6 Tips for Managing a Secure Computer Network

In today’s business landscape, a secure computer network is everything to an organisation.
This is because most organisations are host to vast amounts of data that carries information about their business and their partners. This kind of information can often become a treasure trove for hackers and other kinds of potential threats. For these reasons, it is highly important to ensure that network and cyber security is strongly imposed to ensure that you can be in charge of your IT.

Keeping this digital information in check, requires a significant amount of due diligence and thus has multiple steps.

Here are six essential tips that can help you maintain a secure computer network.

1.Protection

Most network attacks are usually of an external nature. These attacks focus on getting information related to the network’s traffic. When an encrypted network is used, it ensures that any information that traverses through the network is protected against these kinds of external attacks, preventing any kind of potential havoc from an external threat. This extra layer of security can become highly important when you understand that the amount of information that passes in network traffic can be detrimental for an organisation if released.

2. Tracking

The best way to keep your computer network secure, is to proactively track and monitor every single device that is part of the network. This can be achieved by installing simple monitoring devices, that warn you of a multitude of features. For example, if a device is being used without permission or if a port is plugged into a specific device. You can receive an immediate update, allowing you to efficiently keep track of network hosts. With many of the software on the market being fully automated, they only need a single setup configuration and can immediately alert you.

3. Strong Passwords

It may seem rudimentary, but the idea behind this is much more important. Many hackers tend to use freeware that are able to go through an incredibly large number of configurations of a set word within a few seconds. This is why simple passwords can be a huge flaw in your security system. However, using small tricks like keeping numbers, and symbols, and constantly changing the password, prevents you from being at the end of these attacks.

4. Inventory

As mentioned earlier, tracking every single aspect of your IT infrastructure will only help to further its security. The same goes for maintaining an inventory of any device that is being used by the network.
It also enables you to identify devices, which may have weak security configurations to address them immediately.

5. Testing

As mentioned previously, there could be many potential weak spots in an IT infrastructure that would require attention. The best way to identify these weak spots, is to conduct regular tests on your network system, which can highlight certain problems that the network system has had in the past, allowing you to place precautions accordingly.

6. Unverified Software

The internet has no shortages of freeware that can be downloaded in seconds. While these freeware can provide certain convenience advantages, the risk outweighs the benefits due to many of them having malware added to them, that can completely compromise your IT infrastructure. Always go for verified software from vendors who are reliable and trustworthy.