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Using Duo MFA to Harden Security

Single factor authentication to business systems is no longer enough to protect company data access. We live in a world of ever evolving threats and data breaches that can leave your private data exposed to hackers. Duo MFA is the simple, secure answer.

A Password is Not Enough

A password as a form of identity verification has always been a poor tool for the job. Any person, or bot, can use a known password to gain access to a system not meant for them to access. With massive data breaches becoming the norm, there is a better chance than ever that an old password is know by bad actors. It all comes down to trust. A password is essentially anonymous. While complex passwords and regularly changing them is still important, you can add another line of defense in case a password has been compromised.

Duo MFA Adds Another Layer

Duo is a widely used multi factor authentication solution trusted by smart organizations that take security seriously. Everyone with an online bank account has had to verify their identity with an emailed or texted code at one point or another. Ever wondered why you have to do this for your bank and not for your work systems? Think about what an attacker would have access to if they were to access your work computer under your login. They would instantly have access to your files, saved web passwords, and if services are set to trust your computer, they have access to them as well. Traditionally, corporate networks have been behind the times when it comes to authentication.

Duo MFA provides an affordable solution to the problem of 2 factor compliance. Their authentication software can be automatically installed  on all company computers with ease. Once installed, users can be setup automatically, and enroll with Duo quickly. Then, they can pick push authentication on their smartphone, text, email, or even a phone call to verify they are who they say they are. These options can be set by the organization depending on need.

Pay as You Go

Organizations can purchase licenses directly from MCS and will be billed as little as $3 / user / month. There are no contracts either. Check with your insurance carrier for possible discounts offered by using Duo MFA. MCS has the experience to deploy Duo on your systems so only authorized employees can access your data.

5 Reasons Organizations of any size need Network Monitoring

Today, many organizations face the tedious challenge of 24/7 availability and productivity. Undoubtedly, technology is rapidly changing with the evolution of business IT requirements, and the cybersecurity threats to your organization’s data have the potential to disarm your operation. However, Network monitoring solutions play a crucial part in organizations because they rely on their internal network to be productive.

Generally, there are various serious threats to your business, including Network failures and irregularities, server downtime, and service or application crashes. These threats can cost thousands of dollars in revenue and productivity. Network monitoring solutions are important because they deliver better services and reduce costs. In this article, we will discuss the various reasons to choose network monitoring solutions. The following information is quite beneficial whether you are a CEO, executive, IT manager, or IT Administrator.

What is Network Monitoring?

It is crucial to know that Network monitoring plays a significant role in any size of an organization. The network is a significant factor for any modern corporation, and if it slows down, its failure is quite costly. Usually, Network monitoring is a system to view the health of an organization, including devices, traffic, and servers. It can help to identify potential problems and prevent any network issues. In simple words, Network monitoring systems are just tools that can help administrators monitor their networks more effectively. MCS uses and recommends Nagios XI for most customers but there are many solutions.

Do you want to know why your organization requires Network Monitoring? Let’s take a deep look at 5 different reasons to choose Network monitoring for your organization.

1. Key insights of organization infrastructure

Network monitoring allows you to keep historic reports about how your internal infrastructure has performed. Generally, historic data analysis can be very beneficial to determine whether your current system landscape can meet business requirements or if you need to invest in new technology. For instance, a network administrator is trying to convince their management that it is crucial to upgrade the current infrastructure because it’s not sufficient to meet the current organization’s requirements. In that case, a historic report is made to evaluate the overall past few months’ performances with the most reliable predictions for the future.

2. Fix issues and identify security threats

If you’re in a situation dealing with a configuration error or an abnormal traffic fluctuation, network monitoring software can help you to get to the bottom of your issues. Network monitoring tools can provide excellent security to your organization. The obvious benefit you can commonly get is a high-level performance for your organization. You can spot any unusual threats including a spike in traffic levels or a harmful device that’s connected to your network. So, Network monitoring can figure out when and on what device an event occurred. Then, you will be able to take a proactive approach to solve any network security issue.

3. Increased Return on Investment (ROI)

Monitoring IT infrastructure is considerably helpful for many organizations financially because it is cost-savings. However, it can also increase the return on investment. Primarily, you must have an IT budget for your organization to spend on software and network infrastructure, IT labor, maintenance costs, and hardware costs. Unfortunately, the outdated network system can harm the return on investment. In that case, if you consider efficient Network monitoring for your organization, it provides the flexibility and scalability to grow your business, and you can easily save most of your IT expenses every month with far better improvements. No doubt, Network Monitoring plays a crucial part in cost saving and return on investment.

4. Prevention from Cyber Attacks

Network monitoring is significant for fighting against cyber-attacks. Cybercriminals are more advanced these days. Knowing the difference between a cyber-attack and normal-behavior, your team can react proactively. Recently, network monitoring prevented the Anthem medical data breach in 2015 by noticing user behavior. These attackers submitted database queries to obtain PII records, a costly type of cyber-attack. The database contained up to 80 million customer records in this attack.

5. Optimized performance, Minimized risk, and Maintained Compliance

Network monitoring systems provide optimize a network’s performance, solve attacking problems, and prevent you from developing problems by identifying slowdowns and collecting performance data. One of the apparent benefits of a network monitoring system is its potential to identify malicious network behavior. Undoubtedly, Network monitoring systems can track network security threats ranging from unauthorized downloads to password changes and flag any abnormal behavior. Further, it ensures that breaches can be identified and mitigated immediately. Most of the compliance with regulatory entities like HIPAA, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS is significant for many organizations. These regulations need network monitoring for best practices and security measures.

Future of Network Monitoring

With the advancement of technology, many devices have become network-based. This obviously increases the stress on network teams. On top of that, IoT devices have changed the way organizations think about networks. However, there is needed to improve the organization’s infrastructure because multiple DDoS attacks have been seen due to unsafe IoT devices.
No doubt, IoT changes our way of our thinking about networks. Monitoring networks is becoming more challenging with that addition of so may different types of devices.  Monitoring solutions certainly will allow you to discover future problems with your network and provide efficient and reliable services to your users.