Security

I have been asked to evaluate a network for security threats and provide solutions. Egos, a catalogue sales company is medium in size with 50 users on the network. They have broadband connection available to all users. We are not interested in the network hardware here, so we must assume that all the hardware is set up and configured correctly.

Login system
In this company there are many threats to the data as there are 50 users on the network. There is broadband connection available for all users and there is no internet in the network in the company. However, there is no security in place. So, with 50 users in the company and with no private no login to the network each person can go into each others computer and look at their documents and files. Therefore, this means that there is no confidentiality. This also means that nothing is safe as other users can detect other people’s files or documents if they need to make space for their work. In addition to this the fact that there is no private log in means there is a high risk of viruses. Without individual usernames and passwords the boss will not been able to keep track of individual’s usage. Therefore it is better for all 50 users within the company to have their own usernames and passwords.

Internet

With the business having the internet unrestricted, there will be an increased risk to security. Lack of security can lead to the internet causing trojans, viruses, malware and worms which means systems will be destroyed and this will mean that more money would need to be spent on the computer getting fixed. The company will need to install firewalls and anti- viruses onto the computers. By doing this it will check the information that comes from the internet, network and other either blocks that the user goes to.

Installing and removing software
When staff install and remove software themselves this can cause major problems. When staff members download software they could be downloading viruses and software that they don’t need. The viruses could destroy a document that is already saved onto the company hardware as this could be a very important document. The computer can crash, destroy systems etc. Illegal downloading in any business company may lead to the company being fined. By removing software the company will have to reinstall it which will cost the company a lot of money as the software is expensive. This means that the company will have to fork out more money to pay for each license for all the software they have to install back in.

To help this from happing the boss can get an IT technical team set up internally to install the software that they need to do the work on. Therefore they can get software or take in a policy to stop staff from downloading and removing the software.

The company’s data is only backed up once a month. Data should be backed up every few hours at the least to ensure that all data is protected. This is breeching into the data protection act because if a customer’s information is lost or gets misplaced over that month or if you loose track of any of their orders the company will not be able to get them back. This means the money is coming out of their account but their not getting the products as the data has been lost. To stop this from happening they should make sure their data is backed up at least twice a day.

Egos Company keeps their data tapes in a secure place which is locked in a box sitting on top of the server. This isn’t really a secure place for the data tapes as the server does tend to get very hot at times. This means that the box the tapes are in could melt which will also then destroy the tapes. The tapes need to be taking from the top of the server and locked away in a more secure place such as a safe in the mangers office. This will then stop them from getting destroyed.

 IP Address

There is no IP address log kept for this which means members of staff can be visiting sites of which they are not meant to during working hours such as Facebook, Twitter and many other sites. If a site causes your computer to get a virus this means you are not able to find out which web address you have used that caused the virus. To stop this you should keep an IP log address and make sure that you have anti virus software.

Locking system

This business company is not secured with keypad locking systems or swipe key. This means that anyone can access the building. This can be very dangerous as it is leaving it easy for people to break in, which can lead to information going missing and peoples accounts getting hacked into. In order to prevent this from happening they should get a new locking system which means only staff are able to open the doors when required.