It should come as no surprise that threats to companies are no longer limited to the physical. With the expansive network of high-speed internet services, maintaining security proves a lot more challenging. One of those challenges deals with addressing endpoint security. Essentially, when remote devices access a company network, that device can create an opening for possible intrusions. Therefore, it’s critical for an organization to assure this connectivity is rock solid.
You might ask if it’s really that big of a threat. It absolutely is. A compromised network can lead to disastrous consequences for a business, some which can even threaten the company’s stability. This is because not all threats to security are a Hollywood-style team of hackers looking to drain accounts. Rather, it’s often dangerous malware or other intruding bugs which can lead to major issues.
There are a variety of reasons you need to make sure external devices aren’t exposing the company network. For one, mobile or any connecting device has the potential to allow threats to disrupt service with your servers. Servers can encounter issues from things like unusual strain from excess demand, and when this happens it’s possible to deal with dreaded downtime. Downtime, in that scenario, leads to disruption of services for a consumer base. With every moment not making a profit, a business is slowly falling behind.
It’s also important to consider how the consumer base is affected. Assume, for instance, your business is in sales and works by storing customer data. This information likely contains things like purchase history, home addresses, and even payment info. If endpoint security wasn’t in place, and this information fell into the hands of malicious parties (or got lost), the backlash would likely be severe.
Not everything is all about avoiding consequences, of course. There are definitely cost-saving benefits to maintaining a solid endpoint security policy. Since dealing with issues across the board can be expensive, avoiding security intrusions altogether circumvents those costs in the first place. Additionally, your employees will be more productive. It’s difficult for a worker to do their job when a network isn’t operating safely, so letting them focus on their specialties is only a good thing.
This is also true for your IT staff. Since a broad spectrum of technical issues can occur on a daily basis, the last thing you want is security problems. This forces IT to focus on the endpoint security issues, while other errors within the company can build up. A pileup of tech related errors can cause things like downtime and ultimately hurt the bottom line of a business.
Endpoint security is a must if your company uses policies like bring your own device (BYOD) because a network manager can’t account for the risks they present. Doing so ensures you avoid many of the costly problems related with Internet-based malignancies and ultimately allows your organization to remain productive.
