Protect Your Business with These 6 Technology Tools

Cybersecurity is the single largest problem that any business faces, particularly when the threat profile out there is so vast and varied. Today, we want to go over the many solutions your business can implement to make cybersecurity much more manageable.

Your Basic Firewall

A firewall is your network’s first line of defense.

It protects your business from internal and external threats by controlling incoming and outgoing traffic. The firewall does this through predefined security rules which monitor and control access. They are typically built into most security systems, so it’s likely that your security solutions already have this protection, even in a basic form.

Firewalls assist with intrusion prevention, malware protection, and so much more, generally making your network more secure.

Anti-malware and Antivirus

Antivirus and anti-malware take care of the threats that your firewall can’t protect you from.

This includes viruses, malware, ransomware, and other malicious software that has made it to your network. These solutions can detect, quarantine, and remove them. Sometimes these solutions are made with the home user in mind, but as a business user, you should be using a more powerful tool with more robust features.

A good business-grade antivirus solution offers real-time threat detection, tools for network analysis, and powerful endpoint security.

Data Loss Prevention Solutions

DLP helps your business prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data while it’s in transit.

Your business will often send sensitive information to various parts of your infrastructure, so it’s your responsibility to secure that data. Otherwise, someone could intercept it and steal it while it’s moving from one location to another. These solutions offer ways to manage secure content delivery, policy enforcement, and comprehensive data encryption.

These tools are vital to any business with sensitive data to protect (i.e. all of them).

Powerful Encryption

Encryption essentially scrambles your data, making it impossible to decipher without the appropriate permissions.

Think of it like an encoding of your data. Once the data is encrypted, the recipient needs the proper decryption key to decrypt it and make it legible. Most solutions that involve sensitive data will have encryption built in to some degree, but you should consider it not just for your network, but also any communications channels your business utilizes.

Encryption is a critical solution that makes the Internet, email, and other file transfer methods much safer to use.

Identity and Access Solutions

Identity and access management solutions help you control which users can access your business’ information systems.

This is crucial to keeping your solutions accessible only to authorized users. The best tools can help you control who can access specific systems and protect your other tools through the use of single sign-on (SSO). With SSO, all your business' tools can be accessed through one singular password rather than all of your employees needing to sign in each time.

IAM tools remain important for ensuring that only those with permission are allowed access to your company’s important resources.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR)

BDR helps businesses guarantee regularly backed-up data for quick use in a disaster scenario.

The last thing you need is a data loss incident, but BDR helps you recover from them quickly and efficiently. Through the use of incremental backup, BDR keeps data loss to a minimum. Furthermore, through multiple copies of data located in the cloud, on-site devices, and off-site data centers, complete redundancy is enforced.

Never discount the importance of contingency plans like BDR; you never know when they’ll be needed.

Want to get started with any of the above? Horne & Benik can help. Learn more by calling us at (603) 499-4400 today.