Is Your Business Cybersecurity Ready?

Find Out How An Enterprise-Grade Networking Solution Can Protect You and Your Clients

The data network is a vital infrastructure for any business. Networks carry sensitive business correspondence, proprietary product plans, and financial transactions. Unfortunately, there are nefarious characters who seek to gain access to this information, causing damage to your business and your client’s trust. Your network needs more protection than the out-of-the-box products.

It is reported that a majority of businesses will continue to allow employees to work remotely for at least the next year and possibly beyond. Managing connections from disparate locations, each with unknown security levels, presents a clear and present danger of cybersecurity breaches. 

An enterprise networking solution can provide security beyond simple passwords, with tools that stop intrusions before they get a chance and can identify suspicious activity if something gets through.

To see how our expert team of IT designers and installers can protect your Hawaii business, read more below.

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Know The Threats

Cybersecurity threats come in multiple forms and at all levels of business communications and even transactions. Having a familiarity with the necessary methods can go a long way in helping you prepare and respond.

While spy thrillers and movies portray hackers using fancy cryptography tools full of scrolling code and blinking LED lights, the truth is usually a far more straightforward affair.  A whopping 90+% of all phishing, malware, and ransomware gain access from clicking on a link from an email. All of these are software-based and require someone to activate them, however unknowingly.

Phishing is a tool that looks to have you provide login information, financial account numbers, or personal identification information. These attacks generally come in the form of a letter or ‘security confirmation’ from a trusted institution such as a bank and request you enter the data to verify.

Malware looks to have itself installed by clicking a link or downloading software from a less than verifiable source. Many once trusted freeware sites have become honey pots for malware and ransomware delivery.  The software monitors your activities and submits your web activity, keystroke entries, and more to a destination server. This unauthorized monitoring is most often used to sell your activities on the web and e-commerce sites to market research firms and other less than legitimate organizations.

Ransomware is a particularly nasty variant of the rest; it a trojan horse that, once activated, can lockout from an individual computer, servers, and entire networks. A substantial ransom payment will potentially result in a code to unlock, but the system is possibly compromised even then.

Prevent, Protect, Prepare

When implemented and managed correctly, there are several hardware and software solutions that can cut your exposure dramatically.

Remote workers pose a big concern as they originate on home, or worse, public, networks that you cannot verify the safety of.  Adding a few intermediary steps may make connecting a bit more complicated, but the protection they offer is well worth it.

Make It Private

Connecting through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) furnishes a secure ‘tunnel’ between the source computer and the business network. As the VPN provider makes all connections anonymous and looking like it originates from another location, it is harder for an instigator to tag along.

Multi-step authentication requires an initial login and a secondary confirmation code entered from a second device, usually a smartphone. While this additional step can slow down the access process, its ability to thwart illicit connection attempts is well proven.

Installing a firewall, a device that examines packet traffic and blocks those deemed dangerous or suspicious acts as an initial buffer to prevent access to the actual network. It engages virus and malware detection.

A managed switch is an enterprise-class network management tool that creates a more tailored network configuration. It can make smaller networks off the main one, manage how data types are routed, which clients have access to what, and prioritize data based on service rules’ quality.

Wired vs. Wireless

Wireless networks offer the convenience and simplicity of connecting network-capable devices over a radio frequency (RF).

Many off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers default to security schemes that furnish ease of connection over multi-step prevention. Intercepting this signal while working from a coffee shop, via municipal sponsored systems, or someone sitting in the parking lot is a constant activity for hackers.

Upgrading to Wi-FI 6 not only sets you up for increased performance, but it also comes with WPA3 native encryption and certification scheme that is effective against many hardcore attack tools.

Connect with us today so you can discover why we are Hawaii's most trusted business automation and networking company. We look forward to speaking with you soon!