Tip of the Week: A Beginner’s Guide to Network Security Best Practices

Security is a critical component for businesses, regardless of their size. However, since so many considerations need attention, it can be easy to get lost in a swirl of solutions. In times like these, it’s best to get back to basics and make sure you have the essentials covered. To help, here are two steps to help you evaluate your initial security implementation and current processes.

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1. Take (and Keep) Out the Trash: First off, you have to make sure you get rid of any threats that have already made their way inside. Once you have done so with reasonable confidence, you should go about implementing the following measures as well, to keep more threats from replacing those you just eliminated.
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   1. Install a supported suite of software solutions (and make sure it is always fully updated). Make sure all employee devices, both company-provided and BYOD, meet the standards you set for security.
   2. Require employees to utilize complex, secure passwords and two-factor authentication, if available.
   3. Maintain an organizational awareness of current cyber security events, especially what caused them, how to spot and avoid others, and the consequences a business could suffer.
   4. Instruct and evaluate employees on how to best ensure the security of the company’s network. When hiring new employees, be sure to run a background check for any history as a malicious insider.
   5. Communicate with internal business members, external resources, and clients to establish a plan for when a security incident occurs.
2. Raise the Drawbridge: Your company is like a castle--if someone attacks it, they’re most likely after the treasure you have inside. In this case, your treasure is your highly-sensitive critical data. As such, you will need the full force of your organization at every level to be united in defending that treasure from those who would plunder it.
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   1. Protect your business with the requisite security measures. If your industry has particular security requirements due to regulations, educate yourself on the precise solutions you will need to implement.
   2. Identify your most critical internal systems and data sets and introduce additional security systems and measures to protect them.
   3. If applicable, keep your stakeholders and board members up-to-date on your security processes, making sure to stress their importance.
   4. Ensure that your vendors are properly managed, and require (in writing) that they subscribe to measures at least as secure as your internal ones.
   5. Test your security on a regular basis to identify potential weaknesses.

There you have it: the absolutely essential steps any business will have to take to begin a sufficient approach to cyber security. SCW can help you take these steps, as well as many others that businesses today can’t afford not to take. Give us a call at (509) 534-1530 for more information.