Security Tools: The Heart of Network Maintenance
It’s been estimated that, by the end of 2021, the damages resulting from cybercrime will account for an annual cost of more than $6 trillion. This is more than the yearly damage attributed to natural disasters. When you consider that these damages can be catastrophic at a company level, with an average annual cost of a cyberattack currently at about $1.67 million. Those losses include the consequences of reductions in productivity and operations as well as negative experiences by customers.
Data is the lifeblood of your business. It supports everything you do, from maintaining vital resources to helping keep your organization healthy. And, if data is the blood of your business, the network is the heart that keeps your system healthy and working. Unfortunately, there are also cyber threats that work like little vampires, getting in everywhere they can and sucking the lifeblood out of your system. To keep vampires out of your system and the network healthy, use any security tools that help keep your data clean and free of threats.
Your Network Security Toolbox
To keep these pesky vampires out of your system and save your business from what could amount to millions of dollars in data losses, you will need more than cloves of garlic and a wooden stake. Instead, it would help if you had a proactive network security regimen and visibility. Only a few of the most essential tools you have to ensure network security include:
Access control
Anti-malware software
Anomaly detection
Email security
Firewall
Intrusion prevention systems
Everyone understands and appreciates the importance of network security, so let’s look at each of these tools to see how they contribute to your network maintenance efforts.
Access Control
Anyone who can’t gain access to your network will be able to do little or no damage. Even authorized users can cause damage, but access control limits user access to parts of the network that directly apply to the users’ focus.
Anti-Malware Software
Malware encompasses a broad spectrum of tools designed to spread its intent throughout a computer system and infect those networks. Anti-malware software is used to identify these programs and prevent them from spreading their malevolent intentions.
Anomaly Detection
It can be challenging to identify the anomalies that find their way into your system without a basic understanding of how those systems operate. Detection engines allow administrators to know when breaches occur and how to respond appropriately when they happen.
Email Security
Anyone with a basic understanding of email knows that there are many weaknesses that are shored up in it. Phishing methods are just one of several ways hackers use to convince recipients to share sensitive information. Email security helps to identify these attacks and prevent the unauthorized sharing of data.
Firewalls
Firewalls act much like gates that secure the borders between a company’s network and the internet. Firewalls help to manage network traffic, allowing authorized traffic through while keeping unauthorized traffic out.
Intrusion Prevention Systems
An intrusion prevention system is continuously surveying your network to prevent attacks, identify them, and respond appropriately to their presence.
It is important to remember that the tools used for network security are only part of the security system. The other is vigilance and a regular program of network maintenance.