Networking and Internet – Virtual IT Manager

Internet

We all need the Internet. If you use Email, Skype, iPlayer, LinkedIn, Google, or anything like this you will need the Internet. And the connections that feed Internet to your business carries all this important data. It needs to be right, even though it might seem expensive at first blush. You can’t run a car without fuel and running a business without the Internet can be like that. The more you go Cloud, or use Online Services, the more important this becomes to the smooth running of your business. If you try to save costs here, it can be false economy in the long run and hamper your progress.

Firewall

To protect your network you should have a Firewall. A firewall is a network device for controlling network security and access rules. Firewalls are typically configured to reject access requests from unrecognized sources while allowing actions from recognized ones. The vital role firewalls play in network security grows, in parallel with the constant increase in cyber attacks. As the threat grows, the attention to security needs to grow with it.

Anti-Virus

If you are at home and your laptop gets infected, it is not nice. But in a business environment, that infection could spread fast and do your business some real damage. You need to protect your computers from infection.

Edge Defence Design

With all the above combined, the goal is to filter out bad network traffic. You want to keep as much of the bad stuff away from your network as you can by using Cloud Services to clean your business traffic as much as possible. There are cloud services that you can run your traffic through en route to your network, to ensure your network gets to see what your network is expecting. The rest is filtered out before your network has to deal with it. This maximises your Internet bandwidth, and stops your firewall being overloaded. No one likes a slow Internet, so with the right tools you can ensure you are only carrying data relevant to your network. With the right setup, you can be on the internet with confidence that your data is safe and your computers are protected.