Office work and telecommuting involve two fundamentally different approaches to network security. Unfortunately, both in the first and in the second case, typical mistakes are made.
Typical mistakes in ensuring the security of IT infrastructure in the office
In Softline's practice, there are often situations when an organization implements a sufficient set of protection tools, but does not use their capabilities to their full capacity. It often happens that customers do not know not only about the hidden capabilities of such complex solutions as a firewall, but even about all the functions of antivirus software. For example, about the possibility of blocking removable media - often, instead of just setting up an antivirus, a separate product is purchased.
The second common mistake is the incorrect definition of the class of tools needed to solve the problem. Companies, as a rule, are guided only by their experience in the operation of certain products, as well as data from open sources. Unfortunately, this is not enough to find an optimal solution to the problem.
For example, to protect users' web traffic, a firewall is usually purchased, while it is often more effective to use a separate type of product - a web proxy that has certain protection mechanisms, site categorization, content analysis, and so on. And in some situations, the maturity of the customer's IT infrastructure makes it possible to abandon the purchase of separate solutions for protecting different segments of the corporate network in favor of maximum use of the main and secondary functions of one product.
Typical errors of IT infrastructure security at a remote location
When working remotely, the network infrastructure extends beyond the physical perimeter. And if in the office employees are protected by a long-built information security system, then when working from home "everyone works as best they can."
What does classic remote work look like? Corporate or personal car. Antivirus with basic protection is installed on it, as well as a VPN client that provides access to company resources. The VPN client encrypts data, but does not protect it. If the antivirus fails, traffic is intercepted or the password is lost, an attacker will gain access to the machine and enter the network under a trusted user account. The size of the further disaster depends only on the skills and goals of the attacker.
The irony of the situation is that in most cases, employees' computers have all (or almost all) of the necessary tools to ensure network security, for example, the ability to configure different policies throughout the day, which, in combination with two-factor authentication, can significantly reduce possible risks. But even these tools are very often not tuned and hardly used.
Why is a trusted advisor needed?
Trusted Advisor is a company with great competence and experience in one area or another, capable of carrying out any, including confidential, projects. Its specialization in solving certain problems allows not only to fulfill the tasks set by the client, but also to anticipate possible future difficulties or questions, and also to cut off unnecessary tasks in the formulation of tasks.
First, let's analyze the above errors in ensuring the security of the network infrastructure. Why are they possible? Let's stipulate right away that your full-time IT specialists can be at their best. They are not the problem. Simply, being engaged in ensuring the functioning and modernization of the existing IT system in a company, it is almost impossible to keep track of all the trends in the information security market, study the best practices in this area and timely track the emergence of new solutions. But a trusted adviser is capable of it.
According to Softline's experience, using the accumulated experience of working with any industry or category of customers, it is possible to predict future problems of a client from the same segment. We have a special branch of industry expertise, whose task is to study the problems of different areas of business. And within this subdivision there are individual professionals dealing exclusively with their industry of specialization. As we understand, the full-time IT department of an ordinary company (not related to system integrators) cannot and should not have such high competencies.
In such a situation, contacting a trusted adviser is the right choice. With its help, you can not only ensure the proper level of protection of the network infrastructure, but also save IT professionals time and budget funds by eliminating solutions with redundant functionality, correctly setting up already purchased products, and much more.
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