Protecting Your Network From Hackers

Over the years, network hacking has become increasingly painful for users and administrators alike. These hackers are bored, mischievous neighbors, or just people with a lot of time to waste, trying to access your network through the Internet. Once they gain access, they can do anything they want and you cannot do anything about it. The only thing you can do to avoid it is be prepared beforehand.

Safety from an Internet attacker

They best way to protect your network from being hacked is byusing a firewall. Firewalls prove to be a shield or a filter which deny unwanted visitors access to your home network and the computers on it. Firewalls can be programmed to follow certain conditions, such as filtering inappropriate incoming and outgoing data. They can grant access to selective IP addresses to prevent network intrusion caused by users opening insecure mail or content from web pages. Firewalls also have the ability to block movement of data within the network based on the Media Access Control (MAC) address. Many firewalls allow data control by filtering scope or keywords and permit data which is destined for a particular location. Firewalls help create a more complex and sophisticated rules for the data transfer.

In addition to having a firewall, you also need to install a few other things such as  anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-phishing software to keep your network and computers safeguarded. Since hackers are continuously developing new viruses, you should always keep updating your anti-virus programs regularly to ensure you get maximum protection. Thrive’s Managed Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Solution can provide you with this service on an ongoing basis, automatically updating your company’s devices as new threats are discovered.

Safety from a Local Attacker

Nowadays, you can find a wireless network almost anywhere. Wireless routers, switches and access points come with their own security. Configuring basic Protecting a wireless network is very easy with encryption techniques. To protect your network from being accessed you need to set up a WEP or WPA-PSK. WEP has a simple 64-bit or 128-bit encryption. This offers a limited level security and is relatively easy to break. However, WPA-PSK offers a 256-bit encryption. This is the best security to date in the form of WPA-TKIP, which is backwards compatible with older routers and USB keys. For new hardware, it has WPA2-AES which also offers a similar level of security as the WPA-TKIP, but it performs better. For the home user, all routers come with a manual. Use it to configure the router and install an encryption and an encryption key.