6 Must-Have Security Tools for IT Leaders

Securing an enterprise network is an ever-growing task due to twin increases in network complexity and hacker sophistication. The good news: The security industry is doing a fantastic job of creating new tools to help IT leaders with deploying counter‑measures. The bad news: these tools need to be managed, monitored and maintained to stay ahead of cyber criminals.

So, how does your own security arsenal measure up? Is there a tool you’re missing that you could easily add? Is your network as secure as it really needs to be? Consider the following vital tools, many of which you may have in place – and others may deserve your immediate consideration.

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) mitigation. While DDoS attacks don’t typically make headlines, they cause 22% of all network outages – at an average business cost of $740,000 per successful attack. For the best defense, look for a DDoS managed service that continuously monitors your network, off-loads the burden of the attack on a separate infrastructure and automatically begins mitigation at the first signs of trouble.

• Firewall. Of course, you have a firewall, but how long ago was it installed? Have your firewall rules been kept current? Are you maintaining these systems with patches and updates? When was the last time you tested this firewall policy to ensure that it is still protecting your company the way you intended? It’s easy to forget about updating them until you’re hit with a breach – double-check your firewall status before that happens.

• Compliance. If your enterprise is subject to PCI, GDPR, HIPAA, or any similar regulation, your network provider may be able to help. For example, enterprises that process cardholder data can partner with a network service provider that meets the standards and requirements for network level compliance in alignment with the PCI DSS Version 3.2 Compliance, and then leverage that provider’s attestation of compliance (AOC) to help meet its PCI merchant requirements for securing payment card data during transport.

• Password protection and authentication. Ensure that you are requiring your users to leverage complex passphrases rather than passwords. Also, incorporate multi-factored authentication to further improve your access security. A password manager can serve as a simple but effective solution to help you and your users keep up with their passphrases.

• Sandboxing. Sandboxing solutions offer protection against newly emerged security threats, such as zero-day threats that exploit weaknesses in new operating systems and application versions before vendors can issue patches. Sandboxing does this by isolating applications from other resources, so that attacks can’t reach critical assets.

• Cloud access security broker (CASB). If you’ve moved to the cloud or plan to make the transition, consider a CASB solution that sits between on‑premises and cloud infrastructure, enabling you to extend and monitor enterprise security policies beyond your own premises.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of IT security tools, and your enterprise may have more specialized needs. For a thorough check-up to reveal your current security strengths and vulnerabilities, consider engaging a provider of managed network security services and leverage external security experts to evaluate your environment regularly to ensure that your security posture is not slipping.