Network Security: Top Five Tips for Start-up Businesses

 A critical error that a lot of start-up businesses commit is setting aside their network security as a secondary concern. Network security should be a high priority for all start-up businesses, as ignoring it at the outset could prove to be a fatal and expensive mistake. In today’s information age, network security is key to the survival of your business: cyber criminals compromise 30,000 websites every day.

Everyone takes internet security very seriously. For example, if you’re setting up internet at home and you’re investigating broadband deals, you’ll find that internet security is one of the top priorities with the package. If you want your business to be protected against cyber crime, make sure you go through some of the basic concerns listed below.

1.First things first

Rolling out simple security measures should be your first step to tightening up security. This doesn’t take a lot of effort, so there’s simply no excuse for not getting it done. If your company provides a web-based service, you need to make sure that all user passwords are encrypted. This will give protection in the event of a security breach.

It’s always best to use a standard, established algorithm for most programming languages. You’ll need to do some research into which algorithm is best for your purposes.

2.Beefing up your server

The next step you must take is to make sure your server is 100 per cent secure. Your server, operating system and the applications that run your service are all security concerns that need to be addressed before you roll them out onto the battlefield that is the internet.

It’s always best to hire the services of a systems administrator for this task, or using a managed hosting provider as opposed to leaving it in the hands of an inexperienced techie. Bear in mind, this task will be an ongoing process as new weaknesses and vulnerabilities will crop up often.

3.Train your workforce

Training your staff in security matters is the next vital step your business has to take. There’s simply no point in setting up a secure service if your workforce doesn’t know what security threats they should be looking out for.

It’s amazing how far adequate training can take your company’s network security: they’ll be able to avoid phishing and visiting harmful websites – and will be aware and alert at all times.

4.Keep business correspondences secure too

Most security threats to your business will arrive via emails, in the form of viruses, spyware and malware. After security training, your staff will be able to recognise potentially harmful emails as well as what to do with them.

Make sure you have the latest internet security software installed and that your operating systems automatically update themselves.

5.Protect your mobile devices

The proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices has been something of a poisoned chalice for businesses: they are now an additional security concern that you must oversee. It’s important to include all mobile devices in your initial security plan, so that your corporate data is safe.

Unfortunately, network security isn’t something you can spend time on and then forget about after your company has started walking on its own. It’s something that you’re going to have to monitor carefully in order to protect yourself against the ever-changing face of cyber crime.