by Barry Marcus

Created on: November 21, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

Every company from the smallest micro business to the largest corporation is at risk through their computer network. Internet thieves, hackers and virus distributors are on the lookout 24 hours per day for vulnerable computers to invade. Protecting your computer network against these unwelcome intruders is crucial. Every company needs network security.

Large companies are able to commit significant resources to implement the best network security available. But large corporate networks remain porous through a lack of staff commitment to security issues. Small to medium companies do not often have the luxury of seemingly endless resources to counter the threats. Nevertheless, network security for the small and medium-sized business is just as important.

The most useful place to start in the process of securing your network is to define a NETWORK SECURITY POLICY. An auditor is well positioned to assist to identify the risks faced by a particular business. The risks will vary from one business to another. Risk can never be totally eliminated, but the auditor will assist management to identify which risks are unacceptable, and those that will have to be tolerated. Some risks may prove too expensive to protect against. The network security policy is the vehicle available to management to define which risks to target and which to accept.

Network risks can be grouped into several categories. Serious threats include intrusion by hackers and other malicious parties aiming to steal information, defraud the company and its employees or simply damage the company's information. Spyware that monitors Internet usage by company employees is always a threat as are common viruses.

The task of securing a network has grown in complexity over the last few years as the popularity of mobile computers and wireless networks has grown.

Measures to be implemented to secure the network include:

Access control;

A firewall;

Anti-virus software;

Wireless network encryption;

Protection of physical assets;

Staff training and

Network monitoring.

ACCESS CONTROL is the first point of protection. Network users must be authenticated before any access is allowed. The simplest and most practical form of access control is through the use of a strong password. As a rule of thumb, a password should include a minimum of six characters. A mixture of alphabetic characters, numbers and special characters presents a fairly strong choice. The password should be case sensitive and should ideally contain a mix of

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