How Secure are Your Devices?

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• May 01, 2015

Whenever I receive a cover story from Vince Ricco I listen, and I learn. I’ve known Vince for quite a while, and when he asks if your security devices are connected to your sensitive business data, it really makes you think.

He writes that any network node left unprotected… well, you can read about it in the cover story, but get it in your mind that if you’re doing this, you’re at risk. Threats abound in the networking world; first and foremost, you must harden your connections.

There are so many new technologies available today, and most are on the same network structure. This is probably not a good idea, and besides, it puts undue burdens on the IT staff to pay attention to cyber security.

Ricco makes a compelling argument of strategies for protecting network ports. He says it’s important to protect yourself, pay particular attention to the user/administrator credential management, physical port security, and video and data flow protection.

Our other editorial contributors, such as Julie Olenski, write about locking the obvious front door to your network and what digital defenses might work best for you. Madeline Domma writes about building a foundation as part of a vulnerability management plan. I’m sure you know and understand that problems can emerge without a proper plan.

While it seems that physical security depends upon the IT infrastructure, the reverse also is true. It makes a lot of sense for everyone to pull together in their commitment of the security infrastructure.

This article originally appeared in the May 2015 issue of Security Today.