Ross Walker of IT security company Symantec reveals his top five tips for businesses.
The theme of IT security continues to be perennial, especially as more and more individuals and businesses rely on the online space on a daily basis. Articles and features on network security continue to highlight the threat from viruses, malware, and software security holes, making the internet seem like a constantly hostile environment.
Here are five simple steps you can take to protect the information that drives your business. Not only will they protect your data from accidental or malicious losses; they will also help improve how you access and manage the data on your network.
STAY INFORMED: Several companies publish reports that help define the threat landscape for small businesses. These reports can be found on their websites or through online searches. This is a great way to stay informed about what you’re up against.
LAYER YOUR SECURITY: It’s important to defend your business in depth. Use an integrated endpoint security solution and ensure your security patches are up to date. In addition, your antivirus definitions and intrusion prevention signatures must be updated regularly, and all desktops, laptops and servers should also be updated with the necessary security patches from the operating system vendor. Consider deploying a personal firewall to help control network traffic to any of the endpoint devices that have to access your network. Also, make sure to enable the security settings on Web browsers and disable file sharing.
IMPLEMENT A NETWORK ACCESS CONTROL SOLUTION: All network-connected computers and inbound/outbound traffic should be monitored for signs of unauthorised entry and malicious activity. Ensure any infected computers are removed from the network and disinfected as soon as possible. Also, create and enforce policies that identify and restrict applications that can access the network.
DON’T FORGET PHYSICAL SECURITY: There are a number of routine physical security tactics employees within smaller businesses can use to help strengthen their companies’ security defences. These include using the screen-locking feature when away from the computer, shutting the computer off when done for the day, locking laptops with a cable, not leaving passwords written down, and being mindful of the physical security of mobile devices and laptops, which are popular target for theft.
BACK UP YOUR DATA: For any number of reasons – disaster, human error, hardware failure, and so on – your IT system could be brought down. It is critical to back up important data regularly and store extra copies of this data off site. Since tapes containing confidential customer or business data may be lost or stolen in transit, encrypting those backup stores is a good idea.
What top tips and guidelines do you follow to secure your IT? If you’re one of those individuals who don’t practice good security, what would it take to jolt you into action?
About the author
Ross Walker is UK & Ireland director of small business at IT security anti-virus specialist Semantec.
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