Cyberattacks are becoming more and more frequent in modern digital society. Corporate Internet connections are among the most commonly targeted networks due to the potential for hackers to access sensitive and potentially valuable information. Making sure you have adequate network security for your business is just one step to take to minimize threats. Here are some other ideas on how to keep your network installation hacker-protected.
Physical safety
Despite their name indicating that they can only be online, cyberattacks can also occur in a physical space if a hacker can access the premises of your business. Sometimes network security protocols can be ignored if the router is reset to a physically secure location, such as a locked data store. If you have large rack servers that cannot be placed in one of these archives, you can also try to turn an abandoned room or office area into a lockable server room. This could be something you might struggle with if you don’t have prior knowledge of the technology, so contact an enterprise IT support company for project support and guidance. While most companies will likely rely on wireless networks, hackers can also take advantage of all the Ethernet ports that might be around your office. If the threat comes from within your company, it would be very easy for this person to use one of these ports to access sensitive information, which could lead to data breaches or even embezzlement.
Unless you’re tech savvy or have a dedicated IT professional within your company, contact a corporate IT support company and ask them to unseal non-essential Ethernet ports, disable unused switch ports on the network, or use smart features like port security to support network security.
The power of passwords
No doubt you understand that a password is a safety requirement that should be in place since network installation occurred, but this is often not enough to deter some of the most dedicated hackers. If you are using an older router, there is a possibility that it will use WEP as an encryption protocol. This is very susceptible to cyberattacks by hackers for a number of reasons and should be upgraded to WPA2 as soon as possible.
While using WPA2 for corporate Internet is an important part of having a powerful password, the actual password must also be secure. Anything as obvious as “password”, sequential numbers or the name of the company should be avoided as any half decent hacker will try them almost immediately. Passwords must have more than 15 characters, have a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, or symbols, and must not have number-by-letter substitutions.
WiFi for guests
If you’re running a network installation to provide visitors or customers with a WiFi connection, make sure you have someone who knows they’re doing, such as a corporate IT support company, set it up for you. An improperly configured unsecured guest WiFi network is a gateway for hackers to access the internal corporate network and access information and documentation. In general, there are two ways to achieve this; configuring a completely new network with a separate router or splitting internal and public networks with a service set identifier. The latter option isolates work computers from guests and allows you to use different types of WiFi security on each network.