Did you know there is software that you can download for free that can crack password protected network in less than 5 seconds? Or that your website can be copied and replicated with a simple click of a mouse? What has your organization done to secure the intranet and the network?
Security – it’s perhaps the top issue on the minds of network administrators. It rarely though is on the minds of those managing the content in communications, marketing and human resources – but it should be.
Of the 556 executive interviewed in a recent Fusepoint/Sun Microsystems/Leger Marketing survey, 55% say that their confidential and private data is at risk of an attack. For good reason: your intranet is open to attack and requires security measures. Attacks happen every day.
GeoTrust’s Best Practices For Securing Your Enterprise prioritizes their “Top 10” recommended security practices for “building online trust both inside and outside your enterprise.” They admit that these are not comprehensive guidelines, but focused on most critical areas you need to adopt at your organization including:
- running SSL on servers
- supplying client side SSL certificates to employees
- establishing solid policies and procedures for security
- embracing paperless transactions
- physical network security including firewalls
- building a secure PKI system
- creating a testing environment
What’s the most important thing?
“The simplest but most powerful thing of all – ensure every security patch for all operating systems and applications is applied on all systems as soon as they come out. Hackers know well the vulnerabilities of Microsoft’s Internet Information System Web Servers and seek sites running them as easy targets. Patches that make IIS not vulnerable have been freely available for years and yet over 30 percent of IIS systems on the public web are not up to date. This one is worth repeating: apply all security patches immediately.”
© 2006 Toby Ward - Prescient Digital Media