By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
A recent study from Astaro (News - Alert) examines the question of branch office network security.
When it comes to IT security, Astaro says, “almost all businesses using IP networks to transmit data will know that they have to protect themselves, and they will have systems in place to keep their data secure. However, this is often focused at the head office. For workers that are not located at the central office -- whether this is a branch office environment or a remote worker at home -- the question of security is a harder one to answer.”
On the one hand, as the study says, “even smallest offices that connect to the Internet should get the same level of safeguards as large offices, but on the other hand, professional, security devices are expensive, their management is time consuming and IT security knowledge at small offices is scarce.”
The first area to consider “is how to manage many branch networks efficiently. Because each branch office is small, it will typically not have any on-site IT staff available to support users if something goes wrong,” the study advises:
“The emphasis therefore has to be on how the central IT department can provide this support and security... If you are starting a new branch office, being able to configure and manage security systems centrally, without having to put an engineer on the road for several days, provides a far better return on investment and much lower costs.”
Once you have the IT network protected, the study recommends that “the next point is to look at the company’s existing policies around how IT assets are used. From access to the Internet for personal use through to application installations and stopping unauthorized software, this set of rules for IT can be extrapolated into the branch office environment.”
In fact, Astaro finds, “most of these guidelines should be the same -- for example, not allowing peer-to-peer software to be installed without a valid business use case or not allowing surfing during business hours for private purposes.”
