Why is Network Security Important?
As corporate networks expand, so too do the vulnerabilities and risks of breach to those networks. Whether it’s risk of embarrassment, risk of brand sentiment, or risk of revenue loss, companies today are motivated, yet challenged to secure their networks. As we’ve discussed, network security comes in many forms. The reasons for why network security is important are equally as diverse.
Protecting Your Data
In this day and age, data is the most valuable asset that companies maintain. Whether this data is confidential financial information, a list of your customers, or the addresses of your employees, it’s critical that any importance is managed and secured. To do so requires taking proactive network security steps like data backups, multi-factor authentication (MFA), password policies and more.
Protecting Client / Customer Data
Not all data being stored across your networks “belongs” to your organization. This is particularly true for consumer-facing businesses, like those in e-commerce, healthcare, transportation, hospitality and beyond. These days, it seems like not a day goes by without a major headline regarding a data breach and subsequent leak on the dark web in which one of these companies is the victim. In these scenarios, everyone loses. Corporations lose customers over trust, in turn losing revenue, and customers face potential risk of their personal data being used maliciously against them.

Regulatory Compliance
As regulations like SOX, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GLBA and others enter the healthcare, finance, retail and government industries in full force, enterprises find themselves moving quickly to bring their networks into compliance. Compliance, however, doesn’t just refer to adhering to security policies; compliance is now more about adhering to industry standards and regulations, while ensuring that an organization can easily audit and assess their level of compliance.
Proactive Protection
Most ransomware attacks manipulate a patch or anti-virus vulnerability that allows hackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive company information. In the unfortunate case that your organization has been attacked, it’s imperative to be able to update patches and remotely disconnect endpoints from the network to prevent the lateral spread of the attack across the organization.