Small Business Firewall Software

In today's computer-based economy, internet security services are necessary for any company to maintain privacy, to protect personal and business information and to guard against harmful viruses and worms. If any one of these concerns surface, serious damage can be inflicted on a company's ability to do business. As the market place moves to a computer-driven, technology-run industry, introducing a foreign electronic enemy can devastate a company's ability to handle daily workflow and sustain momentum. Even companies with fewer than 50 employees are benefitted from many of the protection applications available to them to help guard against external intrusion. Anti-virus applications and small business firewall software are just two of the many options available to assist an employer in maintaining his company's privacy and safety. In an information age, identity and knowledge are more valuable than ever before. If these are stolen or compromised, many companies with fewer than 50 employees struggle to recover from the damage inflicted by a nameless, faceless enemy.

As more and more employees surf the web in their free time, company owners would benefit from including monitoring and reporting options in the internet security services program they choose. With monitoring and reporting applications, the employer will receive a print out of all the web site addresses the employees visited while at work. This will allow a manager to assess the time efficiency of each employee. Along with these types of choices, many internet security services applications offer time management alternatives. These options prohibit employees logging onto the web before and after work. Working together, both of these applications limit web surfing, game playing and personal email time wasters. Even on a lean budget, an employer would do well to save money for this sort of program. In the long run, the time saved will pay for itself.

Originally, the World Wide Web was seen as a utopia of knowledge. All the users were kind, and sharing information was harmless. In the late 1980s, there were a few major security breaches that forever stole the trust of web surfers everywhere. The Morris Worm infiltrated government websites and other closed networks. After that, no one seemed safe. After these devastating events with viruses and worms, computer gurus began utilizing routers to keep different streams on the web separate from each other. This finally led to the construction of computer firewalls. These were to work like a firewall works in a building. It cannot prevent a fire, but can block the fire from destroying the rest of the building. Small business firewall software or hardware devices are not designed to prevent viruses or information theft. They were simply developed to keep that sort of "behavior" from infiltrating the owner's network. As one would guess, this type of technology has improved significantly over the years.

Initially, internet security services filtered incoming information based on what type of "packet" it was in. If there is an unknown "packet," then the foreign object was barred from being accepted into the internal network. This sort of protection is more and more valuable with the network connections that are prevalent today. Companies no longer can work effectively using dial-up internet access, and must choose instead to use a cable or broadband connection. These both leave the computer perpetually "open," even when the processor is off. As the employees go home for the evening, hackers can then have uninterrupted hours to attempt a breach of information or virus download. Some hackers even send spam and other unwanted mass email using the company's email address! Though it did offer more protection than before, this type of application caused some problems as some small business firewall software programs did not acknowledge when one packet ended and another began. This lack of discernment made hacking into and infiltrating the network of a company easier. These rudimentary attempts led to the small business firewall software used today. Technology is trying to keep one step ahead of the hackers. The network applications available today can be given a set of "rules" to distinguish between wanted and unwanted incoming web traffic. These types of internet security services can tell the difference between the IP address source, IP address destination, packet type and location. After making these distinctions, a network application can filter out specific sources, destinations or packets. Each company can customize the application by giving it a set of rules by which to judge incoming information.

A company is not completely safe with simply purchasing a small business firewall software program. Even ancient farmers knew that where there is safety, there is productivity. "And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them." (Ezekiel 34:27) An owner needs to be savvy when shopping for web safety measures. An off site firewall will take less server space away from the company and prevent the business network from moving slower as can sometimes result from an onsite protection device. Luckily, research has now developed a way for each firewall to hide its own source address, so it cannot be infiltrated either. There are still a myriad of computer safety product that an employer should research and potentially purchase. One of which is an anti-virus program. Should a virus or worm infiltrate the network, a secondary anti-virus application can block its entry into the employees' computers and quarantine it before it destroys the entire network. Safety will truly keep a company ahead of the competition.

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