Data Leaks For Dummies®

Chapter 12. Keeping the Bad Stuff Out

In This Chapter

• Assessing the e-mail threat

• Foiling patient criminals

• Preventing wireless security breaches

• Considering hardware appliances

At the forefront of the minds of all organizations is the security of information, none more so than... well, everywhere. Every business sector or organizational provider of stuff is facing a potentially damaging crisis of confidence with its customers. Worrying about what is leaving your network is fine and dandy as long as you protect the perimeter, wherever that might be. Until fairly recently, IT security was simply about a firewall and a dash of anti-virus. Not so today.

This chapter looks at how to ensure that you can keep the bad stuff out, and the bad people out. Security is not just about viruses, Trojans and spam. It is focused on keeping cyber-criminals out of the network and preventing them from taking over IT resources for subversive goals. This chapter looks at how you can ensure that at every perimeter point of your IT environment you have sufficient protection from cyber-attack.

The War Zone

Your firewall is constantly in danger of being breached. Just consider everything it has to protect (and protect against). The scene is complex:

• A proliferation of new mobile devices, phones, PDAs, laptops, and desktops.

• A welter of critical servers: file servers, messaging servers, database servers.

• A culture of doing business anywhere at any time, partly a response to pressures from globalization.

• A range of security ...