Today’s business environment is physical, digital, and mobile. Expanding your brick-and-mortar business to a digital one creates opportunities and improves business agility. However, digital business models require a holistic approach to security and management. Cloud-based environments and digital business requires efficient, ultra-fast firewalls, antivirus software, and intrusion-detection systems to protect networks, systems, and enterprise data centers within the IT environment. To maintain a strong posture in your network’s security, small and medium-sized businesses should consider doing away with the out-of-box antivirus software and pre-installed firewalls and strongly consider switching to layered security.
What is layered security?
Layered security assures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data by creating layers of protection to block threats and intrusion attempts on the network. Scan, detect, and respond. These are three fundamental processes in IT network and data security. With new technology-integration in the workplace and the growing popularity of bring-your-own-device, layered security is rapidly becoming the best and most efficient option for network and data security in the workplace.
Expanding enterprises understand the value digital business and cloud solutions bring to their growing business. Data is presently becoming a valuable asset in business. Layered security provides a series of defense layers which create a multi-level perimeter of security around business data. So, whatever your workplace IT policy is, your business data is protected with comprehensive layers of security embedded into the network.
Layer it up!
Like many new opportunities to the commercial environment, IT integration and the expanding role of information technology in the workplace has created new challenges for businesses. Layered security creates multiple barriers that hinder the progress of threats to create multiple mitigating security controls to protect your IT assets.
There are a number of physical and digital perimeter defenses for your IT network that create a defense in-depth security strategy that effectively protects both network and data.
- Workplace IT security policy is the first line of defense against information security threats. Having a strong password, adequate awareness of cyber-threats, and good login/logout habits among employees increases security and reduces the risk of attacks and intrusions.
- Effective Instrusion Detection Systems provides real-time monitoring that keeps your network safe from intrusions and attacks by detecting anomalies in the system with an effective behavioral blocker that identifies suspicious activities which signals cyber-intrusions.
- Firewall protection is a network security layer that stops threats at the connection layer. Firewalls protect networks from unauthorized access and secures incoming and outgoing network traffic. Firewalls keep networks safe from intrusions and unauthorized users and create the needed layer of protection required to deny unauthorized users access into private networks, improving your network’s security from malicious software, malware, and viruses.
- Anti-Malware and antivirus programs create the most vital layer of defense for your network. Anti-malware stops Trojans, spyware, adware, worms, rootkits, keyloggers, ransomware, bootkits, and phishing from infecting different devices on the network. By installing anti-malware programs on dedicated network appliances and gateway servers, networks are adequately secure against malware. Antivirus protection creates a barrier around networks that prevents viruses from deleting, modifying, or adding files that could destroy devices and systems within the network. Having anti-malware and anti-virus protection creates a primary defense and real-time protection from threats to systems, networks, and data.
- Operating System Firmware is your device’s last barrier of defense against cyber-attack’s and intrusions. Regular firmware updates help secure devices and networks with updated security from security patches.
Creating a Defense in Depth Security Strategy
Developing layered security for network and systems is not the same as using redundancies to enhance security. Taking a proactive approach to security is the focus of layered security. It assumes that a single tool or layer of control does not provide the necessary level of security necessary to protect data assets securely. Layering creates comprehensive protection where each defense component covers for the failing of other components. Taking on an in-depth defense approach to network security is one of the best ways to protect IT networks. Future blog posts will feature more helpful information and tips on how IT and cloud technologies could help benefit your business in countless ways.