IT Security : Best Practices
August 4, 2023
The best way to secure your digital environment, is to not have a digital environment and to stay off the grid. Seriously.
Nature is the most secure thing we have, but we refuse to truly live in harmony with nature.
If that is too drastic, the next step is to not have wireless devices. keep. everything. wired. and on a closed network.
If that approach is just not practical for you then you cannot be that serious about security and privacy.
Let us just suppose you have duped yourself into believing that you can completely secure your technology of choice and be connected to the grid. OK.
The organizations that build computers for a living cannot guarantee 100% protection against malicious actors. The intent behind this thought is to help folk to step into reality about security. The best systems and services mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities that will inevitably occur with near zero loss of critical information and resources.
The reason being is you, the customer, end user or employee are the weakest links in the security chain. Feel free not to take this too personal.
People have always been the weakest link in a security chain.
Organizations dare not say this to your face, but they will implement multi-factor authentication... or make your passcodes time-out after x amount of failed attempts...
Or make you prove to a robot that you are not a robot. Honestly, the list will continue to go on.
Okay, that was a little bit of a rant, but show me the lies. To secure a digital environment, or most any environment, one should consider the rule of 3. Consider having at least 3 layers. You will thank yourself for more reasons than just when the temperature drops “winter is coming.”
Let us apply this 3 layer approach briefly for a home networking environment. The typical start of a home network will be the Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) modem. Most home users end things there paying monthly for both the ISP’s modem and wireless access from the same modem.
Buy your own modem, if your ISP allows 3rd party devices to connect. Ask the sales rep and or confirm this information on your ISP’s website. If you cannot avoid the ISP’s modem then obviously start there.
Acquire a firewall and connect your modem, or your ISP’s modem to the firewall’s wan port, preferably a firewall that gets automatic updates and has built-in wifi.
Get a mesh network capable system and connect that devices wan port to a lan port on your firewall.