Each year, thousands of companies both big and small are victims of phishing, malware, hacking, and other types of cyberattacks.
Small to medium sized organizations are generally more vulnerable than large ones because they tend to have fewer resources to devote to security or just don’t have the knowledge to protect themselves.
The truth is that Sixty-seven percent of organizations suffered some form of a cyberattack in 2019 – whether it be a virus, ransomware, phishing, or some other form of cyber attack.
You can safeguard your firm against losses caused by cyberattacks by simply implementing a few key softwares on top of your Network Monitoring systems that can be found here.
Here are 3 Important Business Software Recommendations Owners Should Consider Implementing Now:
Intrusion Detection Systems
An intrusion detection system (IDS) monitors network and system traffic for any suspicious activity.
Once any potential threats have been identified, intrusion detection software will send notifications to alert the systems admin team that there is a threat.
As your organization grows, you will have more and more devices jumping in and out of the network and you will need a way to track these devices at all times.
Intrusion detection systems very advanced these days and a great one will proactively analyze and identify patterns that are indicative of a cyber attack, often times before the cyber attack fully infiltrates the system, preventing a lot of potential damage from being done.
There are two types of Intrusion Detection Systems to know about so you can decide on the one that is a better fit for your organization.
Network-Based Intrusion Detection Systems – NIDS
A NIDS requires a packet sniffer which gathers network traffic information.
Most NIDS’s include a rule-based engine that you can customize with your own rules.
There are many different NIDS’s so you will want to look for one with advances options like a user community rule module that allows you to imports community produced rules directly.
This saves you time and gives you some already tried and true rules from the community.
NIDS rules also work as selective data capture.
This makes data analysis easier because it only shows data that fall under the specified rules – it keeps the system from being overwhelmed with information that is hard to sort through.
NIDS programs must e installed on an actual piece of equipment and the higher end enterprise solutions typicall come with some sort of network kit.
An NIDS also requires a sensor module for picking up traffic.
Host-Based Intrusion Detection Systems – HIDS
Unlike NIDS that examines traffic, a host-base intrusion system examines the events on a computer connected to your network.
It does this by looking into admin file data such as log files.
HIDS programs back up your configuration files which gives you the ability to restore previous files and setting should you be infected with ransomware, a virus, or other cyber attack.
For the best results, it is best to install HIDS on every piece of equipment connected to your network.
You will then that a distributed HIDS system with a centralized control module so that you can view each host from one location, or dashboard.
Antivirus and Malware Protection
Cyber attacks re one of the most serious threats that business have to face in this modern day and age.
Around 50% of small to medium sized organizations suffer losses resulted from malware infections, and this is in the US alone.
Even with the alarming high number of cyber attacks being reported each year, still few companies pay attention to their cyber security.
Many business owners think that the free built-in Internet Security software is enough to protect their data but with how advanced and sophisticated hackers are getting, it just won’t cut it.
Here’s why you need a more reliable antivirus and malware protection software for you business.
- Ransomware – Ransomware is perhaps the most prevalent type of cyber attack and it is one of the hardest to detect. In a nutshell it freezes access to files stored on a hard drive and can even travel to connected networks, bringing an entire organization to its knees. To get control back you either have to pay the ransomware or hope that you have sufficient backups of your files to restore your entire network. Yikes!
- Protect Sensitive Data – Spyware is one way that hackers get access to your personal and financial data as well as data about your customers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, e-mails and so much more. Talk about an invasion of privacy! This not only puts you, but your customers at risk. Furthermore, Spyware is extremely difficult to detect, prevent and remove without the right antivirus in place.
- E-mail Protection – A good antivirus and malware protection software will not only detect intruders, but will scan incoming emails, letters and attachment and earn you if there is anything suspicious or potentially threatening. These malicious viruses are often disguised as normal looking images, attachments, text files, and links. One accidental click and your computer with tons of confidential information is infected.
- Online Security – If you run a portion of your business online, such as online payments, storing sensitive information online, etc, antivirus even helps protect that. Timely detection and blocking of phishing and fraudulent sites are ones of the important components of a complex online security pack.
- Management Console – Many Anti-viruses have a console so that you can manage multiple users and devices in one place. It also alerts you when updates are needed so that you can be sure you are always up-to-date and protected.
Antivirus and Malware protection software also offer other benefits such as password managers, file shredders, firewall, ad blocker, USB scanning, anti-spam filters, search adviser, and even built-in VPN service.
After reading all of the reasons listed above, will you choose to spend several dollars on a good antivirus or lose millions of dollars because of your carelessness one day? I’d say the answer is more than clear!
Firewalls
There are two types of firewalls: Hardware firewalls and software firewalls.
Hardware firewalls allow you to protect your entire network from the outside world with a single physical device. This device is installed between your computer network and the internet.
A hardware firewall monitors packets of data as they are transmitted. The firewall then blocks or transfers the data, according to predefined rules.
Regardless of the type of firewall that you choose, both aim to accomplish the same thing: firewalls provide protection against outside cyber attackers by shielding your computer or network from malicious or unnecessary network traffic.
Firewalls can also prevent malicious software from accessing a computer or network via the internet.
They can be configured to block data from certain locations such as computer network addresses, applications, or ports while allowing relevant and necessary data through.