Organisations of every size rely on the internet for business to business communications, allowing remote workers to access business systems and information on web-sites and web-portals. But Internet Security risks have grown as fast as the Internet itself. The following types of unwanted activity can affect your organisation at any time. Clearstream can help you manage and control these risks so that your employees can take advantage of the internet, but with you in control:

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• Hacking – Hacking is intrusion into your network from a computer across the internet. This was the original purpose of the firewall, which only allows internet traffic into your network if requested from one of your PC’s (e.g. a web page sent to a request from an Internet Explorer user). Perimeter security (such as our firewall services) provides this protection and SonicWALL is one of the leading solutions. Hacking is a serious, but uncommon, event as it requires a dedicated IT expert to dedicate time to break into your network. If you have a well-configured firewall in place, which is vital, then there are often easier ways to gain access to your network. A Clearstream Managed Firewall or one of SonicWALL range of UTM devices are the recommendations for protecting your network from Hackers.

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• Denial of Service (DoS) – Perhaps seen most commonly with web-sites and e-commerce sites - this is where a large number of remote internet computers make information requests at the same time, flooding your available bandwidth or the processing power of the server or firewall. These attacks can happen deliberately or as a result of poor configuration. To protect your network from DoS attacks an ideal solution is to move your firewall from the relatively bandwidths available at customer sites which can be quickly swamped, to a hosted or managed firewall at one of Clearstream’s Points of Presence (POP). Our Carrier-level internet bandwidth provides headroom for peaks of traffic, and only protected traffic is sent to your sites, avoiding the opportunity for DoS attack. Servers can also be hosted at Clearstream’s hosting centres.

 

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• Viruses and Malware – A wide variety of malicious software now exists, attempting to infect and control your servers and PC’s. Within 20 minutes of connecting to the internet there is a high probability that your systems will have been scanned for vulnerabilities. These attacks are fully automated and organised, and unlike the early days of viruses when clever and wayward programmers used viruses to show off their prowess, today organised criminals use infected PC’s to launch SPAM email campaigns and harvest financial data for further gain. Malware covers a range of threats which can come from web-sites, downloaded files, infected memory sticks, CD’s or emails.
  
  When a Malware infection gains hold of a network, there is a strong chance of losing data, users work being disrupted, company information being taken by a 3rd party, reputation risk, network traffic disruption, and IT consultancy costs incurred to resolve the problem.
  
  There are several levels of Malware protection that can be deployed and all are useful. New threats appear every day but up to date protection is the best defence to protect your organisation;
  

• Gateway Anti-Virus is a SonicWALL firewall feature which scans all data entering or leaving your network via the internet. Where a Malware signature is recognised, the data transfer is stopped and alerts are raised. Using Gateway Anti-Virus cuts off one route by which Malware can enter your network and critically, stops it before it enters the network.

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  Email Security Appliance is a SonicWALL product that scans inbound and outbound email to prevent Malware entering the network via emails.

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• Desktop and Server Anti-Virus can be provided via Trend or SonicWALL (McAfee) technologies depending on the exact requirements of your network. This software is installed on each PC and Server and detects and cleans potential infections in memory or as a file is accessed on a PC.
  

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• SSL-VPN is one of the remote access technologies whereby a remote PC is granted access to your network across the Internet. The SSL-VPN appliance can apply policies to check for ant-virus updates, operating system patch levels and other features before allowing access. Each check provides additional security to help prevent Malware gaining hold on your network.

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• Phishing – This is an attempt to gain personal data, usually from an person browsing the Internet, for financial gain. Often initiated by spam email, a “Phisher” asks users to confirm account or access details on an invalid web-site which often appears similar to one they trust. Once the account details are known, these are resold or used to gain financial benefit at the users cost. Clearstream’s email security products help protect against Phishing on your network or at home.

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• Spam – Every email user is familiar with the unsolicited and unwanted emails offering a range of products and services. Automated systems scan web-sites for email addresses and use these to broadcast sales offers, with the originating organisations gaining financial reward. Often the systems which send the SPAM emails are “zombie PC’s” i.e. normal users machines which have been virus infected and now carry out tasks unknowingly on behalf of SPAM networks.

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• Clearstream can protect against SPAM with Email Security products and Anti-Virus solutions. By hosting your email security solutions in Clearstream Hosting Centres we can also ensure that unwanted SPAM does not use valuable network bandwidth and affect users performance.

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• Data Theft – Data theft can occur in a range of ways, from loss of a laptop device as often seen in the news, to the unwanted transmission of sensitive data via email by employees. Technology in this area is fast developing and Clearstream offers a range of solutions to provide peace of mind. Disc Encryption allows data to be protected even when a PC is lost or stolen, protecting your technical or marketing information for mobile employees.
  
  The unauthorised transfer of data can present many risks. Recent news stories of unauthorised transfers of customer information breaching Data Protection legislation highlight the need to be able to place a fence around your data. Several solutions exist for Code Green Networks provide.
  

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• Loss of Productivity – A recent poll estimated that £6.5bn was the cost to UK employers from non-work related use of the internet during working hours. The World Wide Web is a vast source of information, but not all of it relevant to your employees jobs. Browsing non-work related sites, visiting shopping, gambling, social networking and other sites is a major risk to productivity. Content Filtering is a utility available on all SonicWALL firewalls, Trend Content Filtering, or dedicated Content Filtering appliances to allow employees to only browse those sites needed for work. Blocking other web sites can focus employees on productive tasks, and avoid viruses and unnecessary network traffic and downloads. Clearstream can advise and implement solutions from a range of technologies depending on your requirements. 

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• Identity Theft – Where a 3rd party pretends to be you it is known as identify theft. This is undertaken for a variety of reasons from theft to access to records or facilities. The starting point for all identity theft is gaining information about a person that is meant to be kept secret (or private). Once private information (addresses, passwords, account numbers, policy numbers, ID numbers) become known then risks appear. To avoid identify theft a number of simple steps must be rigorously followed which include protection of IT systems, control of web access and Malware, regular maintenance of passwords and account details, and careful disposal of electronic and paper records.
  
  With CISSP trained consultants on staff, Clearstream can advise on general security issues, policies and procedures, and help you improve security awareness and capability across the organisation.

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