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How can organizations prevent network attacks? This is a question that many IT managers struggle with as the number of threats to a company’s networks continues to mount. While the most common forms of attack are through the use of viruses and Trojans, hackers are also becoming more creative in their techniques. From denial of service (Dos) attacks that bring down a network’s ability to function to infiltration of servers to monitor all network activities, the damage done by these attacks can be devastating.
Companies must remain vigilant against any attempts to penetrate their systems. By performing daily network scans, companies can spot malicious software and quickly block it from entering their networks. The attacks can come in the form of a virus that extracts data from infected machines or a worm that spreads itself via various communication channels and can corrupt or delete critical information. Prevention is much easier than cure, so many companies are investing in preventing such attacks through a combination of security and software tools.
Some companies may only experience a sporadic attack that is not designed to specifically get information from a network. These attacks, called traffic flooding, are not very common and often occur when a large number of people visit a website. However, the method used to gain access to a company’s network is still the same. Someone will create an infected link in a website and then use that link to send hundreds of malicious messages to a host server.
Organizations that are vulnerable to these types of attacks should implement measures to protect themselves. One way that they can do so is through developing or purchasing software applications that stop attackers from gaining access to their network. Such software can be installed on individual computers or company networks so that every machine that has internet access can be scanned and prevented from being used by hackers. This includes webmail servers, email servers, FTP services, router machines and even computers used by company employees themselves.
By blocking one vulnerability, a company is also preventing all of the other vulnerabilities in their network from being exploited. It is not possible to protect every single computer in a network. Not every software application or service that is online will necessarily be available to every user. If an employee uses a laptop in the office and uses it to store personal files, those personal files could become part of the attack instead of just a paper file sitting on the desktop. Companies that want to know how can organizations prevent network attacks?
They need to develop policies and procedures for employees to follow to know which documents can be accessed and which cannot. They also need to make sure that the computers in their company’s network are regularly updated with the latest anti-malware software, anti-spyware applications, and firewall applications. This way, organizations can prevent network attacks and can stay ahead of the criminals.
Organizations Can Prevent Network Attacks
With today’s sophisticated and robust technology, it is not surprising that organizations can prevent network attacks. Today’s modern networking infrastructures are highly resilient. They can withstand a crippling attack by an even more advanced organization. Organizations should know how they can defend themselves against such attacks so that they can prevent damage to their networks and the services and data of their customers.
When an attacker triggers a network attack, he installs a Trojan or worm onto a victim machine. These payloads can either affect the operation of the host system or corrupt data files or systems. The main motivation behind these attacks is to gain access to IT resources and valuable network data. The best way to defend against these types of attacks is to install and utilize powerful network security tools and applications.
Some of the most common ways to prevent network attacks include performing integrity checks on all servers before allowing them to connect to the Internet. This is a simple but essential component of network security. It can identify any invalid, blank, or invalid configuration entries and fix them accordingly. It can also verify that all servers have the latest security updates. All servers should be scanned at least once a month to make sure that they are not vulnerable.
Another way to prevent network attacks is by running anti-virus or firewall programs on every machine in your organization. The content of each machine is examined in detail to identify threats. If a threat is detected, it is either blocked from getting through the firewall or removed from the system. Malicious software programs are always found in high density and can easily bypass firewalls.
A well-maintained backup infrastructure also helps to prevent attacks. This includes both off-site storage and on-site backup. Data deduplication will help to reduce bandwidth requirements and time to recovery. Large numbers of computers are attacked daily, which makes it extremely difficult for an organization’s IT staff to manually try to find and restore data. With deduplication, large data sets can be safely stored off-site and restored when needed. It will greatly improve your ability to respond to an attack quickly.
A large number of organizations are now adopting virtualization as a way to prevent network attacks. Virtual machines, or VMs, run multiple operating systems, applications, and configurations simultaneously. They can be easily deployed in the same network to improve efficiency, but without taking up valuable real estate.