Business Security Essentials: The Hardware Layer
Anyone who has lived in a cold climate (or adventured to the snow, whether it be to visit friends or family during the winter holidays, to go skiing/snowboarding or simply to enjoy any of the many winter sports available) knows that the best way to combat the pervasive wet and cold is through the layering of protective clothing. Each layer protects something different and ensures that you are safe from the elements.
As with protecting your body from the cold, protecting your business is also best undertaken in layers. Implementing cybersecurity in layers allows for optimal protection of your systems and data. In this article, we will be discussing the Hardware Layer.
The hardware layer is sometimes the very last thing that business owners consider when thinking about cybersecurity. It is certainly not the first thing that springs to mind when spending budget dollars, especially if there are no team complaints about system hardware.
“Hardware” is the name we use to describe the physical components of a device and is most commonly associated with the parts of a computer. The term “hardware” extends to all consumer electronics or devices that are used in your business and is what you can touch, see and interact with. The hardware for your business includes not only the components of employee PC workstations, but also includes routers, switches, servers, wi- fi, laptops and smartphones. When discussing the hardware layer of business cybersecurity, it must be done using a three-fold approach:
- Protecting the business from external cyberthreats and attacks.
- Preventing hardware failure and employee downtime.
- Predicting financial outlay for computer related systems each year.
Protecting Your Business from External Cyberthreats/Cyberattacks
It is no secret that cybercriminals are working hard every day to gain access to individual and business computer systems. Unfortunately, new and creative cyberattacks pop up with unwavering frequency, which requires computer hardware to be “patched” or updated to combat emerging security threats. Unchecked hardware, or hardware that isn’t consistently monitored or upgraded, can cause security issues when a cyberattack happens resulting in loss of productivity when the system goes down.
Unsupported/outdated or unpatched hardware/equipment can leave your business vulnerable to cyberattacks and can severely hinder any response to a cyberthreat. Business hardware that is supported by its vendor means that the hardware is actively getting patches and updates. These updates include not only bug fixes but patches to newly discovered security holes. Once business hardware reaches a certain age, its vendor may stop supporting that hardware. This means that the vendor will no longer be releasing updates for that hardware and the hardware becomes vulnerable to getting breached in new and creative ways by cybercriminals, which puts your data and business information at risk.
Making sure your business hardware is supported and is actively updated is an important part of protecting your business from external cyberattacks.
Preventing Hardware Failure and Employee Downtime
It is also no secret that computer hardware does age and wear with use. Of course, the age of your hardware is a large factor in keeping business systems running reliably. Time flies when you’re having fun, or perhaps while everything is working perfectly. Anti-virus and anti-malware programs are a lifesaver for businesses by providing 24-hour monitoring and security alerts, however, the equipment these programs run on (the hardware) must be reliable and functioning well. Unless you have brand-new computers, it would probably be hard to recall how old each piece of office hardware is. As computer equipment gets older, it starts to break down. There is a lifespan to computer equipment because within all computer hardware there are internal components that experience wear and tear and over time may fail. Having an unexpected failure or hardware crash can be expensive and sometimes devastating to your business operation. If a router goes bad, the internet goes down for the whole company, and no one can use the internet for work. If a server goes bad, all the company data is inaccessible until it is repaired or replaced. When business hardware goes down, your employees cannot do their job while the equipment isn’t working, and older hardware is unfortunately prone to outages. Having an accurate life- cycle management program for your business hardware is crucial to cybersecurity. A lifecycle management program puts a time limit on when to replace your business hardware. Adhering to that time limit decreases the chances of having an unexpected failure or crash, thereby decreasing inefficiency due to employee downtime.
Predicting Yearly Financial Outlay for Business Hardware
There is nothing like an unexpected computer failure to throw a wrench into your business budget. The last component of the hardware layer of cybersecurity is being able to have a predictable budget for IT related expenses. If your 8-year-old server unexpectedly fails mid-year and you were not expecting it, that could be a $30,000 wrench right into your business budget. If you have a 4-year old computer that dies and is not covered by a warranty, then you have to buy a new computer, which is a $1,800 expense outside the budget. Replacing equipment at pre-determined intervals is an important part of a business’s cybersecurity. It is also crucial that all of a business’ IT hardware has a good warranty tied to it. Make sure your business has warranties for the length of time you have planned to keep the business hardware. If you have a life-cycle for PC’s of 6 years, make sure you keep warranties on that computer for 6 years. That way, if the computer has hardware component failure, the warranty will replace those parts with no out of pocket costs. The same goes for business servers, routers and all other critical business hardware. Warranty all your business hardware up front when you buy the equipment and make sure to renew the warranty for as long as you have determined to keep the equipment or as long as the manufacturer will offer the warranty. Having a set lifecycle for business hardware and keeping the hardware warrantied is how you predict yearly financial outlay for hardware. Then at the end of the life-cycle, you buy new business hardware, even if the computer is still running. Why? Because if you don’t, you risk having a failure when you don’t expect it causing unexpected expenses, excessive employee downtime, outages, and cyberthreats because a vendor no longer supports the hardware and keeps it updated against emerging threats. A good life-cycle management program includes doing an audit of all computer hardware, knowing the age of all business hardware as well as obtaining reliable recommendations for cycling and replacing internal and external hardware.
Advantage IT Services, LLC provides life-cycle management as well as expert recommendations on life-cycle management to its business partners. Making sure that all layers of cybersecurity are in place is key to Advantage IT Services, LLC business practice model. Unfortunately, not all IT service providers are created equal. Advantage IT Services, LLC has run into several businesses that not only did not know the age of their hardware systems, but had been hoodwinked by a computer consultant that provided used, outdated hardware and passed it off as new. Unfortunately, dishonesty can be found at every level of business and it is important for the buyer to beware. You need to be able to trust your IT professional partner and at Advantage IT Services, LLC we have a sterling reputation for integrity and honesty and have maintained this reputation for over 16 years. We truly care about protecting and optimizing your business systems. We stand-by our company motto which is Your Technology at ITs best.
If you are interested in receiving more information about our services or would like to see if our solutions align with your business needs, lets have a 5 minute chat – click here to schedule a meeting.
