The rising threats in the cyberspace require that companies secure their networks
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Network Infrastructure Security
Thesis statement
“The rising threats in the cyberspace require that companies absolutely secure their networks.”
Introduction
Due to threats of cybercrime occasioned by hacking of personal information and fraud, there is need for companies to ensure that their network infrastructure is highly secure. This because a company that does not pay attention to network security risks losing a lot and having confidential information accessed by hackers. Wagner (2001) argues that hackers mostly do so to prove ability, earn recognition and achieve a level of notoriety, which inspires them. According to Wagner, there are unlimited resources in companies that are more vulnerable to the attacks. He says that stealing intellectual property of a company or causing it harm are not the primary reasons for cyber-attacks.
This paper therefore seeks to explore how to protect a company’s network infrastructure from hackers. The globalization of the market, which can largely be attributed to internet, has meant that increase in cybercrime and other cyber threats will continue being a concern for companies the world over. Therefore, proper security systems have to be put in place to overcome these threats.
How to secure the company’s network infrastructure
Proper network infrastructure design needs to be put in place in order to ensure that the network of a company is not vulnerable to hackers. Enhancing infrastructure security can simply be an extension to a good network design that applies network availability principles such as monitoring, redundancy, effective disaster recovery and protection of assets from damage (Wagner, 2001). Wagner argues that there is need to balance the cost and the risk to reduce susceptibility. In this regard, the company should invest funds proportionate to the threats available if it is to stay ahead of the hackers. Therefore, a company that does not wish to spend in its network infrastructure could as well be exposing itself to the hackers. In doing this, the implementers of infrastructure should consider integrity, availability and confidentiality as factors (Wagner, 2001).
There is need to protect the network environment. The network devices should be protected because they are easy targets due to lack of human presence in their storage locations (Wagner, 2001). This implies physical protection of the infrastructure that can easily be stolen thereby interfering with the functions of a network. This interferences can cause the company huge losses especially given the fact that most companies have networked all their operations. In addition, proper protection of network infrastructure involves use of uninterruptible power supply. This is meant to keep equipment communicating in case of power failure (Wagner, 2001). Several other protection areas need to be discussed.
Bort (2007) identifies the following ten ways to make a network more secure.
- Fine tune your Intrusion prevention system (IPS)
- Sell security by its benefits
- Automate desktop and network access
- Link physical access to enterprise applications
- Delegate an operating systems guru
- Use VMware server memory
- Move applications to Linux grid
- Recognize WAN links may degrade VoIP QoS
- Ease IP management with appliance
- Shelf fancy visuals (Bort, 2007)
Conclusion
Network security in a company can never be underestimated. There is therefore a great need for companies to make appropriate investments in network infrastructure to ensure that the company runs smoothly. The current global trends in networking require up to date security systems so that managers can relax and efficiently deliver their mandate.