IT Networking Security Solutions for Businesses in Silicon Valley and the entire Bay Area

Tight integration between Operating Systems (OS) and the software applications they run have cultivated new flavors of viruses, malware, spyware, and adware.  While viruses are mostly concerned with deleting files and causing instability on a computer, spyware is just as destructive.  They are used to obtain personal data (e.g. credit card numbers, passwords, computer usage, web tracking, etc), exploit users for monetary gains by falsifying software, show pop-up ads, or just disable certain software from running correctly.  Furthermore, our high reliance on email justifies spamming as a direct advertising method.
However, there is relief.  Antivirus vendors are aggressively including antispyware engines in their product.  This makes for a complete package that protects users and servers from malicious intent.

Antispam

Antispam software is a must for all organizations.  They use different algorithms to calculate how closely an email resembles that of spam emails.  For the most part, all anti-spamming software uses a combination of the mechanisms below:

• Realtime Blackhole Lists - Blacklist lookups using external DNS blocklists
• Bayesian analysis – statistical technique that’s always learning and updating
• Automatic/Manual address Blacklists, Whitelists – user defined rules
• Collaborative spam identification database – helps spread the word on what’s spam
• Malware detection using content filtering and rules
• Character sets and locales

Antivirus / Antispyware

Being that viruses are just malicious software applications, they will most likely exist far into the future.  Having said this, a good antivirus and antispyware application should be evaluated with the following characteristics:

• Effectiveness of detecting spam
• How much resources does the program take up
• How often virus definition are updated
• How well does the program clean, quarantine, and remove viruses
• Easy manageability (ie. Centralized management, User friendliness

Is your network environment behind a firewall that has the power features you require to operate without interruptions from malicious attacks from the Internet or virus within your company?  If the answer is no, then let us explain to you how important it is.
Whether you are looking for a hardware appliance or software solution, a firewall is your most important line of defense for your network.  It regulates the flow of traffic between computer networks to ensure they comply with a set of rules.  These rules prevent intrusions that could compromise the integrity of your data, while addressing Denial of Service attacks.  With the advent of P2P file sharing communities, firewalls can prevent bandwidth consumption from these applications, thus allowing users to use the Internet without disruptions.  Below are some of the filtering criteria of firewalls.
Firewall types

• Packet filters
• Application level gateways
• Stateful multi-layer inspection

Criterias

• Source and Destination addresses
• Port numbers
• Protocol types (HTTP, FTP, TELNET, etc…)
• Packet Attribute
• Packet State

To comply with government regulations or company policies, encryption might be necessary to ensure secured access to private files.  It also adds another layer of security for your files even when a server’s storage is physically compromised.  There are many solutions ranging from the use of an Encrypted File System by Microsoft or an encrypted volume by TrueCrypt.
On one end, an improperly configured system would allow a hacker to access anyone’s data with the right administrative credentials.  On the other end, the data can be lost forever if the key is not available or the password has been forgotten.

Security is pointless if it isn’t managed and audited on a regular basis.  Without the proper permissions set, a user might not have access to a required file, while another might have access to files they shouldn’t (E.g. performance reports, financial data, etc…).