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Our world today is undoubtedly reliant on interconnectedness, and easy access to information. Due to the all-encompassing nature of the Internet, businesses and industries globally execute their day-to-day operations and information exchanges online.
Advanced IT assets are further facilitating this trend, by automating processes, and supporting business decisions with relevant, on-demand data.
At the workplace, there is a growing trend for employees to use their personal devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops for work. This trend, known as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) makes it easier for employees to connect to the enterprise network anywhere, anytime. This inevitably increases the number of connected devices on the network.
With the growing complexity of the enterprise IT infrastructures, the increasing number of connected devices to the network, together with the relative ease of access to data raises important questions about the security of data and the IT infrastructure in general.
Attackers are constantly exploring new methods to access sensitive data or cause harm to IT infrastructures in other ways. Therefore companies have to focus on security, to protect themselves against disproportionately high-impact network threats.
What is IT Infrastructure Security?
IT Infrastructure Security is a broad term used for the collective actions, tools, and methods used to protect the IT technology assets, that are supporting business processes.
Technology infrastructure can be threatened in many ways:
Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities on publicly accessible services, such as email, websites, remote access, etc.
Attackers can gain access internally, through inadequate Wifi security, or by receiving sensitive data from employees.
Authorized users can cause harm to the infrastructure, either unintentionally or purposefully.
Ransomware and malware may exploit security weaknesses.
Lack of backups, or inadequate backups.
Service outages due to outdated technology.
Establishing a good security strategy for IT infrastructure demands constant progress and effort.
To stay up to date with new online threats, and other vulnerabilities of an IT infrastructure, companies should consider a variety of approaches, maintain vigilance over possible errors and sources of attack.
The Types of IT Infrastructure Security
There are many varieties of IT infrastructure security, which include both physical and virtual modes of protection. Our list below covers a couple of the most common and critical varieties:
Antivirus: Antivirus systems are designed to track, identify, and remove any malicious software. More advanced antivirus solutions are capable of protecting the network from a variety of other threats, including spyware, URL threats, spam, phishing.
Firewalls: A firewall can serve many functions in an enterprise network. It serves as the first line of defense against unauthorized online access. It is monitoring the network and controlling data traffic in the network. Moreover, it can also be used on a router, to allow secure remote access or data transfer.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN): A VPN is used to secure the connection and data transfer between network endpoints, through encryption.
Intrusion Detection (IDS) and Prevention Systems (IPS): A device or software that monitors a network for online threats or policy violations is called an Intrusion detection system (IDS). Activities and violations are generally stored centrally by security and event management software. A subset of IDSs, called the Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) can automatically initialize actions, upon discovering intrusions.
Other security varieties are addressing control and access loopholes, suspicious behavior, and wireless device security.
IT infrastructure security is essential in protecting companies against online threats. Successful attacks against an enterprise’s IT infrastructure can ruin the business’s reputation and jeopardize its operation. Infrastructure security tools and methods can help businesses mitigate the risk of falling victim to data theft and sabotage of the IT infrastructure.
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