Your Luckiest Move This Year
Do your employees bring their own smart phones, tablets or laptops to work?
If your company is like most these days, they do. And that raises a whole new security risk to your computer network. One of the best strategies your company can employ to defend against this emerging threat is what's known as "web content filtering."
Here's a quick but essential guide to what you need to know about web content filtering. It might even prompt you to make a move so lucky, it would turn a leprechaun green with envy…
New Gaps In Your Network's Firewall
It used to be, when your employees needed a desktop computer to get work done, locking cyberthreats out of your network was relatively simple.
However, now when employees work on a mobile device, the boundaries of your firewall can walk out the door and into a "Wild West" of unknown security risks at any minute of the day.
At the same time, threats to your network from malware, hackers, cybergangs and even foreign governments show no signs of abating.
The best way to bolster your network's defenses against this emerging threat is through web content filtering. Older "in-line" filtering programs just filter at the network level. For complete protection as workers become more mobile, you need an "endpoint" web content filtering system that works at the device level.
So What Exactly Is "Web Content Filtering"?
Web content filtering restricts access to certain types of material delivered over the web or by e-mail. It blocks things like phishing e-mails, infected web sites, adult content, pop-up ads, spambots and other intrusions that can penetrate your network's defenses.
The latest web content filtering programs protect your network even with a highly mobile workforce. Rather than just filtering content at the network level, they filter content on each employee's device.
Web content filtering is not just a great investment in your network's security - it's an absolute must in today's crime-ridden "cyberscape."
Questions To Ask
How can you tell if a proposed content filtering solution is a good one? Here are a few key features to look for:
Activity-Triggered Logging - Allows the filtering system to start logging events when suspect activities occur. Helps assure vigilance against new and emerging threats.
Password Release - Lets a user with the right password visit sites that would otherwise be off-limits. Gives your company added flexibility as needed for trusted employees.
Download Blocker - Keeps employees from downloading files from any but approved sites. Greatly reduces the risk that somebody will unwittingly unleash a vicious piece of code into your network.
BYOD Support - Accommodates the "Bring Your Own Device" trend so you can monitor and manage employee use or abuse while on the job.
Time Settings - Allows employees access to certain sites only during preselected times of day. Adds flexibility so employees can, for instance, visit Facebook only during off-hours.
There are others, and not every company needs all these features. But knowing what to look for gives you a head start on putting the best system in place.
Now It's Your Move…
As today's workforce becomes ever more mobile and interactive outside the company network, endpoint web content filtering becomes a must-have weapon in your company's network security arsenal.
By understanding the emerging threat posed by mobile devices to your company's network, and gaining a basic grasp of how endpoint web content filtering works, you can allocate resources to button up this potential threat to your company's finances, data and efficiency.
Let Us Help!
Here at Global Access Inc, our first priority is to keep your documents and network safe and secure. Let us help you make sure your web content and fax solution is on guard 24/7. Now through the end of March, we are offering a free Internet Usage and Fax Security Audit for the "lucky" first 10 companies who request this valuable service.
Contact us today at (866) 809-0399 or support@globalaccessinc.com and we'll get started for you right away. But don't delay - we can only serve the first 10 companies who take us up on this uncommon offer.
