How to Protect Your Business In the Age of Technology

by Matthew Frank - Inside Sales Rep at MAC Source Communications

If you have ever watched the movie "Catch Me If You Can" you know that it was fairly easy for Leonardo DiCaprio's character to become someone else and steal millions of dollars from companies.  He was able to print his own paychecks, make new ID's, and then when all is said and done, he was able to disappear.  This all took place in the 1960s, before personal computers, before cell phones, before social media.  And the guy was less than 19 years old.  Oh, the movie was based on true events.

Now, its 2011, and we have things like personal computers, iPads, Cellphones, and Social Media.  In fact, we have so much technology, that people are constantly exposed.  What does this mean?  It means that people are just as exposed, if not more exposed than in the 1960's.

To combat this, you have a few options.  You can lock down all your electronics.  Password protect and encrypt every device you have and even then that doesn't give you 100% protection.  You can never go on the Internet again (although, lets be realistic, I would be crying after about 2 hours), or you can be smart about your technology.

The first thing to do is to look at your business and say "Am I properly protected?"  Do you have all your security features in place?  Is the wifi at your company secure?  Is your firewall setup properly?  Do you monitor everything your employees do online to make sure there is no malicious software coming through and people are being productive?  What about guest access to your wireless network?  Do guests have the ability to go on your network without having the ability to get into the private information on there?  Think about these questions for 2 minutes.  Good, now here are two solutions.

Next Generation Firewall:

Most companies have firewalls that block everything coming through a specific port.  The problem with this, is that it blocks things that are both good and bad.  Who wants to block the good?  Facebook for instance, is a great tool to use for marketing, but most companies can only turn it on or off.  They can't choose what features they want on, or what they want blocked.

With the Next Generation Firewall from Palo Alto Networks, you can control what applications and content come through on your network.  That means, that you can allow Facebook, but limit it.  Block games, but give employees the ability to read their messages.  Stop them from posting pictures (especially if you have sensitive information in your company that cannot be leaked) but allow them to post status updates or update the company page.  What about monitoring what sites employees are on?  Don't have time right?  Well, this firewall is a great device, in that it can generate reports for you in a nice and clean format so that you can see what is coming through your firewall.  You can see who is viewing something, what they are viewing, and how long they are viewing it for.  It also gives you graphs and tables, because lets face it, to many words can turn anyone away.

Social Media:

The second way to protect your company is by understanding how people get information.  Facebook is a staple in most people's lives.  The problem is that most people keep it open for anyone to see, and lets be honest here, will friend anyone.  To understand how people get information off Facebook and use it for bad intentions, you need to understand how to do it yourself.  On Tuesday September 13th, 2011, join MAC Source Communications and Information Security Expert and Penetration Tester, Steve Stasiukonis, to learn "How to Rob a Bank With Facebook."  Steve will explain how white collar criminals leverage the use of common people, processes and technologies to infiltrate the internal workings of your network. He will share his real world experiences on how he and his company used these techniques to breach the networks of numerous banks and other financial institutions.  This is a Webinar, so you don't even need to leave your office.

For more information on both ways to protect your business visit www.macsourceinc.com

Also, you can contact me at 585-368-2101 or Elizabeth Rizzo at 518-694-3904 for more information.

Juniper Networks Earns Back-to-Back Win and Receives Top Honors from Solution Providers for Superior Products, Support and Channel Partnership

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 30, 2011 — Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) today proudly announced it has earned the 2011 CRN Annual Report Card (ARC) "Company of the Year," sweeping the entire Enterprise Networking Infrastructure category. The coveted award marks the second year in a row Juniper Networks has won the ARC in this highly competitive category.

"This back-to-back win and sweep of the entire enterprise networking category offers a great testimony to the disruptive leadership, technical innovation and channel partnership that differentiates Juniper Networks from our competitors and helps us drive even greater business value for our channel partners worldwide," says Juniper Networks' Senior Vice President of Worldwide Partners Emilio Umeoka.

Umeoka and Juniper Networks Americas Partner Chief Frank Vitagliano accepted the honor at the 2011 XChange Americas Conference earlier this month in Denver, CO.

"This is a great win and a significant endorsement of the value, trust and respect Juniper Networks has earned within the Americas channel partner base and worldwide," says Vitagliano. "From breaking into the switching market four years ago with the Juniper Networks® EX Series, to the recent announcement of our QFabric data center solution, Juniper Networks continues to deliver the disruptive innovation channel partners need to meet the dynamic business and technology demands of the enterprise. These are exciting and defining times in Juniper Networks' history and we want to thank our channel partners for their continued advocacy and adoption of the new network."

Recognized as one of the IT channel's top honors, the CRN ARC serves as a definitive benchmark of relationships between vendors and their channel partners. The 2011 Everything Channel ARC research team surveyed more than 3,600 solution providers across 21 categories to evaluate their satisfaction with vendors' products, support and channel programs. The results serve as an industry standard for measuring excellence within the channel community.

"When it comes to the strength of relationships, quality of products and return on partner programs, solution providers want to hear from their fellow VARs about the IT vendors that consistently exceed expectations," said Kelley Damore, vice president, editorial director, Everything Channel. "The ARC gives solution providers the opportunity to share feedback and recognize the vendors who truly demonstrate channel excellence. We congratulate Juniper Networks for being recognized as the best of the best in the category of Enterprise Networking Infrastructure."

To view a slideshow of all the organizations named to the 2011 ARC visit www.crn.com.

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks is in the business of network innovation. From devices to data centers, from consumers to cloud providers, Juniper Networks delivers the software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net).

Juniper Networks and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Juniper Networks and Junos logos are trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Need products from Juniper Networks?  Contact Matthew Frank at mfrank@macsourceinc.com or Elizabeth Rizzo at erizzo@macsourceinc.com

You can even check out MAC Source inc. at http://www.macsourceinc.com/