Tuesday, July 5, 2011

How to Prevent Network Security Breaches Caused by Employees

Depending on which study you read, employees cause anywhere from 40 to over 50 percent of network security breaches. This can be good news or bad news; it all depends on how your organization is prepared to respond to it. If you’re on the proactive side of the fence, it’s good news because it means you can stop a large percentage of the security problems your firm may be facing.

How Employees Cause Security Breaches

User Behavior: Most viruses, spyware, etc. is downloaded as a direct result of user behavior. It’s not malicious and can be as simple as an employee doing some web surfing.

Email: It’s an integral part of doing business and one of the reasons it contributes to so many security breaches.  It’s very easy for a hacker to penetrate a network and send emails from supposedly trusted sources. An unsuspecting employee may open an infected attachment and infect an entire system.

Unauthorized Installation of Apps:
It seems that every day a new, cool app is being created. And, many employees download them without the authorization of the IT system manager. In fact, many employees don’t even realize they should seek permission from IT to download apps. Hence, they don’t realize the potential harm they could be causing.

These are just three of the ways employees cause network security and data breaches.

An Easy Way to Decrease Employee-Caused, Network Security Breaches

A common thread running through all of these security threats is no mal-intent on the part of employees; it’s simple naiveté. So, how can a company keep its system safe?

An easy way is to “lock it down.”

Simplify Lockdown®, application control software by triCerat, gives system administrators a straightforward way to monitor and maintain remote desktops with superior security. How? By storing a list of known, trusted applications in a database.

This prevents the downloading and execution of unauthorized applications, malware, viruses, worms, and spyware. It is superior terminal system security – at the touch of a button.