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Securing Networks and Data with Managed Services

The past decade has witnessed a dramatic shift in how businesses and their employees conduct their daily work. It is just as rare today to see an employee without a mobile device in-hand as it is to spy a desktop workstation, metal server, or centralized data center that houses all of a company’s applications. All of this, for the most part, now takes place in the cloud. The era of the cloud, and of mobile devices, has taken hold. Whereas the in-house data center used to be the central point around which a business revolved, the cloud has now become that central point as more businesses turn to SaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), and virtual, consolidated data centers.

As beneficial as these evolutions are, they do not come without risks to a business’s network and data security. As demand would have it, providers have crafted solutions and proactive resources that address those risks. The remainder of this article details where these risks come from, what these risks are, and how best to address them. Out with the OldA decade ago, it was customary for businesses to have their own data centers alongside their own security services. These data

online resources through these same data centers, and networks remained relatively isolated. However, isolation proved to be a bit of a challenge when it came to monitoring the company’s network:

Applications were relegated to silos, so there was no way to centrally monitor the network.Monitoring had to be done piecemeal; each data center required at least one hardware box.Monitoring required a larger financial commitment: companies had to hire more manpower and dedicate more time to it.

To make matters messier, network alerts were not correlated with application performance, and, if software upgrades were needed, businesses had to trek through the process of doing the upgrades themselves. In with the NewToday, the majority of companies have opted not to use in-house data centers but, instead, to employ cloud services, where vendors do the work of hosting applications. About 75 percent of all businesses either are using or are considering using SaaS, and 48 percent of businesses take the same stance about IaaS for application hosting. These users access the cloud online and, increasingly, through mobile devices—behavior which introduces a number of new network and data security risks. Within the next two years, Gartner expects that nearly 70 percent of all employees will do their work on mobile devices. Each of these employees introduces a new risk for the business’s network and data.

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Securing Networks and Data with Managed Services

Why? The routes that employees travel are now long, circuitous, and complex, and they are not always within the company’s security domain. Consider these challenges:

• Traveling employees use WiFi or the Internet to connect their mobile devices to the business network.• Employees who work from home—and 20 percent of them already do—access the company network through their own

• • New cloud applications are accessed online; most businesses lack a dedicated, secure connection to their cloud vendor.

Risky BusinessAmong the new risks that mobile devices and increased use of the cloud introduce are:

• Data loss• Data breach• Cyber hackers and cyber attacks• Covert installation of spyware• The introduction of bugs, worms, Trojans, and viruses into the system• Denial of service attacks• Other cyber crimes

Protecting Networks and DataIn this era of cloud and mobile devices, businesses need to take proactive steps that will ensure protection of their networks and data. The best systems will be automated, comprehensive ones where the provider handles all configuration and implementation. Proactive, 24/7 monitoring is essential.

provides managed security and desktop security services that will help any business—whether it’s a large enterprise or a growing

Talk to Spectrum Business today or visit us online to find out more on how to make optimal decisions for business network and data security needs in today’s cloud and mobile device era.

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