Companies must take proper steps to protect technology

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It is common for businesses to lock their doors at night, but not all take sufficient precautions regarding their computers and electronic assets. Without protecting assets such as network security and data storage, "any number of things can happen, up to and including putting the company out of business," according to Jeff McKinnis at Baird Kurtz & Dob-son which specializes in, among other things, computer security assessments, e-commerce solutions and network administration.|ret||ret||tab|

Those like him who serve at network security companies advise businesses on how to keep their networks, data storage, and computers secure. And with "the events like September 11 and these virus breakouts" there has been "a huge in-crease of concerns over computer and data security," McKinnis said.|ret||ret||tab|

Businesses first need to be aware of the risks and the recommended precautions before they can protect their own electronic assets.|ret||ret||tab|

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External risks|ret||ret||tab|

Earl Johnson of Networks Inc., a firm that performs network security consulting and handles e-commerce, said the first thing he recommends a company do is "put someone in charge in their organization to do an assessment," but pre-ferably an assessment by an outside firm, depending on an organization's size. "The end result should be a company security policy and a plan to implement and enforce the policies," Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

In doing an assessment, there needs to be an awareness of viruses, and companies should look into having a firewall in place and having intrusion protection from hackers and competitors, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

A firewall is the common measure im-plemented to protect systems from infiltration by hackers. Often a firewall and anti-virus package come together in a box, and the box is placed "in front of your network, between you and the In-ternet," said Joel Reeter of SEC Inc., a company that handles network solutions, and provides on-site evaluations. "(A firewall) checks for viruses," and "if someone tries to hack in two times, it will lock that Internet address out" and then notify the company, Reeter said. |ret||ret||tab|

Reeter also advises that only the ad-ministrator know all the employees' passwords. |ret||ret||tab|

Reeter also said that the administrator's assigned user name, "Administrator or "Admin," be changed from the start, because if the administrator's user name is known, hackers have nearly half of their work done for them.|ret||ret||tab|

It is vital to keep anti-virus defense updated to spot and block them, Reeter added.|ret||ret||tab|

On a less sinister level, there are environmental threats such as tornadoes, wind, fire, lightning and power outages. A power outage can take "years and years off a hard drive," Reeter said. In-surance against those types of problems is available, with the cost depending on the cost and the size of the equipment.|ret||ret||tab|

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Internal risks|ret||ret||tab|

"Generally, we see internal risks pose a much greater problem than external risks," McKinnis said. Internal risks vary, but usually involve employees.|ret||ret||tab|

"By necessity, employees have access to, operate, and are located with a company's most valuable information as-sets," he added. Problems created by em-ployees can be accidental or malicious. To prevent damage made by disgruntled employees, Reeter said companies should give employees access only to those operations they need to perform their respective jobs.|ret||ret||tab|

Companies also need to be aware of the potential risks of others who have access to the premises, such as cleaning crews and visitors, Johnson added.|ret||ret||tab|

In order to prevent employee abuse of the Internet, Johnson suggests companies install software that prevents workers from visiting unacceptable Web sites.|ret||ret||tab|

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Data storage|ret||ret||tab|

"Most companies forget that the data that they have is more valuable than all the equipment they have," Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We usually recommend data be stored on a redundant system, where data is written to two or more hard drives at the same time. And we also, obviously, recommend back-ups to other media such as tapes."|ret||ret||tab|

For larger companies, clustering is al-so an option. |ret||ret||tab|

"Clustering entails having multiple computers store the same information. If one of the computers were to fail completely, the data is still available to the users," Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

To protect data from fire and other damaging possibilities, consultants also promote back-up storage in a location other than the company, such as a safe-deposit box or off-site safe.|ret||ret||tab|

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Hardware and software assets|ret||ret||tab|

Companies also have the physical hardware of their computer systems. McKinnis said businesses should "subscribe to a hardware and software manufacturer or other third party mailing lists to be notified when there is an issue, and the availability of any service packs or other fixes." But, he added, "only subscribe to services that will inform you about your specific equipment and software or you will find yourself inundated with irrelevant notifications that may cause you to miss something important."[[In-content Ad]]