When is “good” better than “perfect”? When it comes to your system’s security. The nature of a dynamic, growing network and the ever-changing threats to its security mean that your system is like a moving target. The job will never be completely done but you’ll always be in a better position by doing something – or more accurately, some of the right things. Point being, don’t wait for better timing, more money, or for any other reason to move forward on keeping your system safe.
Here are 7 things you can do right now to put yourself in a better position:
1. Employ a more restrictive password policy that requires a combination of letters, numbers, and characters (!@%&^). Our White Paper – 8 Smart Things About Passwords – provides great tips on exactly how to do this. Also, set your password policy to require password changes every 90 days.
2. Never allow users to share security credentials with other users. Each user should have his/her own individual login.
3. Consider Multi-Factor Authentication; In addition to usernames and passwords, employ other factors such as fingerprint, facial recognition, smartcard, secureID token. Here’s a great article on Multi-Factor Authentication.
4. Limit the number of users on your system with administrative access.
5. Upgrade to a next generation firewall with unified threat management features. Remember, security is like winter clothing; it’s more effective in layers.
6. Understand any compliance security regulations that might apply to you, such as HIPAA or PCI.
7. Consider regular 3rd party Network Security Assessments to assess your security posture. We can help you with that.