If you aren’t taking enterprise network security seriously, you’re putting your business at risk. Follow the seven steps below to make security management easier.
1. Improve Your Password Policy
Your passwords are the gatekeeper for all your online accounts, so you can’t afford to have lackluster standards for password complexity. Require all your employers to include at least one uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number, and special character for their password. Doing this will be a great way to stop attackers from guessing passwords. Of course, secure passwords aren’t always enough to protect accounts. There are still ways for attackers to compromise your accounts. To counter this, you’ll need to add another level to your authentication. Two-factor authentication will help you do this. A two-factor authentication account will send a secondary code to your employees after they enter their passwords. Unless an attacker has access to the account with this code, even the correct password won’t let them log into an account.
2. Limit Data Access
While it’s easier to put all your data on a server and let everyone access it, that isn’t the best way to store your data. The chances are good that you have sensitive files on your server. You don’t need every employee to have access to that data. That’s where limiting data access helps. Instead of giving everyone access to your server, only provide access to people that need that data to work. Your security system is capable of limiting the visibility of files, folders, and databases to selected people. You won’t need to worry about people seeing data they shouldn’t be able to see. Doing this is also helpful in the case of hacks. If one of your employees gets hacked, your only concern is the data they have access to. In these situations, your damage is limited.
3. Create Several WiFi Networks
There’s no getting around the fact that most people carry around an internet-enabled device with them at all times. For most people, it’s their smartphone. Because of this, they also expect the places they travel to have WiFi networks to get fast internet service. If you’re a company, that means you’ll need to open your WiFi for both your employees and guests. While doing this makes good business sense, it also opens your company to additional risk. You have no control over the devices that connect to your network. Someone can introduce a compromised device on your network as a result. Having a separate WiFi network means compromised devices won’t be able to access sensitive equipment. The damage these devices cause is limited and more easily repaired.
4. Create a Backup Plan
Securing your company network isn’t only about preventing hackers from gaining access to your data. An excellent security plan won’t help if you lose your information because of a database or hardware failure. If you don’t have a backup plan in place for when this happens, your company will need to operate without the resources it needs to succeed. Losing critical company and customer data can grind your entire operation to a halt. You can safeguard your data by storing your information at an off-site backup location and in the cloud. You won’t have as much trouble returning to normal operations when you have an easy way to restore lost data.
5. Audit Your Vendors
If you’re like many companies, you don’t only rely on internal applications to run your business anymore. The cloud provides easy access to the most common business tools that companies need to run. It’s more cost-effective to use these tools instead of doing things yourself. However, using these tools does come at a cost. You don’t have as much control over your data when you use cloud programs and store information in the cloud. You need to ensure every app you use meets your security standards. Regularly audit the tools you use to ensure they meet your company’s security needs.
6. Provide Employee Training
Even if you have a great security setup that doesn’t have any flaws, that won’t always be enough to protect your company from hackers. Believe it or not, your employees are often one of the most significant risks to your company. People make internet security mistakes all the time. They aren’t always used to knowing how to use the internet in a safe way that protects them and the computer they’re using. That’s why providing security training for your employees is critical. You can use online courses or hire a professional to teach your employees in person. Whatever method you choose, make sure all your current and new employees have access to this training.
7. Hire a Security Company
Even the best security experts around won’t always get things right. All it takes is one small mistake to introduce a hole in your cybersecurity infrastructure that allows hackers into your network. The same is true for employee mistakes. That’s why getting a second opinion is essential. Many cybersecurity companies offer technology consulting for enterprises. When you hire one of these companies, they’ll perform a full audit on your network’s security. Once they complete their audit, they’ll give you a report on any vulnerabilities they find. From there, you can fix things yourself or work with your security consultant to fix any security issues.
Creating an Enterprise Network Security Solution Isn’t Easy
The internet is now a dangerous place, so you can’t afford to take half-measures regarding network security. The above are only a few ways you can improve your enterprise network security. Keep learning as you run your business network to figure out what other security improvements you can make. Once you know that you have your data secure on your network, you can start putting it to use to grow your business. Keep reading the blog to learn about other tech tools that will help.
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