by Theodore Yueh (NAPSA)—Owning your own business is challenging. Surveys indicate that, on average, small businesses will have to respond to six security incidents annually and spend up to 20 percent of their IT budgets on security. When you take into account other high-priority IT necessities, such as systems and software, one-fifth of the budget represents a significant amount of resources for a small business to Ted Yueh spend on security. But small business is no less a target than big enterprise. Entrepreneurs need to take every reasonable measure to prevent viruses, hackers and attackers from threatening the businesses they have worked so hard to build. Small businesses can increase productivity by investing in an IT infrastructure that supports networking, remote access, mobile computing, and Internet commerce. However, these same investments also increase your security risks. Network security threats have nearly doubled annually over the past five years, and the damage caused from the latest worm attacks—MyDoom, Bagle, Korgo, Sasser—has wreaked havoc on small businesses. It should be standard practice to arm your business with virus protection. There are, however, many other steps that any small business connected to the Internet should consider, including a firewall, spam filtering, contentfilters, and secure remote access or Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology. Your small business needs a security plan as much asit needs a business plan. Installing these protections is a waste of capital if you don’t establish and enforce security guidelines, monitor your security systems to verify that they’re correctly configured and fully operational, and regularly update security software with the latest protection. Furthermore, small businesses often forget to build security costs into their budget. On an annual basis, costs may fluctuate and security challenges may be tackled in stages. The Valueof Security to Your Business Investing in preventive measures is your best insurance when you contemplate the incalculable cost—in terms of money, time and business impact—of a network intrusion. Wormsare being released at an ever-increasing rate, and they’re becoming morelethal. Unless you have the luxury of a full-time security administrator, you may find that outsourcing is the most cost-effective solution. Contracting with a Managed Security Provider, such as a VAR, ISP or other IT professional, is recommended. These experts can provide you with an audit of your system to help evaluate the resiliency of your current security defenses, as well as recommend solutions for security best prac- tices, configure installations, and even automatically update and manage yoursecurity solutions. Many managed security providers will provision, install, professionally manage and automatically update a comprehensive security solution packagefor a low fixed monthly fee typically $30 to $200 per month depending on the services you select and the size of your network. For a one-time evaluation and purchase, smaller companies with fewer than 20 employees can expect to pay a security consultant $1,500 to $2,000 for an assessment and $1,000 to $1,500 for a firewall. Making Security Affordable You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to assess your business’ vulnerability. Some next-generation solutions are built especially for small business from tried-and-true enterprise versions. Starting at just $995, they pro- vide enterprise-level protection but with the features and functions—and price tag—that small businesses need. Ted Yueh manages small business security solutions for Check Point Software Technologies, the world’s largest Firewall and VPN provider. The same patented Internet security technology that protects 97 of the Fortune 100 companies also protects Check Point’s small- to mid-size businesses. The company recently introduced a series of products for small businesses called Safe@ Office that are designed for companies with three to 75 users.
