Being proactive in the availability and security of your network is a difficult task at best. With the cooperation of senior management, your network can become the platform that enables you to take advantage of new technology and enhance electronic communications. The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to build a scalable, reliable and secure data network – but it can be done with the right technology applied in the right ways. The simple design of any secure network is the following: * Corporate networks and partner gateways should be protected with firewalls and intrusion prevention technology * Data leaving corporate locations should be secured with strong encryption. This includes data at rest (on a laptop or memory stick) and data in motion (on the network) * Web and Mail filtering technology should be used to insure compliance with your HR policy, remove viruses and malware and reduce the workload on your mail server from spam * Internal Authentication, Access Control and Accounting (AAA) servers should be utilized to provide a centralized user management platform, ensuring that personnel have access to only applications and information that they need. *Internal networks should be monitored for suspicious behavior *Corporate facilities should be protected by wireless intrusion prevention technology to prevent unseen data leakage – with particular attention to networks with a no wifi policy