As published in Industrial Focus Magazine.The popularity of the Internet has undoubtedly taken the world by storm; the only drawback has always been cost and speed. Only the larger companies could afford leased lines for permanent and hi-speed Internet connection as these start from around £3,500 for a 64k line. For this reason leased lines did not offer a sensible solution for the smaller company, leaving you with the choice of either ISDN or 56K analogue dial-up connections. This only provided you with slow, and depending on time spent online, expensive connection costs and frustrated users.
With the introduction of ADSL enabled exchanges around the country this has all changed. With increased speeds and ADSL MAX available connecting various office locations and home workers becomes a reality and a usable proposition for all businesses. So what are the benefits of ADSL for your company?
• Fixed monthly cost
• Up to 8MB download and 856KB upload
• 24:7, "always on" connection
• E-commerce enabled web-site
• Wide Area Network (WAN) - the ability to connect satellite offices into one network
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) - the ability to give authorised access to mobile users.
All this is possible with ADSL MAX and some additional hardware and configuration.
With all this good news you are understandably waiting for the bad news, well technically there is no bad news but we can offer a few words of warning. You will have to address certain security issues when installing ADSL and configuring the network for Internet access. Let's use an analogy to highlight the seriousness of this potential problem. Would you leave your house with the door wide open and give people the address as you walk along the street? Whilst doing so you explain that there is no security in the house to prevent unauthorised access.
Of course not, that would be foolish, but so is installing ADSL MAX without the added protection of a firewall. With ADSL you are given a static IP, a permanent address on the Internet. Without a firewall you are effectively leaving the door wide open and anyone can find your home. So now we all understand the seriousness of the "potential" problem, we can confront it. When considering security you should always presume the worst and prepare for it. A correctly installed and configured firewall will give you the ability to ensure the safety of your company information whilst connecting satellite offices and mobile users.
So let's briefly look at a firewall and its capabilities, a firewall forms part of a layer of defence on your network. It may work alone or with other firewalls or software on your system forming a barrier of inspection points which analyse the data packets that make up your network traffic. This traffic is either rejected or allowed to pass through to the internal network, or commonly referred to as the Intranet. Only authorised traffic will have the ability to pass safely through and carry on its journey.
So who or what exactly are we trying to keep out? Unfortunately there are many reasons that you may have an attack, some of the more common reasons are.
• Industrial
• Theft of information
• Joy riders, hackers and vandals
These types of intrusion may be to gain access to your valuable data, financial records, customer lists or marketing strategies. The more damaging of unauthorised access is by the hackers that only wish to cause damage and bring down your system.
RW Communications understand that their responsibility does not end at installing ADSL, but ensure the safety of the network and push the current technology to the limits. With forward thinking and the right motivation you can have the same advantages as your larger competitors but at a fraction of the cost, whilst ensuring the safety of your network.
