How do engineers make cyber networks safer?
Networks created by engineers or IT specialists are made every day, and the number one thing that should be their priority is safety. Being able to protect a company or organization’s assets is crucial to its survival. Being able to make a cyber network safer happens more after the network is made rather than during its creation. Having experience with a specific network for an organization allows for the engineers to better tune it for what it needs to be ready for.
A very basic list of things that should be done to ensure safety would be things like two-factor authentication for users, firewalls, role-based permissions for users, anti-virus software, blocking unverified downloads and websites, and if possible maybe even considering using a closed-loop network. This is all very basic stuff that every cyber engineer should know how to do and should consider applying to their network if feasible. Of course, some situations may not call for the need for some of these such as role-based permissions. For example, in a small business where there is only a handful of employees, putting restrictions on everyone may not be necessary.
One crucial thing cyber engineers must do is to constantly update their network. The world of computing is a constantly changing place and there are always new ways of infiltrating networks. Network engineers must keep up to date on these changes and apply the appropriate updates to ensure that they are countering the new threats always arising.
Another crucial thing cyber engineers should consider is tracking all traffic and actions on their network. Keeping a log of actions taken might show how a future attacker got into the network and caused their damage. Knowing how it happened will help prevent it from happening again in the future.
As I mentioned earlier, the world is a constantly changing environment and that includes the cyber world as well. Network engineers will always be needed to protect our networks and find new ways to do so as well.