Most businesses and management teams find themselves asking questions about network security at one point. Questions like, what is network security? What is network design? What is network security design? What is involved in these? And, do I need network security measures for my business?
It can be confusing for those who aren’t already experts in this field, but that’s where we come in. As a trusted Brisbane IT support, cyber security and network specialist experienced in working with businesses across IT, we answer these questions and more in this guide on the basics of network security. And of course, if you need assistance with any of these areas for your business, our friendly team are here to help.
What is network security?
Network security focuses on protecting your underlying network infrastructure. Network security refers to any activity designed to protect your network and data’s usability and integrity. Effective network security manages access to your network, stops threats from entering your network, and prevents them from spreading throughout your network when breaches do occur. Proper network security actively targets and protects against all of the key threats to your network, assets, data, information, and systems.
Does my business need network security?
It is important for any business to implement network security measures, as there is a significant risk of successful attack for those without measures in place. Even small businesses are at risk of having their network compromised by threats and attacks in today’s connected world.
A successful attack can be a disaster for reputation and consumer trust, and can even impact your ability to deliver your services or offerings to your customers. Important information could be leaked, important data and systems could be destroyed, and much more within your network may be compromised without security measures in place. It’s important to protect your data and sensitive information, your customer’s private details, your assets, trade secrets, financial information, and all of your systems, from attack.
While a small business may not need the same extent of security measures that a large-scale high-profile company would, it’s still crucial to have appropriate measures in place to protect against risks. An unprotected network is low-lying fruit for attackers, making this an easy and desirable target.
Getting help from the experts
Seeking the advice of an experienced network security specialist is important, so that all of the key areas of risk to your specific business can be addressed. At Envisage IT, we specialise in assisting small businesses, medium and large enterprises with all of their network, network security, cyber security and IT needs. You can talk to our friendly team of experts about your network security today.
What does network security involve?
Network security looks to prevent cyber security and network security threats, attacks and exploits.
Usually this involves security measures for both hardware and software, to protect against common threats, such as disclosure, destruction, malicious use, tampering, faults, and unauthorised access.
Network security usually combines layers of security defences, both within the network and at the edge of the network, to prevent entry by unathorised people and threats, and access to the entire network for any breaches that do occur.
Disclosure
Security measures that protect against disclosure work to keep the details of your network and systems secret, to minimise the risk of exploitation and unauthorised access. The more people that have access and knowledge of your network details and login credentials, the higher the chance of a leak occurring. Preventative measures can include keeping details only accessible to those who need to know this information, keeping varying levels of access on a need-to-know basis, and other steps.
Destruction
Network security measures against destruction prevent the destruction of company networks, software, files, data, or other resources. For example, a cyber crime may be attempted to access the company network and delete, or threaten to delete, important files.
Malicious Use
Network security measures need to be taken to protect against malicious use of systems, hardware, networks or software. One example is to lock away important or high value network resources so they cannot be accessed by unauthorised people for malicious reasons.
Tampering
These measures against tampering investigate when something happens that should not have happened, and monitor when devices are accessed. One example is creating alerts when unrecognised devices sign in with login credentials and investigating these instances when they occur to determine if a security breach has occurred, and if it has, how this happened.
Faults
Protection against faults is the practice of detecting potential issues and preventing them from occurring. It involves preventative measures as well as remedying issues as they occur. One example of this is installing temperature sensors in equipment that is crucial for business operations.
Unauthorised access
Some examples of network security measures against unauthorised access to your networks, systems, data and files include protecting your computer network and devices with login credentials and 2FA.
What is network design?
Network design, which is also known as network topology, is the arrangement of all of your infrastructure in your IT network, communications network and computer network. Network design is the act of designing and planning your networks, and is performed before implementing your network infrastructure.
What is network security design, and what does it involve?
Network security design is the process of designing your network to include preventative measures for the key elements of network security, such as those mentioned above – destruction, disclosure, tampering, malicious use, faults, access issues, unauthorised access, cyber attacks and more.
It involves many measures, and many layers of security, that stretch across your entire network. Good network security design requires knowledge of all of the threats that pose risk to a business, how to protect against these, and how to apply security measures in a practical sense, working measures into the network infrastructure.
Network security specialists
At Envisage IT, our Cyber Security and Network services can take care of your business’s network security systems, to ensure that your defences are in place to withhold attack attempts when they occur. Our expert team can assist you by creating a network design and network security design for your business, whether this is from scratch or using your existing systems.
We can talk you through a complete network security design plan for your business, cover off on your options and our recommendations, and assist with implementation and ongoing maintenance. Get in touch with our friendly and knowledgeable team today.
