewall technology, here are three critical factors you should consider before making a decision.

Threat Protection

Security threats are continuously evolving, so your security platform needs the flexibility to do so as well. An effective firewall solution offers these three capabilities:

  • Next-Level Visibility: The ideal firewall solution maximizes visibility across your network. From providing real-time data on your userbase, hosts, network, and devices, your firewall should allow you to monitor your network like never before.
  • The Latest Malware Protection: Your firewall needs to deliver continuous monitoring capabilities to detect, track, and remediate any potential threats on your network with minimal human intervention.
  • Responsive Threat Intelligence: To respond to the latest security threats, your firewall platform needs responsive threat capabilities to keep your operations protected today and tomorrow.

Balancing Costs and Benefits

Cost is frequently the No. 1 factor small- and medium-size businesses use in their decision-making. The right firewall platform should drive cost savings by freeing up your team and minimizing downtime. Here’s how:

  • Preventing Breaches: The right firewall effectively prevents breaches with minimal intervention, so you can reduce the downtime that comes with investigating potential network breaches.
  • Automating Processes: With advanced automation strategies such as intelligent tuning, analytics, monitoring, and threat correlation, your firewall solution should minimize the manual labor required to protect your network.
  • Prioritizing Alerts: To keep your network protected, you need a firewall system that sends alerts in real time, so you can be confident your network is ready to go.

Intuitive at Every Step

Since your team has limited time and resources, you need a straightforward firewall solution that never slows them down. The right firewall should be:

  • Easy to Buy: To take advantage of the latest network security solutions, you need a vendor that makes the purchase process as simple as possible. Find a partner that offers flexible financing options and monthly payments so you can access tomorrow’s technology today.
  • Easy to Deploy: Your organization can’t afford excessive downtime to deploy a firewall solution. With a firewall that’s easy to install and deploy, you can start protecting your operations from day one.
  • Easy to Manage: The right firewall solutions never slow your team down. Make sure your firewall offers an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to identify and address network issues.

Springfield IT Support

If you need help finding the ideal firewall solution for your business, a managed security service provider (MSSP) like PCnet can help. Get in touch with our security experts today, and we’ll start exploring the options for securing your network.