Look around your office. Isn’t it great to see your team hard at work on their computers? Yet if we take a closer look, let’s see what’s really happening…
Joe, your new sales rep, is poring over last weekend’s game stats…
Amy in marketing is looking for a new job, surfing your competitors’ websites, chatting with their HR people…
Wes, over in customer support, just bogged down your entire network by downloading a video file of Metallica in concert…
Guy, your new hire in shipping, is on hotdate.com, viewing questionable photos…
Bob in accounting is browsing stock-investing sites, in search of a hot tip…
Okay, so maybe it’s not that bad at your company. But this type of behavior will happen to some degree if you don’t proactively prevent it. The real problem is, unfiltered content often links to malware and other threats. Ignore it and you risk productivity losses, legal liabilities, extortion, blackmail and fraud. And not only that, the resulting data loss and corruption can cost your company big-time. Cyberthreats stemming from unfiltered content aren’t something you can count on your lucky leprechaun or four-leaf clover to protect you from.
In today’s mobile environment, content filtering has becoming a greater challenge than ever before. Your company may already be doing some filtering at the network level. However, when was the last time you checked the number of mobile devices linked to your network? As your workforce goes mobile, your network is exposed to a rapidly expanding “attack surface.” With BYOD (bring your own device) now the norm, the old rules of content filtering just don’t cut it anymore.
Are You Making Any Of These Mistakes?
Old content-filtering models presume your network has a safe “firewall.” But now, with BYOD, you need a different way to protect your data. And that’s where endpoint security comes into play. Endpoint filtering keeps devices on your network safe from infection, no matter where they hook into the Internet.
But make ANY of the following mistakes with endpoint security and your network could be a sitting duck:
- Missing even ONE endpoint. This applies to tablets and smartphones as well as home-based machines that VPN into your network.
- Skimping on security policies, protocols and training. Believing that tech tools alone will keep your network secure is a recipe for breaches. In fact, no technology can keep a network safe if users cut corners.
- Leaving endpoint filtering out of your overall security plan. Ad hoc security invites disaster. An improperly designed system exposes holes that hackers love to find.
So, What Exactly Should You Filter?
Forrester Research states that companies whose users access the cloud should:
- Detect and intercept unusual or fraudulent activities related to data in the cloud.
- Detect, neutralize and eliminate malware in cloud platforms.
- Detect and monitor unsanctioned cloud applications and platforms usage.
- Protect against leaks of confidential information.
- Encrypt structured and unstructured data in cloud platforms.
- Investigate suspicious users and incidents.
Between BYOD and ever more complex cyber threats, you simply can’t afford to run around putting out fires. You absolutely MUST proactively defend your network in depth with endpoint content filtering.
