The weakest link in network security.
Your small business network might be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state of the art security technologies and yet all it takes is one careless—hat is one person’s carelessness, and suddenly if you have know what network security on now. Okay, some points in March 2006 a major financial services firm, what really extents of network security had to disclose that one of its laptops has gotten stolen and the social security number over 200,000 people was compromised.
It’s gone, stolen, so how did this happen? Well, simply put an employee with a laptop without having dinner and he had locked laptop in the trunk of an SUV. So during dinner an employee and a colleagues will treat one of the colleagues of the employee retrieved that item from the vehicle and forgot to relock it because there’s a lot of theft in that area, well the rest is history. Somebody broke in and got it. So the moral of the story is clear, no matter how security network, it’s weakest link and guess what, the weakest link has been and for the foreseeable future always will be people.
So what can you do to help minimize the risk that people can post to your company data. Number one, password protect your computers and mobile devices. Protect your laptops. One basic step in defending data require password. To launch Windows on a PC look it’s not bullet proof but it’s a start better than nothing at all.
Number two, don’t store passwords in unprotected areas. Look, the more complex the password is, the easier is to forget. Alright, and you may want to record that password somewhere, but don’t store your password say in the Word file or something like in Excel there are actually programs out there to let you manage and secure multiple passwords.
Number three, consider laptops with biometric security. If you’re in the market for a new laptop, right? Consider one that comes equipped with the finger print biometric scanner and the scanner reads the finger prints and allows those authorized that match to authorize to use the files when you have the authorized fingerprint.
Encrypt confidential files. Another way to protect sense of data is to get a encryption with Vista you have bit locker on the—what’s that Vista Ultimate Edition you have the bit locker thing. I think you have and on just the business edition, but encryptions scrambles the data. And so you crypt all files used in building tools and like Windows XP Professional there’s some other third party in encryption so as both consider encrypting your data.
Next, wherever possible don’t carry confidential data on a portable device, a removable media—all sensitive data off of things like laptops, PDAs and Blackberry’s or Smart phones. Now we have devices lost or stolen then you’re not so much troubled, but if you are going to carry some sensitive data I think instead of storing it in a encrypted flash USB device of some kind.
Next, walk your laptop and try your common sense, but like bicycle our security laptops, security table cost about $20.00 and a half or so allow you to physically secure the laptop in using the securities logged on the machine, and when you insert your locking device which in turns your tester cable you can lock the cable what have you, but the idea is to physically secure the laptop as well.
Next step today, keep a price to mutuals in technologies that you continue to use to bolster your security of your business’s data.
The next step is be vigilant. Above all, you and your employees must stay on guard to protect sensitive data to help everyone do the key pad keep them on their toes post signs above, share resources like printers and fax machines, place paper shredders near recycling bins etcetera.
And probably as I have said a gazillion times, create and enforce and write there a security plan and post it where employees can see it. You must have or even if you’re a small business when you’ve got employees make a detail written security plan or hire a consultant to help you write it, but it only works if it’s enforced and capped up to date.
So there is a very, very good tips for you right there, but the weakest link in network security is a people problem. Companies tend the small businesses tend to trust people I think too much, and one bad apple can just cause a lot of problems.
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