Network Security & Protection
Network security and protection is probably the most important aspect of any network administration team. Digitization has transformed our world. How we live, work, play, and learn have all changed. Every organization that wants to deliver the services that customers and employees demand must protect its network. Network security also helps you protect proprietary information from attack. Ultimately it protects your reputation.
To fully protect a network, multiple layers of security would need to be implemented and in place to respond to various types of threat that a network could face. Each network security layer implements policies and controls. Authorized users gain access to network resources, but malicious actors are blocked from carrying out exploits and threats.
At Robinson IT, we examine each network thoroughly before implementing our various layers to protect the network.
Some of these layers include:
Access Control
Not every user should have access to your network. To keep out potential attackers, Robinson IT engineers will assist you in implementing a proper Network Access Control (NAC) to recognize each user and each device. Then you can enforce the security policies tailored for each user or group of users and devices; You can block non-compliant network devices or give them only limited access using our advanced Access Control List).
Antivirus and Anti-malware Software
“Malware,” short for “malicious software,” includes viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, and spyware. Sometimes malware will infect a network but lie dormant for days or even weeks. The best antimalware programs not only scan for malware upon entry, but also continuously track files afterward to find anomalies, remove malware, and fix damage. To protect a network from such threats, Robinson IT distributes the best Antivirus and antimalware software that the industry must offer, such as ESET, McAfee or Symantec on every computer, server and other devices that could potentially be at risk while on the network.
Application Security
Any software you use to run your business needs to be protected, whether designed and developed by your team or whether you buy it. Unfortunately, any application may contain holes, or vulnerabilities, that attackers can use to infiltrate your network. Robinson IT engineers will work with you to implement a proper Application security, which encompasses the hardware, software, and processes you use to close those holes.
Behavioral Analytics
To detect abnormal network behavior, you must know what normal behavior looks like. Behavioral analytics tools automatically discern activities that deviate from the norm. Through proper monitoring of the network activities, Robinson IT security team can better identify indicators of compromise that pose a potential problem and quickly remediate threats. These tools include applications like SolarWinds and LabTech to name a few.
Data Loss Prevention
Organizations must make sure that their staff does not send sensitive information outside the network. Data loss prevention, or DLP, technologies can stop people from uploading, forwarding, or even printing critical information in an unsafe manner. As Robinson IT has been involved with many industries in possession of highly sensitive data, such as the health industry with all HIPPA rules and regulations to protect patient records, and we will put our extensive knowledge in this area to work in protecting any data residing on a network managed by us.
Email Security
Email gateways are the number one threat vector for a security breach. Attackers use personal information and social engineering tactics to build sophisticated phishing campaigns to deceive recipients and send them to sites serving up malware. At Robinson IT we take proper measures in implementing an email security application that blocks incoming attacks and controls outbound messages to prevent the loss of sensitive data. This allows the legitimate email traffic to properly travel through and around the network while malicious email traffic is blocked from entering or leaving the network.
Firewalls
Firewalls put up a barrier between your trusted internal network and untrusted outside networks, such as the Internet. They use a set of defined rules to allow or block traffic. A firewall can be hardware, software, or both. It can be made from an inexpensive appliance to protect a small network or a much more sophisticated one such as Cisco Unified Threat Management (UTM) devices and threat-focused next-generation firewalls with many features allowing the administrators to have further capabilities in protecting the network. Whatever the size of your network or the complexity of your requirements might be, Robinson IT engineers can assist in programming, implementing and managing your Firewall solution and help you protect your network and computer environment 24/7.
Intrusion Prevention Systems
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) scans network traffic to actively block attacks. Robinson IT Network Security protection includes the use of appliances such as SonicWALL or Cisco IPS that do this by correlating huge amounts of global threat intelligence to not only block malicious activity but also track the progression of suspect files and malware across the network to prevent the spread of outbreaks and reinfection.
Mobile Device Security
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile devices and apps. Within the next 3 years, 90 percent of IT organizations may support corporate applications on personal mobile devices. Of course, you need to control which devices can access your network. You will also need to configure their connections to keep network traffic private. Robinson IT engineers have extensive experience in access control policy implementation and management to protect networks from such attacks.
Network Segmentation
As mentioned in the Internet Access Management section, Software-defined segmentation puts network traffic into different classifications and makes enforcing security policies easier. At Robinson IT, we implement this classification based on endpoint identity, not mere IP addresses. You can assign access rights based on role, location, and more so that the right level of access is given to the right people and suspicious devices are contained and remediated.
Security Information and Event Management
As we covered this topic in our Network Monitoring section, studying events and logs generated by proper monitoring provides vital information that the network security team needs to identify and respond to threats. These solutions come in various forms, including physical and virtual appliances and server software. Robinson IT engineering team will help in identifying the best solution to suit any size network within any industry.
VPN
A virtual private network encrypts the connection from an endpoint to a network, often over the Internet. Typically, a remote-access VPN uses IPsec or Secure Sockets Layer to authenticate the communication between device and network. Our experienced network engineers will work with you in implementing a proper VPN policy to further secure communications to and from your network and data warehouse, while offering you a flexible and reliable method in accessing your data and applications from anywhere in the world.
Web Security
A web security solution will control your staff’s web use, block web-based threats, and deny access to malicious websites. It will protect your web gateway on site or in the cloud. “Web security” also refers to the steps you take to protect your own website. At Robinson IT, we will help you in controlling or restricting your staff’s access to various web sites as well as implementing a proper security around any company web site hosted in-house or on any external web server.
Wireless Security
Wireless networks are not as secure as wired ones. Without stringent security measures, installing a wireless LAN can be like putting Ethernet ports everywhere, including the parking lot. To prevent an exploit from taking hold, Robinson IT will help in implementing solutions specifically designed to protect a wireless network.