The Connection, Inc Blog

Though network security is a necessity, it’s difficult to plan for every single possibility. Small and medium-sized businesses have trouble accounting for the many threats that lurk on the Internet, as security often requires a professional’s touch. As experts ourselves, we’ll discuss the many security solutions available to your organization, as well as what your best option is.

Thankfully, the many great security measures that your business wants to implement can all be found in one convenient package--the Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. It’s an enterprise-level tool, and thanks to managed services providers like The Connection, Inc, even small businesses can take advantage of this level of protection at an affordable rate. The UTM focuses more on eliminating and preventing issues before they become full-fledged problems.

We’ll discuss the various parts of a UTM so that you know with confidence that you have an idea of what your solution will protect your network from.

Firewall
Firewalls are so important that even the average consumer PC should be equipped with one. Firewalls act like virtual bouncers, keeping bad data from entering your network, while still allowing the good data through. Like any good security solution, a firewall needs to be updated with the latest threat definitions so that it can keep all of the latest problems out of your network.

Antivirus
However, not all threats can be detected by a firewall, which is why antivirus is needed to eliminate the varied threats that can make it past a firewall’s defense. Antivirus is another crucial part of any computer owner’s security repertoire--even moreso for business owners--so make sure that your network is equipped with it at all times.

Spam Blocking
Hackers will frequently use spam to spread their malware. Spam basically allows hackers to keep themselves hidden in plain sight. They can spoof their email addresses to make themselves look like someone else, or use other dirty tricks to manipulate you into doing exactly what they want. These phishing emails might be designed to acquire credentials, convince the user to click on infected email attachments, or visit malicious websites. A good spam filter can save you from dealing with these annoyances, and it can save you precious time wasted on deleting spam from your inbox.

Content Filtering
There will always be unsafe content to view on the Internet, and even a good employee may accidentally slip up and visit a website with malicious code. A content filter can keep your employees from accessing malicious or time-wasting websites. This can be done on a per user basis, allowing for customizable access to the wonders of the Internet, should you have a problem employee who can’t resist watching pornography or browsing social media in the office.

Is your business protected with this kind of security? If not, call The Connection, Inc today at (732) 291-5938 to equip your organization with a UTM.

Every time you pick up a personal computer from a vendor, chances are that it will have an extremely basic firewall pre-installed. These consumer-grade firewalls leave much to be desired, especially in the business environment. You’ll want to make sure that your organization is equipped with enterprise-level solutions designed to protect on both a fundamental level and an advanced level. To do this, you want to take advantage of a Unified Threat Management solution.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business, a large enterprise, or if you're in a rural town, or a larger city. You still have to worry about the security of your data and the integrity of your infrastructure. Thankfully, there are services out there that allow even small businesses to leverage powerful, enterprise-level tools for maximum network security. The most valuable of all is perhaps the Unified Threat Management (UTM) tool.

Network security for small businesses is far from simple. There are countless threats out there that want to see your business fall, and it only takes one to see this come to fruition. Unless you take action now to protect your organization, you risk the future of your business. But what is it that businesses need to protect from, and what measures are out there that can accomplish this feat?

How big a role does security play in your business’s network management? If it takes a secondary role more in favor of operations, you might want to reconsider why this is the case. After all, your organization’s critical assets--namely sensitive data like employee information, payment credentials, and usernames or passwords--all hold immense risk for exploitation from hackers. Therefore, even if you don’t fear a potential attack, you should at least consider it as a possibility.

To optimize security on your business’s network, we often recommend what’s called a Unified Threat Management (UTM) tool. This combines several of the most important enterprise-level security solutions into one package for maximum network protection. Here is what a UTM contains and why it’s important for your organization.

Firewalls
Firewalls are beneficial in that they keep threats out of your network in the first place, meaning that they don’t even have the opportunity to access your network and cause trouble for your business. Firewalls act as the virtual bouncers of your network, keeping dangerous traffic from entering while keeping threats in one place so that they can be thrown out or eliminated quickly.

Antivirus
An antivirus solution complements a firewall by eliminating threats that do manage to slip through the firewall’s grasp. An enterprise-level antivirus solution can identify and eliminate threats of all types; malware, viruses, trojans, and so much more. It’s a great way of mitigating risk for your organization by ensuring that you take quick action against any potential threats. The big difference between a centrally located antivirus such as this, compared with standard consumer-grade antivirus is that the updates and scans aren’t up to your end users, making the process seamless without interrupting productivity.

Spam Blocker
Spam isn’t just an annoying and problematic thing to find in your inbox, it can also be exceptionally dangerous. Hackers will often use spam to spread their malware, and advanced phishing schemes are used to collect credentials and steal sensitive information from unwary users. Enterprise-level spam blockers are used to prevent spam from even hitting the inbox, allowing no room for error on your users’ behalf. Of course, advanced threats often know how to dodge these blockers, so training for your employees is still ideal.

Content Filter
The Internet holds countless threats that can put your organization at risk, including malicious websites designed to harvest credentials, and downloadable attachments that can infect your network with ransomware before you know what hit it. The best way to keep users from accessing these dangerous sites, along with time-wasting websites that hold your business back from succeeding, is a content filter. You can block malicious online threats while keeping your employees from accessing social media (YouTube, Netflix, etc.) killing two birds with one stone.

Your organization can’t take any risks with its network security. To learn more about a Unified Threat Management solution, and to get a second opinion about the current state of your business’s network security, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

The online business environment is a dangerous place, especially with threats such as viruses, malware, and worse, all hiding in plain sight. Organizations need to take advantage of comprehensive security solutions that can cover all modes of attack, but finding an affordable enterprise-level solution can be challenging for SMBs. Thankfully, a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution provides comprehensive coverage that today’s businesses need.

To help you out, we’ll discuss the four key UTM features in detail, including how each part contributes to your overall network security.

Firewalls
You can think of a firewall like a bouncer for your network. A firewall is essential for every user to have, especially those handling corporate data. Firewalls analyze the data flowing into and out of a network. This helps to ensure that only data that’s safe enters your organization’s IT infrastructure, while keeping threats locked out and promptly eliminated so as not to spread across your network.

Antivirus
In comparison to the firewall, antivirus solutions focus on eliminating threats that have already made their way into your network infrastructure. With the proper threat definitions, antivirus can detect and eliminate most known variants of threats, such as viruses, malware, spyware, and more.

Content Filtering
Content filtering is another preventative measure that focuses on keeping threats from entering your infrastructure. Content filtering looks at which sites your employees are accessing in order to determine whether or not dangerous content is being accessed. This includes sites that host malware or other malicious code on their web pages. Furthermore, content filtering can be used to limit user access to specific sites, which is exceptionally useful for problem employees who can’t stop browsing social media or watching pornography in the workplace.

Spam Blocking
Again, this is another preventative measure that keeps threats out of your email inboxes. For hackers, email is the preferred mode for a variety of attacks. Malware and viruses, and in particular ransomware, are all spread via infected email attachments or malicious links found within the body of the message. Spam blocking solutions keep these messages from hitting your inbox in the first place, practically eliminating the risk of user error.

Considering how a UTM takes advantage of these four solutions by consolidating them into one convenient package, it is without a doubt the best way to protect your organization from the threats found on the Internet. The end result for businesses is a much more secure network that’s suitable for getting work done.

Of course, due to the fact that no one solution can fully cover the security needs of every organization, you’ll first want to have IT professionals assess your network’s needs before implementing a solution like UTM. The Connection, Inc can do this for you and equip your network with the right-sized UTM model, or even point you toward a different security solution altogether. For help selecting and implementing a security solution that hits the mark, contact The Connection, Inc today at (732) 291-5938.