TECHNOLOGY
OPTIMAL FIREWALL
Afirewall is a network security
system that monitors and controls
incoming and outgoing network
traffic based on predetermined
security rules. As a business, you can set
these rules to be specific to your needs. You
can even choose to create “allow and deny”
lists (formerly whitelist and blacklist) for
different users and access points.
A firewall is so important because your
business is the guardian of gigabytes
(maybe even terabytes) of sensitive
information about you and your clients. In
the wrong hands, a leak of information can,
quite literally, destroy your company. By
investing in the strength of your firewall,
you are investing in your business’s future
in the digital world, and this is far more
important than some companies realize.
To develop the most secure firewall,
follow these suggestions:
First, block all fledgling content.
Generally speaking, brand-new websites
have more potential for phishing use.
Furthermore, there’s usually no reason
your employees will need to access sites
like these from work. You can protect your
network by either applying a content filter
or blocking sites that have only been live
for a short time period.
Second, allow access to encrypted
information. Within the confines of your
infrastructure, qualified personnel should
be able to access and scan the contents
of encrypted packets. Unfortunately, SSL
and SSH encryptions can be used against
you. Hackers have been known to encrypt
packets for entry into networks that require
these certifications. Your firewall should be
able to access the contents of an encrypted
file in order to determine its safety.
Third, seriously consider role-based
security systems. Also called RBAC, rolebased
access control is a security feature
that assigns access to certain parts of your
network based on a user’s privilege level.
Under this model, any user that is not in
the database will have very limited (if any)
SECURITY
By Robert Hessel
access to the business’s infrastructure. You
have to be careful with this model, however,
because employee access credentials need
to be strong and difficult to guess. It is
generally recommended to combine multifactor
authentication (MFA) with any rolebased
access measures.
Next, consider how your rules impact
performance. While piling on the security
rules might, at first, sound like a great idea,
too many rules can start to slow down
your network. If each connection is doublechecked,
triple-checked, and cross-checked
against a massive database, you’re inching
towards incredible slowdowns for your
employees. Implement only the security
protocols that are the most effective and
highly necessary for the security of your
business’s important data.
Finally, audit your rules regularly. Once
a year isn’t enough; depending on your
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business niche, six months may not even
be enough. Speak to your IT department
for details on how often a security audit
should be performed – you may be
surprised. Make sure you provide the
resources to IT for this enormous task; it
takes many specialists to ensure the safety
of data within your network.
When in doubt, test it out. Penetration
testing, also known as pen testing, is a type
of validation that you can perform on your
network. When you hire someone to pen
test your network, they will intentionally
try to hack it and get past your firewall.
Only hire someone trustworthy to do this,
and it will illuminate any areas of weakness
in your infrastructure. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert Hessel at Source 1
Solutions can be contacted at (727) 538-4114
or by visiting source1solutions.com.