If the early days of the Internet were the Wild West days, the current explosion of spyware, viruses, and phishing must make this era the Al Capone days. Never have more criminals been plying their trade on the Internet and World Wide Web than today. Except, perhaps, tomorrow. And the next day.
Don’t take my word for this lawlessness; look at your own network. If that doesn’t convince you, check out the March 2006 version of Symantec’s twice annual Internet Security Threat Report . They are the ones with millions of log files full of evidence that criminal hackers have invaded the Internet in large numbers and aggressively seek to invade your company’s network.
Don’t think small companies are the only ones making security mistakes. Doing Network World Technology Tours on Remote Office Networking in 2004 and 2005, I talked with many enterprise network managers. By hiding the names of the stupid, I’m able to report Embarrassing Security Secrets .
Spam and Spyware
Remember the good old days, when the only problem was a few too many spam messages in your inbox? And you muttered angrily as you spent 12 seconds deleting those messages?
For our Network Life online magazine, I wrote 10 Ways to Stop Spyware back in 2005. Late in the year and early in 2006, some online listings reminded people of this story and it was one of Network World’s Top 10 stories for several weeks. This piece’s popularity just reminds me how aggravating spyware remains to most computer users.
One of the sponsor’s of the Network World Small Business Technology tour, Barracuda makes a dedicated hardware appliance that deals with spam of all kinds in a variety of ways. Barracuda Boxes Spam discusses how they handle spam, why their approach works so well, and how even small companies save money buying an appliance like this.
Security Appliances
Barracuda’s spam box can’t be called a security appliance in the traditional sense, even though reducing spam (and the viruses and phishing scams carried within) certainly improves security. Most people consider a security device one that blocks outsiders, and there are plenty of those (both appliances and outsiders attacking your network).
Check Point makes a wide range of security appliances for companies from tiny to fairly large. I reviewed Check Point’s Safe@Office 225 and found it to be a good step up for small companies moving from SOHO (Small Office Home Office) consumer-type firewalls to a more complex but competent security appliance.
One of Check Point’s competitors, WatchGuard, ships a product line that compares well with Check Point and all appliance vendors catching the “upgrade from your first firewall” wave of companies. I examine the WatchGuard product’s good and bad points in Another Wireless Firewall Router .
Passwords
Access to networks and the resources therein require some type of authentication. For most companies, that means a username and a password. For far too many of those companies, that means a username and a weak, nearly useless password.
Just because your company falls into the “small” business listing doesn’t mean don’t want to protect your assets. The security market vendors actively seek to move their products downstream to smaller businesses. Sometimes those efforts mean little effort went into modifying the products, but some vendors really approach small and medium businesses with great products at good prices and with a fresh approach.
One of those companies I’ve covered for years is CryptoCard , makers of various security authentication products. Their big push during the Network World Small Business Technology Tour in 2005 was to Eliminate Static Passwords . Good password management and flexible authentication services used to be priced far above small and medium businesses, but no longer.
The big name in the authentication business, RSA, also realizes smaller businesses have valuables to protect as well. I believe CryptoCard offers some advantages for small businesses down to easy ways to add high quality authentication for as few as five people, but RSA does have interesting products to help you when Regulating Two Factor Authentication .
One point I always stress about security for network managers and business owners is that users only think about security when they actively hate security. Users see security features as blocking their work rather than protecting their work. As a company leader, you must do two things. First, remember that security products with more complexity means less compliance, so choose products accordingly. Second, train your users on the need for security and the minimal steps they can take to help protect themselves and the company. People aren’t unreasonable, just unwilling to jump through security hoops without knowing why they must jump and how their jumping will help protect company assets.
