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----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website,offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as longas no changes a Gone are those times when the companies and the organisations didn't need a hi-tech system to handle them. Owing to the considerable increase in the business sector and thus, an enormous increase in the complexity of the organisational struc
With hurricane season fading into history yet again, we canrelax knowing our network and data are safe again. The dangerous storms have come and gone andwe can focus on the next item on the to-do list. Weve successfully saved our data and ourjobs or have we? Although storms and weather get a lot of attention for the damage andoutages they cause, there is another, more subtle danger that can be just ascatastrophic to your network and to your business. In fact, over $250 billion each year is lost dueto information theft. Not all of that isfrom brand name businesses either; a significant portion of that comes fromsmall and medium businesses. Not onlythat, but over 75% of all information theft is committed by people who work for(or used to work for) the company stolen from!I see a lot of companies who feel that they are not a target,as they are too small, or that their employees would never do something likethis. And actually, some of them areeven right. However, many companies findout after the fact that they should have been doing more to protect theirnetwork. There are several simpleadjustments you can make to most networks to provide additional security andprotect yourself from unwanted access to your network. 1. Changeyour passwords.I know, I know. Its annoying, it is way too difficult tokeep track of all of those passwords. However, changing your password protects you from all of the people youmay have loaned your password to. Ofcourse, that wouldnt include YOU, you never give anybody your password, doyou?2. Dontuse simple passwords.Did you know that an averagepassword guessing attack can find out a simple password in less than anhour? By forcing passwords to be atleast 7 characters long, including characters from the various sets, andavoiding using words found in the dictionary, that same attack will take 5-6months. (Thats why secure networksrequire passwords to be changed every 3 months.)3. Lockaccounts if passwords are mistyped.This also prevents outside attackersfrom trying to guess a password. They will be stopped very quickly when theaccount locks, because no passwords will work, and the error messages change sothat you wouldnt know even if you typed in the correct password. Of course, you will get the occasionallegitimate user who locks themselves out, especially right after they havereset their password in step 1, but again whats more annoying, unlockingaccounts, or realizing that your data is the hands of your businesscompetition, or worse yet, the 5:00 News.4. Forcecomputers to lock if inactive.Almost all computers these dayscome with screen savers. Screen saverscan and should be configured to require a password to disable. This allows people to leave their desks safelywithout having to save their work and close their programs. Most users dont remember to do this whenthey get up, but networks can be configured to force this to happen. This prevents other users in the office fromsitting at their desks and rummaging through their files.5. Disableaccounts that arent actively being used.Once an account is no longerrequired, it should be disabled to prevent it from being used to accessanything. There are many ways to accessa network either locally or from somewhere remotely. Having an old username and password justmakes things that much easier for former or current employees to get thingsthey arent supposed to have.6. Dontlet users have physical access to the server.In worst case scenarios, users whoare allowed to stand in front of a computer can do a whole lot of damage in avery short amount of time. Anything fromchanging files, to deleting them, to erasing entire computer systems. Would you let somebody have easy access toyour personnel files? This can be justas bad or even worse. The first 3 items on the list help protect from outside users. The other 3 help keep your employees on theright side of the law. I hear from manycompanies that they arent big enough to worry about these issues. My response to them, is that if they continueto be successful and continue to grow, they will reach a point where thesesteps will be not just recommended, but critical. Its better to have these policies in placenow, rather than after the fact, when its too late. Should you have any questions about any of these securityenhancements, InfoStream ishere to provide guidance and assistance to ensure you have the safestnetwork possible.
But,was,such,nice,man,With,hur