Cybersecurity continues to be a major concern for business owners leveraging the digital platform to reach out to customers worldwide.
While the internet offers unlimited opportunities for entrepreneurs to make money, they’ll lose everything if their network is not adequately kept secure from attacks.
Most enterprise businesses have enough funds to pump into network security, but this is not the case with small and medium business operators.
46% of cyber breaches were directed toward businesses with less than 1,000 employees. In fact, 82% of ransomware attacks also target this category of businesses.
Therefore, enterprises and small business owners must be highly vigilant about securing their networks against attacks.
These 4 Tips Will Help To Keep Your Network Secure in 2022
1. Use Efficient Secure Network Gateway Solutions
A network gateway connects networks by implementing translation between data formats and protocols at the network boundary.
Organizations may utilize gateways to link the public internet to corporate LAN or connect multiple internal networks.
Its key function is enabling cross-network connectivity—in fact, this appears to be its sole duty as a network gatekeeper. In addition, it combines different extra features that may not be included by default.
As the main portal for gaining access to an enterprise network, it works as the first frontier of security—a go-to location for implementing a wide range of cybersecurity solutions such as firewalls.
The solutions deployed in the cloud also achieve the same core functionality and ensures a good level of security when network protocols are being converted.
2. Avoid Public Connections
Leveraging a public network is like keeping your sensitive data in an unblocked safe before transferring it to where it should be. However, this process exposes it to threats and breaches by external actors.
Hence, while all connectivities have different risk levels, maintaining a public network is still one of the best strategies to ensure adequate network security.
Private connections keep your data private and unexposed to public access by reducing the Autonomous System (AS) paths it needs to follow. This means that the path it travels will be shortened.
A good network provider, especially if they are ISO/IEC 27001 certified, will also provide options to encrypt your network from end-to-end to allow safe data transfers. You’ll enjoy peace of mind when they comply with regulatory standards.
3. Perform Network Security Plans Audit
Audit the network security plans of your businesses from time to time to provide an overview of vacuums and leakages and other security risks and challenges that hackers could easily hijack to wreak havoc on a network.
With an audit, you’ll be able to see and evaluate your network’s active security processes, documents, and plans in system security, operational security, physical security, data security, and network security.
While you may employ experts—a security service company— to carry out the audit on your network, an in-house team can also perform a thorough audit using modern software and tools.
Aside from getting insights into certain aspects of your network that need to be addressed, with an audit, you’ll also be able to develop a strategy to resolve a situation and return to a business if an attack succeeds.
4. Introduce Network Security Training Programs to Your Employees
Your employees are your first defense against threats and attacks because most hackers target unsuspecting workers to gain access to an organization’s network through malicious links in an email.
This phishing attack is one of the commonest cyber attacks on small businesses today.
Most big companies have departments dedicated to security and provide incentives and training for employees to bolster their security posture.
When employees know exactly what to do at every point of a security situation, they will help tighten the company’s security posture and decrease the chance of a cyberattack on the company.
Therefore, a business should include a certified cybersecurity training plan for new employees and update it yearly for all employees.
Trained employees will be able to recognize potential cyber threats and know how exactly to handle each situation. They must also be able to report every situation that threatens the network’s security.
If your company is bringing in external security experts, they will be able to help create a custom training program that will address your business security and equip your team from wherever they may be working from.
You might also be open to leveraging free training programs from tech companies or government institutions to help your company’s security infrastructure.
Generally, training often requires companies to review security topics such as strong password creation, identifying phishing emails, securing personal information, engaging in safe web activity, and avoiding harmful downloads.
