Reduce branch office threats in 10 steps

Broadband local access provides branch offices with more affordable bandwidth today than many organizations' main offices had when they first became Internet-enabled. Bandwidth is not the only resource that's become abundantly available to branch offices. The cost of server hardware has tumbled over the past five years. Remarkably, a platform suitable for Windows 2003 or Linux server costs less than an extreme gaming computer. Many organizations see these as economic windfalls that allow them to host business-critical applications in branch offices. But while advances in telecom and technology create opportunities to enhance business productivity, they expose organizations to new threats.

Here's a short list of reasons

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Reduce or mitigate these and related threats by implementing measures such as these:

You can't make branch offices impervious to attack, but by implementing some or all of these measures, you can turn an attacker's green field into a much rockier field to plow.

About the author: David M. Piscitello is president of Core Competence Inc. He has been involved in internetworking technology for 30 years and is an internationally recognized leader in internetworking, security and fast packet technology. Dave is currently serving as a Security and Stability Advisory Committee fellow for ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).