12 Key Steps for Internet Security

1. Your first move to internet security should begin with a risk assessment. If you don't know what threats are likely to be posed to your IT systems and networks, and their potential effects on your business should they occur, then you are not really in a position to put in place a series of measures to counter these threats.

2. A valuable anti-virus solution is absolutely fundamental to the security of any computer network.

3. Similarly, a Windows firewall is one of the most basic security techniques and should form an integral part of your internet security defences.

4. Therefore anti-virus solution and firewall are only valuable in that case if they are regularly updated. Because the variety and scale of internet threats keep changes in order to address these it is vital that you ensure your anti-virus software and firewalls are fully patched and up-to-date. Ideally, this should be carried out automatically in background mode.

5. Authentication provides the most appropriate solution for the particular needs of your solutions. Basically Authentication is that only those users can access the network that has the authorization to access that network.

6. Keep in mind the need to provide secure access for your remote workers. A safety defence is only as strong as its weakest link and any remote weaknesses can, and will, be fully oppressed by attackers.

7. Wireless technologies pretense serious security threats unless they are efficiently managed. Consider the use of encrypted VPNs to address these issues.

8. Encryption is a rising requirement, particularly with the number of laptops now containing confidential or responsive information. Even if you are just starting to use encryption, you should look to develop a staged implementation based around a unified encryption management approach.

9. Spam can be managed successfully through the use of anti-spam solutions. Outsourcing spam management is an alternative but take account of your need for control and effective reporting, if you opt for this solution.

10. Unified threat management systems (UTM) now provide a variety of security solutions in an integrated product. At the same time as these can offer important cost savings, you should keep in mind that if anything goes incorrect, you will lose all your security functions at once, so a foolproof arrangement with a spare device is recommended.

11. Diffusion testing can be a useful means of checking how secure your corporate networks are and identifying points of potential weakness.

12. An at the last key internet security tip is remember the 'people' factor. No matter how good the technical countermeasures you put in place, your security will only be as good as the users tasked with making these work. So, ensure that they are aware of your safety or security policies and committed to enforcing them, and reinforce this with top management support.