In today’s world, all businesses depend on digital infrastructures to store and manage their data. However, with this increasing reliance on technology has come an increase in those using malicious tactics to gain illegal access to the data on file. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, in 2018, there were 1,244 reported breaches across various industries. In terms of individually exposed records, this amounts to more than 446,000,000. Furthermore, the amount of content that had consumer personal identifying information (PII) went up by 126%. The guide below looks closer at this need for network security.

Risks of Poor Network Security

When trust is broken between a client and a business, the damage can be hard to repair. Therefore, companies need to take the protection of their personal information seriously or they risk productivity, profit, and plans for the future they had in place. For example, when Target announced it had a data breach in 2013, it affected sales by 46%. They also ended up paying $18.5 million to settle the court case that ensued.

Possible Solutions 

Although the best defense depends on the business, it usually involves a combination of efforts. These include encrypting the network access to make sure all messages sent to or received by it are converted into code, changing authorization for different users, and installing anti-malware software, which looks for suspicious code and attempts to neutralize it.

Firewalls are your best defense to a varity of malicious activity and infections.  A good firewall has multiple layers of scanning protection and essentially review all incoming and outgoing data, yet have no degradation to your network performance.  They meant to spot worms, filter unsolicited email, viruses, spyware, deter ransomware, and unauthorized access to you network and data.  In addition, experienced network security professionals should perform penetration tests to mimic different types of hacks to identify a possible breach. They can also provide your employees with online security tips, such as how to handle suspicious emails.

If network security is an issue, turn to Techie Dudes to fortify it. Serving in St. Paul, MN, and the surrounding areas, their team has more than 65 years of combined experience. When you schedule a consultation with them, your business will be privy to a free comprehensive assessment that includes more than 20 different security reports. Learn more about their services on their website. If you have any questions, feel free to call them directly at (651) 330-6483.