Segmenting And Segregating Your Network: Often Overlooked Tips For Keeping Businesses Safe

Let’s imagine the typical very-small-business with about 10 employees, maybe fewer. They probably use one network for everything, right? The secretary or office assistant has the same level of network access as their IT person—who may or may not just be someone’s nephew who’s pretty good with computers. Like many small businesses, they probably think this all makes perfect sense; after all, they’re too small to need anything more complicated. But then the unthinkable happens: the office assistant gets phished. Suddenly, network credentials for the whole business are up for grabs to cybercriminals.

Situations like this happen all the time, but the truth is: they’re not that hard to prevent. If you’re an MSP or small to medium-sized business, you should be thinking access privileges, especially as they relate to networks. And the more sophisticated cyberattacks become, the more important it is for you to take advantage of all the security steps you could possibly have in your arsenal—specially the easy ones. Network segmentation and segregation are two of the easiest ways to help protect businesses from the spread of malware.

Modern network demands

If you’ve been in IT for more than a couple years, then you’ve already seen the concept of the “business network” evolve before your eyes. To protect your business and customers, you need a firm grasp on these changes. Here are a few examples of processes and technologies that have drastically changed the way we work...