Big Fish Systems

Endpoint security may seem like a daunting task if you are a (SMB) with the accompanying specters of expensive equipment and big dollar consultants made even worse in light of malware and the other online security issues facing organizations today. However, when you get down to it, endpoint security is more accessible today than ever before.

Here are five ways to save time and reduce your investment on endpoint security:

Always approach endpoint security with a plan. Making the move to endpoint security with a plan is move that can save you both time and money. The plan should include your security requirements, backup plan/regimen, and proposed budget, and research on market leading solutions. From this information, you can determine a short list of prospective vendors. The best news about endpoint security solutions today is that the major security vendors have SMB class endpoint security solutions in their product lines that have flexible pricing tailor made for SMBs scaling up and scaling down endpoint security as a company grows or reduces headcount. Institute a strong end user education program. User education is one of greatest endpoint security tools that won’t cost your organization a lot of money. There are a number of free IT security resources and templates for acceptable use policies available online. The goal here is to get your end users to be your first line of defense – speaking up ifsomething looks out of place on their PC and deepen their understanding about online security risks. Better-educated end users means less security related calls to your help desk. Deploy Software As A Service (SAAS) web security. SAAS based web security has dual benefits of time savings and reducing your investment. The “pay as you go” pricing model and flexible menu of security options that SAAS offers SMBs is hard to ignore because it means purchasing only the security you require but still getting the opportunity to scale up and scale down their security with the ebbs and flows of your business. Outsourcing the administration and infrastructure also saves your IT budget and means that in-house IT staff can focus on client facing projects that can contribute to the bottom line of your business. The outsourcing provider also has in-house security experts that are typically out of reach salary wise to SMBs, which is another nice bonus. Avoid consumer security solutions inside yourenterprise. The most basic endpoint security solution is a firewall and antivirus on the PC and it might seem commercial off the shelf security software can take care of your desktop security needs, However, don’t forgo a centrally managed endpoint security solution for consumer grade security as an SMB. Putting security configuration and decisions into the hands of end users can result in costly and time consuming security issues that can impact your business and divert your IT people from billable projects. Consider free endpoint security solutions and non-traditional alternatives. We live in cash strapped times, so your SMB may want to consider free endpoint security solutions and non-traditional alternatives because they are better than nothing standing between your corporate data and the Internet. However, heading down this security route is fraught with compromises including spending a lot more man-hours.  Non-traditional alternatives include reducing the threat vectors in yourenterprise like Windows PCs (easier said than done for most of us), standardizing software and configurations, disabling unnecessary Windows services, setting up a strong operating system/application service pack and patching regimen. There is a lot can be done to secure your endpoints by doing by locking down your existing hardware and network infrastructure with will just cost you man hours and time.

Final Thoughts

Saving time and reducing your investment on endpoint security starts in your approach and balances on finding the right SMB security solution (SAAS or locally hosted), end user security training, and an understanding of the security alternatives available in your hardware and network infrastructure.

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