Ten Ways to Secure Your Small Biz Computer Network

If you do not have a full-time IT team of workers or a company like a Plexus looking after your pc infrastructure, here are 10 fundamental matters you can do on your own to hold your office network running easily.

1. Keep Your Anti-Virus Program Current – Make positive your anti-virus software subscription is current, and the software is updating properly. Just because an anti-virus software program got here with your pc does not mean it is shielding you, so make certain. I do now not propose the Nortons and MacAfees of the world, which commonly come with a loose trial on all new PCs in recent times. If you probably did now not purchase the subscription, I advocate as an alternative installing the unfastened variations of AVG or Avast, which were ranked better with the aid of Consumer Reports than the first-rate regarded brands. For your servers, however, I propose Trend Micro to be able to come at a very affordable rate, particularly in comparison to the value of convalescing all your crucial documents from an inflamed server.

2. Use an Internet Gateway Appliance – You’ve probably heard the advertisements on the radio for unsolicited mail blocking firewalls. However, there are many similarly effective, less steeply-priced, or unfastened alternatives, including Untangle. These gadgets sit down between your Internet connection and all your computers to filter out any form of junk, whether or not it is hitching an experience on an internet site or an email. My feeling is that if a trojan horse is attempting to get into my house, I want to prevent it at the front door instead of trap it within the kitchen, so permit’s preserve these items from ever reaching your computer systems

3. Be Vigilant – Even if the e-mail is from a person you realize, if you are not anticipating an attachment, don’t open it. If the e-mail consists of an internet hyperlink, are you sure you want to click it? If a salesperson suggests up and wants to expose your files on his flash power, civilly decline. A couple of years ago, a colleague and I interviewed local builders for a tiny database mission. As he twirled his shiny keychain flash drive on his finger, he provided to duplicate the statistics files, so he should take a more in-depth look at domestic and get again to us. Suffice to say, we declined and said we would get lower back to him.

4. Limit Employee Computer Use – If your employees have unfettered net get right of entry from their computers, you’re likely inviting hassle if they don’t need net get entry to perform their activity responsibilities. Appliances like Untangle can effortlessly block, restrict or screen internet pastimes with the aid of each person. For a reasonably-priced opportunity, test my weblog I put up from lower back in January about a free and powerful internet blockading device constructed proper into Internet Explorer referred to as Content Advisor.

5. Control CD Burners and External Media – CD/DVD Burners, Flash drives, and mobile phones make facts enormously portable. So portable that important agency data ought to walk right out the front door snuggly tucked away on the flash force of a temp or within the iPod of a sad employee. Just like the Internet, if they do not want it to do their jobs, do not give it to them. Here’s a link free of charge equipment to show off USB ports and CD burners.

6. You Must be ‘This High’ to Go on this Computer – If youngsters go to the workplace, don’t let them at the computers. If you leave your computers on overnight, ensure to lock them (Control + Alt – Delete + Lock Computer). We would not want to tempt the cleansing crew or their children, now might we?

7. Routine Maintenance – Back within the I Love You, Nimda, and Melissa Virus days, we pulled some all-nighters cleaning gadget after the device that was inflamed, no longer due to the fact they did now not have anti-virus software, but due to the fact they lacked the modern-day Microsoft patch that plugged a protection hole. For workstations, we advise putting Windows Update to automated. As needed, the pc will acquire, and installation wanted Microsoft protection and software program updates. Make certain that your anti-virus is configured in an equal manner. I propose configuring it for servers to download the updates; however, I can choose when to put them in. In this manner, I can do the updates after hours or at the weekend so, if there are problems, I have masses of time to fix them before people begin displaying up for paintings.

Eight. Secure Your Wireless Network – When Wi-Fi first got here on the scene, I may want to assume having a loose Internet connection anyplace I went thanks to human beings being too lazy or too intimidated to configure wi-fi network security nearly. Today, however, they’re easier than ever to at ease, so make certain yours is earlier than people begin hanging out in your automobile parking space with a laptop and latte to surf your community and ship god-is aware of what to god-knows-who.

9. Windows File Permissions – The Windows operating machine has permission settings constructed to limit or furnish get entry to humans or groups. For example, if you have a folder with documents, you best want you and your accountant to enter, but now not Becky, the Admin Assistant. Or, possibly you have got performance reviews to which most effective you need to be privy, you may set that up as well. These are easy to set up, but you might require a touch schooling first. Give me a call, and I can stroll you via the method. If you try it by yourself, practice on a brand new folder with dummy documents in preference to, by chance, lock yourself out of the payroll folder.

10. Disaster Recovery – Some call this Disaster Prevention Planning, as in, permit’s avoid recovering initially. Still, I like the term Business Continuity Plan, as in, catastrophe or not, make sure our business maintains to run unaffected. No depend on what you call it. Do you have a plan and some mechanism in the vicinity that will help you stay in commercial enterprise or recover fast if there’s a flood, an earthquake, or someone forgets to pay the power bill? Trust me, I’ve seen all the ones things show up. If now not, here are some questions to ask yourself while growing your plan: