Cyber-attacks and sophisticated phishing raids can have immediate adverse effects on your network. They can slow it down, steal sensitive data and make your device unusable. The downtime this can cause can have a devastating effect on your reputation, customer satisfaction and profit margins.
How effective is your company firewall? Having a highly powerful firewall is the basis of your security measures. Firewalls are able to filter both inbound and outbound traffic, control access to host apps and track unauthorized attempts at access to your company network. Some can even filter spam and malware. An out of date firewall may not be able to do any of these things.
How do you know when you need to upgrade?
1 – Out of date software
If your software is out of date, its firewall can put your system at risk. You need a next generation firewall to make sure your data is secure. Firewalls shouldn’t be more than 2 years old, as spam mail and hackers grow more sophisticated all the time in response to heightened security.
Adding layers of security devices and software to an out of date system can slow down performance, so the more evolved your system, the smaller the chances of cyber-attack are. If your business is cloud-based, your vendor should have the most recent security measures. Always check with them to be sure.
2 – If you have implemented BYOD
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) can have a huge impact on your system. BYODs and remote workers may not always use a secure internet connection and public Wi-Fi is more open to attacks. A newer, more powerful firewall can provide protection in these circumstances.
3 – Productivity reductions
As cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated, companies have responded by adding multiple layers of protection on to the corporate networks. This need for higher security has placed a lot of strain on to IT departments, who spend their time responding to threats and security maintenance. Having an up to date firewall as a part of security practice means that your employees will have time to be more profitably productive.
4 – How secure is your data?
If your business depends on trade secrets or your success is based upon proprietary information and technology, having a less than effective firewall can lead to huge losses for your company.
No matter what your business specializes in, you are going to have sensitive data on your network. Employee details, client/customer information, addresses and credit card numbers, are just a few pieces of information hackers look to steal.
Government regulations make your company liable if any of this information is leaked or used fraudulently so an old firewall can not only cause a loss in profit, it could put you at legal risk.
5 – Business growth
If your business has grown recently, did you think to update your security measures to compensate? Probably not. The larger your company grows, the more strain is placed on your firewalls – especially if a lot of your business is carried out online. If you’re not using a cloud-based service and their high level security program, then you need to make sure that your private one can handle the pressure.
Even if you are using a cloud service provider, it never hurts to have an extra wall to deter cyber-attacks. For more information about how to best protect your business, contact Stratosphere Networks at (877)599-3999 or fill out our contact form.