Basic Rules For Maintaining Corporate Network Cybersecurity

Modern business is closely connected with digital technologies, making the relevance of protecting corporate networks from hacker threats higher than ever. Attacks, hacks, and data leaks can severely disrupt business operations. To prevent these issues, it is crucial to follow cybersecurity practices and use a dark web monitoring solution. In this article, we’ll explore essential cybersecurity actions for system administrators and management, and how the Edureka Cyber Security Course can empower professionals to safeguard company data effectively.

What Can a System Administrator Do?

The system administrator has limited powers to support cybersecurity. Typically, he is responsible for the following tasks:

1. Using gateway-level antiviruses.

The main source of viruses and other malicious code is the Internet. By installing gateway-level antiviruses, you protect all computers in the local network at once, as they scan the traffic passing through the proxy server. Do not forget to register a gateway with antivirus software as a proxy server for each user.

2. Using an intrusion detection/prevention system (IDS/IPS).

Attacks on computer networks of organizations occur mainly from the outside. Hackers can target both an external resource (for example, a website) and an internal one (say, a database). IDS and IPS allow you to identify attack sources and targets by specific network traffic signatures. Such solutions clean traffic from such negative impacts. In addition, the solutions notify the administrator of what is happening and create action reports so that they can be used to investigate intrusions.

3. Using a proxy server to filter network traffic.

Often, a system administrator is tasked with blocking unregulated actions by workstation users. For example, to prevent them from watching videos, surfing social networks, or downloading pirated content. These actions not only take up working time but can also lead to equipment infection. To avoid danger, the proxy server must set rules for blocking access to those web resources that are undesirable to visit.

4. Using virtual private networks (VPN).

If an organization has branches, it is undesirable to use open channels to exchange information between them. In addition, remote employee access to the office network poses a threat (corporate networks are often hacked using Wi-Fi in hotels and other public places. Creating a virtual private network will help protect communications.

5. Checking the security of a local network.

Every month, several dozen types of vulnerabilities are identified in operating systems, as well as electronic document management systems and other common software. A system administrator must regularly check the computers under his control for vulnerabilities and eliminate them. This is helped by vulnerability scanners at the application level, as well as low-level tools, such as a port scanner, to identify and analyze possible applications and protocols running in the system.

What Can a Manager Do?

A manager has much more responsibility and opportunity to support cybersecurity. To stay up to date with the latest developments, it is important to take the following steps:

1. Study regulatory documents on information security.

Organizations specializing in cybersecurity regularly issue regulations on information security, procedures, etc. As a rule, these are long and obscure texts written in the official language. Ask the system administrator to highlight the main points in them and discuss with him which requirements should be implemented first.

2. Develop and implement a quality password policy.

Make all colleagues aware of the dangers of disclosing their passwords. A piece of paper with a code, glued to the monitor, will give a hacker the key to hacking the entire network. Require users to change passwords at least once every six months. And for the most important employees, such as management and accounting, once a quarter. Use only long and complex passwords that comply with security rules, containing upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

3. Setting up backups.

Backups are the recording of all digital data of an organization to an external storage device or to a cloud server. It is best when done regularly. In the event that a business loses important data, it will be easy to restore, and in the worst case, you will lose updates for a few days or a few hours. How often should you make backups and for how long should you store them? The best option is to save recent information often and store individual slices for a long time, for example, make backups every day, store those made over the past 30 days, and also store slices made 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months ago.

4. Using modern tools.

It is very important to be aware of modern tools for preventing and mitigating cyber attacks. One useful solution is monitoring the dark web, which allows you to track compromised company data on the darknet. This allows specialists to prevent serious consequences for the company or smooth them out as much as possible.

5. Information security training for staff.

The system administrator will explain the basics of information security and digital hygiene to employees, but it is advisable to teach it in a comprehensive manner. It would be good if the company’s employees took special courses in applied cybersecurity. For new team members, studying on such courses should be mandatory.

6. Conducting regular checks.

No matter how reliable the company’s security perimeter is, it is worth testing its strength from time to time. For example, set the task for the system administrator to simulate a hacker attack – send all employees an email message with a substituted sender and a “virus” file in the archive. Those who open the dangerous attachment will definitely need to be given a training conversation.

Wrapping It Up

Ensuring cybersecurity in a company is an important but complex task that requires both the use of effective technological solutions and employee training. One of the important measures to prevent serious problems in a company is the use of dark web monitoring solutions. You can use this service by contacting ImmuniWeb. In a rapidly changing cyber environment, a proactive approach to protecting a company’s data is an important aspect of sustainable business development.