One of the most important considerations for your business enterprise is network and systems security. In these times it can be especially tedious maintaining security with the challenges of the Internet and social networks, gigabyte sized free email services and small portable storage devices which can easily transport over 100 gigabytes of data.

Let's start with the Internet. Ever since the "code red" worm in July 2001 nothing has been quite the same in network security. That day marked the beginning of a new threat from the outside in through the Internet. What made this threat unique was that it came into the enterprise through trusted firewall ports.

Here we are in 2009, and there have been thousands of variations of this type of attack, yet the premise of that attack remain basically the same in that the enterprise networks are at constant threat from the Internet. At the same time the Internet has become invaluable to the business enterprise.  The challenge of today is to balance the need for instant access to information with the need for network security.

The basics of protection remain the company firewall despite these new threats. This includes the filtering traffic which is unnecessary to the enterprise business. While employees may find it convenient to check their private email from work, that needs to be weighed against the risks to the business network from viruses and the contingent risk that comes from the forwarding of inappropriate email. Email servers need to filter mail from harmful viruses and from time wasting spam.

The next protection is with the desktops. The operating system must remain fully patched against vulnerability and there needs to be a solid antivirus and anti-spyware solution at the desktop level. Applications used in the enterprise also need to be checked for patches and updated as needed. Lastly, the file security of the network needs to be carefuly thought out with the rule being if the access s not necessary, then the file access should be restricted accordingly. 

Finally, a part of security is also backing up the data against accidental loss or deletions, data corruption the result of viruses and from hardware failures. There are ways to do all of these very simply and effectively. We have experience with Internet security and network security and data protection going back over a decade in enterprise business environments. We are here to help your business devise a detailed security plan of action. Call us at 813-748-3055 to get started.

Every business needs a data disaster plan. Just as businesses need a plan for success, they also need to plan for data disaster. Data disaster canresult from hardware failure such as failed hard drives, natural disaters, as well as from accidental or intentional deletion of data. Additionally, there is the threat of data corruption from viruses.

The backbone of a data disaster plan is a valid network map. There is nothing more frustrating than to have the system down while technicians try to decipher what server holds what data and where the data may be backed up. This needs to be well documented before an actual data emergency.

The next element of disaster planning is looking at whether data can be distributed between multiple servers. Is the database server also the file server and also the intranet server and also the email server? If so, a failure of this server will bring business to a halt before it van be restored. Prudent planning, distributes these systems as a failsafe measure.

Ultimately, the backup system also needs to be considered. Is your data being backed up daily? If so how long does it take to backup and ultimately to restore? Is the backup server a standalone server so that if the file server went down the data could be restored elsewhere if need be while the file server is down for repair? Also, how long would it physically take to restore the data? Is that ampount of time acceptable in the event of an emergency?

There are many considerations to disaster planning. Let us help you devide a competent data disaster plan. Call us at 813-748-3055 to get started.