Recent events in Boston remind me of how much inexplicable evil there is in the world. Even here in our little corner of Indiana, I’ve worked on situations where businesses have lost critical data and hours of productivity because an unauthorized user hacked into their systems and did serious damage. Protecting you and your assets from outside and inappropriate users is every bit as important as making sure your data is backed up and safely stored. One of the most important conversations you can have with your IT company is about how they will “firewall” your business network. A firewall can be software based or hardware based. A firewall’s purpose is to control the incoming and outgoing network traffic, and these days, especially what to accept and what to block from the Internet. Using the Internet is now woven into the basic fabric of our lives, so trying to do business without it is not even a consideration. But you, as the owner or the boss, can determine how much of the Internet is available to your employees during business hours. It’s not unusual for a company to block employee access to popular social mediums like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and to sites like Yahoo, Amazon and even ESPN. Studies show that thousands of work hours can be lost if management does not have policies in place and enforced regarding the use of the Internet on company time. I’ll be happy to talk with you about the different degrees of Internet accessibility, and about what my experience with these issues has been. Bottom line: your data and your proprietary practices have to be protected, and our attention to your particular security needs is an integral part of our Aptica Way. There are other facets of total security, and I’ll be telling you about forensic security in my next post. In the meantime, if I can answer your questions about firewalls or network security in general, please don’t hesitate to call me at 260-243-5100 ext. 2001. Jason Newburg, Owner.
