05/ 02/ 2002
by Cosmo Santullo
While companies are more dependent on the Internet than ever, it's an unhealthy place for valuable business information. Thieves can access critical business data without your knowledge. Vandals can trash your system and destroy data with viruses. Any of your employees who are working from home or on the road can unknowingly create openings for hackers to gain access to your network to wreak havoc.
Security experts are seeing more malicious acts from hackers who are smarter about how they find security holes and protect their identities. How pervasive are security threats? The 2001 Computer Crime and Security Survey published by the FBI and Computer Security Institute highlights just how big the problem has become:
- 85 percent detected computer security breaches within the last 12 months
- 64 percent acknowledged financial losses due to computer breaches
- 70 percent cited their Internet connection as a frequent point of attack
- 94 percent detected computer viruses
- 78 percent reported denial of service attacks
According to the research firm Gartner Group, small businesses should focus on security appliances because they provide the security a business needs without requiring detailed security knowledge. A security appliance sits between the network and the Internet connection to provide protection for your network. One of the key advantages of using a security appliance is that security functions are moved off computers and onto a robust security platform with a high performance processor designed to handle the processing demands of security.
Minimize risk with a layered defense: firewall, anti-virus and a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Each layer adds more security to create a security gauntlet for attackers.
Firewall
The firewall is the foundation of your network security. Without firewall protection, sensitive data, such as payroll or corporate strategies, can fall into the wrong hands or even be made public. The key differences in firewalls are the amount and quality of information used to make decisions. The more information collected, the more security the firewall delivers. Any weakness in this layer opens up vulnerabilities in all security applications.
If the security appliance includes seamless support for adding other layers of security, such as anti-virus and VPN, it can provide all the security layers in the Security Pyramid.
Anti-virus
Viruses are the leading Internet security threat facing businesses. They spread faster and cause more damage than ever before. Viruses disrupt your employee productivity, waste expensive IT resources, and destroy your company's most valuable asset -- your information.
The best defense against today's virus threats is an anti-virus product that automatically acquires the latest anti-virus software, updates all appropriate systems and enforces anti-virus software updates. This approach does two things: 1) it ensures that your systems are updated in the fastest time possible and 2) it removes the "human factor," as updating every system on the network can be a time consuming and intensive task. With this virus protection solution, your exposure is greatly reduced and your protection is significantly improved.
Virtual Private Network(VPN)
Moving beyond defensive security of the previous layers, Virtual Private Networking (VPN) provides a cost-effective and secure solution for linking up remote offices, telecommuters, day-extenders, clients, and partners. VPN creates a secure "tunnel" with encryption to protect everything passing through it. Anyone with an Internet connection that you authorize can work on your network as if they're sitting at a computer in your office.
Security is a constantly evolving game of cat-and-mouse. As hackers develop new ways to break into networks, new safeguards are developed. Without the constant feeding and caring of your security system, your protection degrades. Look for security products that can easily adapt to the changing threats by providing the ability to automatically update to provide protection against the latest hacker attacks.
Cosmo Santullo is President and CEO of SonicWALL, Inc. an Internet security appliances provider for access security, transaction security and security services for large enterprise, e-commerce, small & medium businesses, education and government markets. For more information, visit the company Web site at www.sonicwall.com.
