FIREWALLS

Unfortunately, there is a very large number of small businesses that still do not have a firewall. Perhaps, the problem is that many still do not know what a firewall is. Briefly, and plainly, a firewall is a piece of equipment that sits between the Internet and your network and acts as a filter, albeit a fairly smart filter. This “Filter” is essentially what keeps malicious activity out of your business’s or even your home’s internal network. What kind of malicious activity? Well, there are scores of attacks that are automated and that young people, who are curious and have no regard for the property of others, can use as tools to do a great many things that can cause you and your business headache. For instance, there are tools that launch an attack that’s purpose is to send so much nonsensical information so fast that you are blocked from getting your email, access to the Internet, or just certain sites on the Internet. This attack is called a “Denial of Service” attack, for obvious reasons, and can cripple your ability to do business if you rely heavily on your network and its access to the Internet. There are other attacks with various names that do such things as steal passwords, credit cards numbers, or even steal hard disk space for nefarious purposes such as storing Illegal Pornography pictures and videos. These sorts of attacks are fairly prevalent but are very difficult to pull off when there is a good firewall in place to block such attempts.

We are not telling you that you will be a victim of these types of attacks, but, if your business does not have some basic protection in place such as a firewall it is a certainty that your business’s network and resources WILL be abused by unscrupulous individuals at some point and it is just a matter of time. Having a network and being connected to the Internet is by nature dangerous in this regard, but to have no firewall is asking for trouble. It would be analogous to not putting any sort of lock or locks on the front door of your home. We can help you decide on a firewall that can be inexpensive but do an excellent job of protecting your internal network as well. Depending on your needs we can help you decide on a firewall that can also provide you with safe access to your business's network while on the road or at home by means of a VPN. The majority of good firewalls that exist on the market today can perform quite well for the basic needs of a small business and provide the aforementioned VPN technology.

Lastly, as part of your business’s security, we can make suggestions as to things that could be done to keep you network more resilient to attacks, such as a good Anti-Virus solution, Anti-Spyware/Malware, or correct misconfigurations that are known to be insecure for a network. The SANS Technology Institute makes some very basic suggestions for some very simple security configurations that can cost you very little but save you tremendously in the long run. Let us help you analyze your network for some basic weaknesses and explain to you the great benefits of some small changes.