Why IT Security Is Necessary For Your Business

A computer network should never be left alone to outside threats. Personal and business networks need some kind of firewall and additional security in place to keep out viruses, Trojan horses, and other intruders. In addition to information protection and general network convenience, IT security is required by various industry best practices standards, such as HIPAA for health care and Sarbanes-Oxley and FFIEC for finance. Such standards mandate a business or organization develop and implement an IT security policy that factors in risk assessment and management and regular audits.

An IT security strategy must consider all ways in which data is needed: usability, reliability, integrity, and safety. Antivirus and anti-spyware programs, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and virtual private networks (VPN) may be some of the software used for protecting data, in addition to updating all operating systems and including password authentication. Businesses that have weak networks – small and medium-size companies are particularly vulnerable – have greater chances of security breaches. If an outside party enters the system and usurps data – much like the recent WikiLeaks incident – a company not only loses business or
money, but fraud, stolen or corrupted records, a disabled system, lawsuits, or identity theft can result.

IT security policies, however, need to be regularly updated to combat new hacker and internet criminal tactics. Although threats and malicious techniques are many, an attack usually falls under one of the following categories:
• Viruses and worms take the form of malicious code that, once inserted onto your system, spreads. Viruses usually come as attachments and worms can be included in an email.
• Trojan horses are malware that enter a system through an innocuous-seeming file that can be embedded on a website (adult content, gaming, and gambling are the most common), be attached to free downloadable software, or enter through a link. Trojans are easier to block than to remove, and a network, as a result, may keep a white list of approved sites or use blocking programs.
• Spam is a low-scale threat, until it clogs up a system and causes the network to crash.
• Phishing is a tactic used to obtain passwords, credit card numbers, or other user information. Typically in the form of a legitimate-looking email, a phishing scheme gets a network user to click on a link and provide personal or company information. Social engineering, which involves contacting network users through instant messaging, telephone calls, or email conversations, falls under phishing schemes.
• Packet sniffing is another tactic used to obtain network data. In order to capture streams of network data, a "honey pot" – an unsecured network in a public place – is set up and entices users to log on. A third party accesses the user's data and captures streams of network information, which can be used for fraud, stealing records or money, corrupting data, or identity theft.
• Zombie computers are higher-threat spam. When a computer becomes infected by malware, it turns into a spamming device and, as a result, sends out thousands of emails over a system without the user's approval. Although difficult to identify, a zombie computer may be the cause of a slow or crashing system.

An IT security assessment, also known as an audit, is one procedure used to stop such threats before they enter your network. Addressing the three possible ways data could be stolen – technical, personal, and physical – an assessment employs several social engineering and ethical hacking techniques to attempt to breach security like an outside party. A combination of penetration tests, personal interviews, vulnerability scans, examining operating system settings, and researching previous security breaches are used to analyze the security of a network, and a report, detailing all weaknesses and offering solutions, is the result.