firewall Archives - Page 2 of 2

How a Firewall Works and Why You Need One

firewall, Network, Ophtek, Safety, Securityfirewall, network, Ophtek, securityOphtek, LLC

May 2019

One of the most common ways to protect your PC is by working with a firewall, but what exactly is a firewall and what can it do to protect you?

Protecting your organization’s PC network should be one of your main priorities when it comes to IT due to not only the amount of data being transferred, but also the impact that a security breach could have on your productivity. Thankfully, there are many security options available to help strengthen your defenses and one of the oldest forms of security is a firewall. And, despite the traditional nature of this defense, it remains one of the most effective for stopping intruders accessing your network.

To help you understand this area of cyber-security in a little more depth, we’re going to take a quick look at how a firewall works and why you need one.

What is a Firewall?

The concept behind a firewall is a relatively simple one compared to other forms of cyber-defense with its main objective being to stop malware and malicious attacks penetrating a computer network. Essentially, a firewall is much like a content filter in that you’re able to define exactly what is allowed to both enter and leave your network. This filter is an automated process, so it’s possible to program the firewall to a highly tailored specification and then leave it to filter out anything deemed nonviable for the network.

What Exactly Can a Firewall Do?

A firewall, of course, is more than just a filter. In fact, fthere are a wide range of benefits that any organization can benefit from and these include:

Internal Safety: Many security lapses come from internal actions taken by staff such as accessing malicious websites or downloading malicious email attachments. While these are almost always innocent mistakes, the ramifications can be highly inconvenient. With a firewall in place, however, these concerns can be significantly reduced due to the level of control at your disposal which includes restricting outgoing connections to specific websites and receiving emails with attachments known to be malicious.

External Protection: As information filters in from the internet, firewalls are able to analyze this data and verify whether the data is safe to enter your network. The firewall does this by determining the location and source of the data and then authenticating it against a set list of permissions. This verification is incredibly quick and will almost instantly confirm whether this data is allowed through or needs to be rejected. And, given the amount of headlines attributed to cyber-attacks on business, this provides some highly valuable peace of mind.

Monitoring Outgoing Data: One of the main draws of using a firewall is that they’re capable of analyzing data that leaves your organization. In particular, this is very useful in the IT world to monitor any unusual activity on your network. If, for example, a larger than usual amount of data is being transmitted to unfamiliar sources then there’s a good chance that your network has been hacked and is being used to orchestrate bot attacks. With a firewall in place, though, you can identify this process early on and work on shutting it down.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

The Basics of Protecting Your Network

anti malware, firewall, network, Ophtek, security, two factorAnti- malware, firewall, network, Ophtek, security, segment, two-factor authOphtek, LLC

Apr 2019

Computer networks are complex pieces of technology, but, thankfully, when it comes to protecting them, the processes are relatively simple.

If you’re an organization that works with PCs then the chances are that the backbone of your IT infrastructure will be a network. Packed full of benefits that enhance accessibility, speed and communication, a PC network is crucial for productivity. However, due to the incredible amount of data being transmitted across a network, these bastions of connectivity are squarely in the targets of hackers. And that’s why it’s important that your network is protected from any external threats.

You can, of course, invest heavily in a wide range of security solutions to protect your network, but it’s vital that you make sure you follow the basics as your best defense. So, if you want to know what these are, just take a look at our guide on the basics of protecting your network.

Always Use a Firewall

Your organization’s network is private and, therefore, the last thing you want is for third parties to be accessing the network and viewing its traffic. The most popular and effective method for preventing this is by installing a firewall. A piece of software that analyses incoming and outgoing activity, a firewall is a multi-layered form of defense that can monitor network activity, report unusual behavior and enforce security policies.

Work with Two-Factor Authentication

It’s highly likely that you’re familiar with the process of using login credentials to access networks and applications, but have you ever used two –factor authentication? While the standard practice of entering a login name and a password is highly secure, two-factor authentication makes it doubly so. The concept of two-factor authentication is that users have to go through two forms of authentication to gain access to the network e.g. after entering a username and password, users must then activate a link emailed to a secure email account.

Install Anti-Malware Software

Malware is any form of malicious software that aims to exploit vulnerabilities in your PCs (and their users) to gain access to your network. Naturally, this is the last thing you want, but it’s almost impossible to manually identify every threat entering your network. Therefore, it’s essential that you install anti-malware software to help protect your network. Capable of identifying the vast majority of active threats (and regularly updated against new ones), anti-malware software provides you with peace of mind that your defenses are strong.

Segment Your Networks

A simple way to enhance the security of your network is by segmenting it into individual sub-networks. Not only does this approach enhance the performance of each ‘segment’, it also increases the security of the network as a whole. For example, if a hacker manages to gain access to one of the segments, they will only have access to that one segment. The other sub-networks will be fenced off with their own unique security measures and, therefore, make it much harder for a hacker to gain access to the entire network.