Network Security Threats Come In Many Forms
Posted on May 31st, 2010 in Blogging | No Comments »
When you mention network security threats people will instantly think of some nasty virus or trojan that is downloaded to the network via a link in someones email or maybe when you click on a link in a webpage.
If you have been on the internet for any amount of time you will have heard about all sorts of nasty worms and hidden backdoors. These are very real and can do a lot of damage to your home pcs and especially to business networks. If you think it is annoying losing all the photos and emails from your family, just imagine how bad it is for a company that loses all its records.
There are all sorts of bits of software that you can install on your computers to protect you from malicious attacks from outsiders. Any network admin worth his salt will have at least one program installed to check all the emails that come into any company computer, it isn’t unusual to also have your web surfing controlled in some way.
What about security threats that are not sent through email or a website? If you are allowed to bring in your own cd’s,usb flash drives or anything else that allows you to put info onto the company computers you are bringing in a potential computer virus or trojan.
There was a case where someone who worked at a bank was allowed to bring in his video game so he could play it during his lunch and on breaks. In fact the video game had a mini computer inside it which was then connected to the company network and created all sorts of problems.
If you job involves assessing and protecting your network against security threats don’t just think about emails, websites and facebook links, make sure everyone is aware of the company policy with regards to bringing in their own computer related items.
The best policy is to just say no, no one should be allowed to bring in their own laptops, netbooks or any other item that can be connected to the company computers. You can even go so far as to put superglue into the USB ports so they can not be used.
This can of course create problems if you need to access the machine via USB or your company sells the machines later, but that will be a small issue in comparison to the possible loss of all your data.
What next?
