e-Safety Basic Requirements

Clear and Present Danger

Threats to the security & safety of your network and data are evolving daily. Hackers & virus-writers are smarter, and their programmes infect faster, they are harder to detect, and can cause much more damage than ever before. Blended threats are becoming more common and simply looking at bits of traffic at your internet gateway is just not enough. We recommend & deploy solutions based on the principle of defence-in-depth. Basically, this means that at every possible level of your network, there are security checks to ensure that data passing through servers, workstations and network segments is legitimate and infection-free.

Unified Threat Management

It is becoming more and more important to enhance the capabilities of existing security systems, with special emphasis on enhancing the abilities of your network’s firewall. It is no longer sufficient to count on a stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall to keep your network secure. As threats evolve, so must security appliances & practices. Our solutions are amongst the foremost in the world in terms of Unified Threat Management (UTM). According to the IDC (IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology and telecommunications industries.), UTM appliances “…unify firewall, gateway antivirus, and intrusion detection and prevention capabilities into a single platform…” Our range of UTM-enabled security appliances and firewalls go beyond the IDC’s definition of UTM. The are smarter, faster, more aware and more resilient. By employing a new Deep Packet Inspection architecture, they are able to look at the payload – the contents – of every packet that passes through them. They are able to tag traffic based on signature databases, in real time. Traffic is recognised not only on the basis of protocol, but also using other means. Your firewall can now tell the difference between all kinds of traffic, be it a virus, a worm, a trojan, spyware, P2P, instant messenger, or hundreds or others. This gives you an unprecedented ability to lock-down your network, and give you the kind of security you had only dreamt of thus far.

iForge Network Protection

To safeguard your networks, we will audit and manage the following areas:

1. Microsoft Windows Patch Management: The first stop on the way to a secure network is making sure that all software vulnerabilities are patched as soon as patches are available. When attempting to gain access to a network, hackers often attempt to exploit known vulnerabilities as the first step. A network manager must ensure that all available patches are researched and deployed immediately. At iForge, we offer our customers a tailored solution to deploying Windows Update Services (formerly Software Update Services) across the network.
2. Firewalls, anti-virus: Network security solutions are necessarily a combination of various points of protection. Any network security analysis must examine several kinds of threats – but your most important line of defence is probably your firewall and anti-virus system. Experiments have shown that an unprotected computer connected to the internet is usually compromised within 30 minutes, often in less than 10.
3. Intrusion detection & Intrusion Prevention: Intrusion detection is the art of analysing a flow of data to detect anomalies or misuse. It is based on knowledge of statistical anomaly detection, and pattern-matching detection. We deploy state-of-the-art IDSs in sensitive environments, where a more proactive approach to security is warranted.
4. Wireless security: With the booming popularity of wireless networks, wireless security is an area whose importance cannot be overstated. Increasingly more enterprises, small businesses, schools and homes are recognising the benefits of wireless networks and implementing wireless solutions to achieve a great amount of flexibility and ease-of-use at a low cost. Wireless links are inherently less secure than wired links, since data is transmitted through the air, and medium access is no problem for even the most casual observer.
5. Training: The human element can often be the weakest link in an otherwise well-secured environment. We can educate your staff about what they need to do to avoid most security pitfalls. Awareness and education are the most important weapon in your arsenal in the fight against today’s threats. Do your employees follow strong password policies? Do they know what data to protect when dealing with technical support? Do they have the ability to spot a ‘phishing’ attack? Are they aware of what practices to follow when using a wireless network, or using a business laptop in a public hotspot?

For a limited time, we are offering all new customers a free network security audit.

For more information, please contact info@iforge.co.uk or call 0345 200 7828