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For the smooth functioning of a company, computer networks and internet connectivity is a must. But with these requirements, is associated the risk of getting hacked or inviting virus from different sources. The ability to provide a secured system of protection from unauthorized entry, relives the companies of huge mind racking troubles.
Reams and reams of pages of information and innumerable data are located in the computer systems and servers of some companies. Not only are these important for the day to day functioning of the organization, but also they have a bearing on the working of many people. Such data protection is mandatory for the organizations and for this, they will have to entrust their system in the hands of a competent information security audit agency.
By doing a detailed audit of the security system in the network, the agency comes to know about the loopholes that might be present. In a computer network, there are a number of points of entry because there are a number of computers and these are being used by people for different works. Moreover, the link is also present to the servers. Despite of sufficient antivirus, or malware protections, it is possible to breach the information security cordon.
When the audit is done, the experts in the agency work with the method of penetration testing. In such a method, these experts use their know how to first try and enter into the given network by ethical hacking measures. Any network is penetrable and this is what these experts believe in and they try to find as many possible entry points as they can find. With the penetrability tests, the agency comes to know about the possible modifications and the points at which these modifications are required.
Most of the companies dealing in information security are nowadays adopting these measures so that the baseline assessment of the security of the computer network is done from the outside. The penetration test is a simulation of the hostile network attacks which are done in a covert manner by possible hackers or virus makers. By means of such tests, the information security personnel are able to know about the points of vulnerabilities and potential entryways into sensitive data in the given IT infrastructure security system.
The information security audit is done by means of port scanning, vulnerability identification of operating system, web application, antivirus, and other components of the networks. Then the audit is analyzed and reports of penetration testing are put under scrutiny. This helps in charting out an organized network security system. The expenditure, blue print of security programming, and operational procedures of the future securities are laid down for the benefit of the client companies.
By means of the information security audit, companies will be able to lay bare their existing system. This will also lead them to rethink their information security strategy and give them an opportunity to upgrade it or renew it. Without the proper assessment of the security system, it is not possible to know if it is weak or is providing adequate protection. With advanced means of data theft being rampant in the IT world, the line differentiating the risk and protection is quite thin. With proper information security audit and its correctional measures, it can be a boon for any company depending on computer networks.
Torrid Networks is a global leader in end-to-end information security management services. Company is a CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team - India) empaneled security auditor under the Ministry of Information Technology of India. To get a free Quote on penetration testing or information security kindly visit- Torrid Networks
The database of a company is the storehouse of all the vital information and data pertaining to the functioning of the firm and is intended to be absolutely confidential and protected from any attack by a cyber criminal. The possibilities of a database being hacked and misused by attackers are high because it is accessible to the user from anywhere. Hence it becomes the foremost duty of an administrator to protect the database by constantly monitoring the functions and look for any loophole that will benefit the attacker.
Database security is done periodically by the administrator of the company's website for closely monitoring the activities of the users who have access to the database. This is mainly done to prevent any tampering of the database by anyone who has permission to reach the data on the database. It is also done to ensure that no person without the proper authorization is allowed to enter into the database. The database security and auditing are done in many methods such as securing the server, monitoring the connections to the database, access control, and enforcing restrictions on the access to the database.
Restrictions to database access: When the database of a company is controlled via the internet, this measure is at its best use. There will be a list of users that are authorized to access the data on the database and when this access is restricted, the data is all the more secured. When this is applied, the user will be able to attempt logging in only three times and if he fails in providing the correct password, his account is disabled and he will not have the privilege of accessing the database again. When somebody is trying to access the database from an unknown destination, such attempt can also be thwarted by this tool.
Access control: Said to be one of the toughest and hardest security audits on the database, the security of the data is high when this is applied. The method requires the combination of efforts of both the administrator and the developer for the database. When this method is brought into effect on the database, all the systems that have access to the database are checked thoroughly and a list of all the persons who will have the authority to gain access to the database is prepared. This makes the task easier to monitor the activities of all such persons closely and if anything suspicious is found, his access is cancelled, thus ensuring the better security of the database.
Connection to database: No updates that are unauthorized are permitted by the system administrator to be done on the database. He needs to thoroughly examine any update that has to be made to the database and found to be genuine and safe. There could be others who have the permission to update the data on the database too. It is the duty of the system administrator to frequently check that this privilege is not misused and vital information is tampered. He must be constantly watching these persons for not crossing the security measures and mishandling the data.
Security of the server: By using this method, the number of persons who will have the authority to access the database can be restricted. This is done keeping in view the probability of anyone accessing the vital data on the database and tampering it. No unauthorized person can login to the database. Only the computers which have a legitimate IP address are permitted by the server of the company to access the database. The server of the database, in turn, is programmed in such a way that it will allow only the connections that are made from a particular web server. As a result, no outsider will be able to gain access to the database of the company.
Other measures: Firewall configuration will help in protecting the data and ensuring the security of the database. The company should not use the system passwords and other parameters provided by the vendors. All the data that are very confidential are to be protected. The sensitive information needs to be encrypted for public networks. All the security systems and applications are to be updated at regular intervals. Each user is to be provided with a unique ID for accessing the database.
These are some of the measures that need to be meticulously followed for ensuring the safety of the database. Frequent auditing of the safety measures and updating the tools can also be of immense help in protecting the database of a firm.
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