Internet Security Learning Center

10 Ways to Protect Yourself With "Pragmatic Network Security"

Perimeter security is not enough to protect a company's secrets in a growing network-based IT environment, says security consultant Mike Rothman. "The problem with depending totally on perimeter security is that it is based on the idea that all enemies are outside, and that is not always a good presumption," says Rothman. "There is a growing recognition that employees do not always do the right thing, either through malice or by accident." Companies also need to consider using firewalls and other similar boundary security technologies to protect their networks from Internet attacks. Rothman suggests "pragmatic security," where security is arranged by different domains starting with the infrastructure, which emphasizes physical security and the perimeter. The next part is data security, which includes security levels, security policy, compliance, and network access control, to name a few. Security policy controls who is able to view information on the enterprise network, while security level recognizes that different types of information need different levels of security, says Rothman. Ease of use is also an important part of data security so users follow security rules. Network access control is necessary for the number of employees that now use handheld and portable devices.

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