“I’ve been hacked.” How many times have we heard this? When our email or Facebook accounts have been compromised, we worry about what the hackers may have “stolen” – our contacts? Credit card numbers? Identification? Now, imagine the impact that has on huge corporations or organizations where potentially millions of accounts are affected. This constant threat in today’s digital world reinforces the need for network security to guarantee the safety of an organization’s assets, privacy, clientele and technology.
With cybercrime costs predicted to reach $6 trillion a year by 2021 – up from $3 trillion in 2015 – it’s more important than ever to implement network security programs. As technology grows, network security options expand to meet the needs of organizations, combining layers of defense to secure the information that affects your digital life, privacy and business.
Deciding which you need for your particular situation can be frustrating. These are some types of network security to consider:
- Antivirus and antimalware software: Malware (malicious software) is also known as spyware, ransomware, Trojans, viruses and worms. When it infects your network, it brings trouble galore. It can disrupt your computer’s performance and cause it to crash, slow browser speeds, allow unauthorized access to your system, steal sensitive information and cause connection issues. Installing antivirus and antimalware software can protect these things from happening.
- Network Access Control (NAC): If you install NAC, it helps you control who is or is not authorized to access your network and enforce your security policies. All of your devices and users need to be recognized to keep out potential hackers and attackers.
- Email security: Everyone’s at risk through email. Going through an email portal is the easiest way to breach a network’s security. Attackers can use your personal information to develop phishing schemes that trick email recipients into clicking on malicious sites. When you utilize an email security application, it can effectively block incoming attacks and control outbound messages so sensitive data is not at risk.
- Wireless security: With so many mobile devices connected to a wireless network with multiple access points, network security can be compromised. Wired networks are more secure than wireless networks, which are easier for hackers to enter. If your network is wireless, you need to enable security products that are specifically designed for these networks. Without strong wireless security in place, installing a wireless LAN could be like having accessible Ethernet ports everywhere.
- Application security: No matter how good the software you buy – or your IT department creates – is, it can be vulnerable to attackers. Application security is the hardware, software and processes your company uses to close holes and protect vulnerabilities.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP): This software helps organizations guarantee that their employees do not send sensitive information outside the network. It prevents users from uploading, forwarding and printing information (perhaps from suspicious web sites) in an unsafe manner.
- Firewalls: These are barriers – walls – between the internal network that you trust and those outside your network that you don’t trust. Your company establishes a set of rules put into place to either block or allow Internet traffic (an external, and often untrustworthy, network). It can be software, hardware or a combination of both to manage web traffic and secure connections when you’re online.
- Virtual private network (VPN): If you ever work from home, you may have had to join your company’s VPN to access its main server. A VPN can encrypt the connection from an endpoint (such as your home computer or laptop) to a network, usually over the Internet. A remote-access VPN authenticates communication between network and other devices through IPsec or Secure Sockets Layer.
Since new vulnerabilities to our technology are coming about every day, the need for IT security specialists is growing. They are especially important to large companies and industries, such as health care and banking, that rely on secure, shared databases.
Campus, formerly known as MTI College, offers a fast-paced, hands-on Network Administration and Security associate degree program that prepares you for an entry-level position as a networking professional. After you complete your network security program at Campus and earn CompTIA Network+ and Security+ certification, it can open the door to an entry-level job as a:
- Network administrator
You would be responsible for setting up and maintaining an organization’s computer network to keep costs down and production up. - Security specialist
In this important role, you would protect a company’s computer network and make sure that only authorized people could gain access to confidential information. You would also have to monitor the network’s infrastructure and firewalls. - Information security analyst
You would look for security breaches and investigate violations, install firewalls and generally help keep a company’s computer network safe from hackers. - Systems administrator
This job entails taking care of the day-to-day operation and upkeep of a company’s computer network.
Campus provides the skills and certification you need for an entry-level job in IT network security. Call today!