Types of Network Security That Protect Digital Information

“I’ve been hacked.” How many times have we heard this? When our email or Facebook accounts have been compromised, we worry about what the hackers may have “stolen” – our contacts? Credit card numbers? Identification? Now, imagine the impact that has on huge corporations or organizations where potentially millions of accounts are affected. This constant threat in today’s digital world reinforces the need for network security to guarantee the safety of an organization’s assets, privacy, clientele and technology.

With cybercrime costs predicted to reach $6 trillion a year by 2021 – up from $3 trillion in 2015 – it’s more important than ever to implement network security programs. As technology grows, network security options expand to meet the needs of organizations, combining layers of defense to secure the information that affects your digital life, privacy and business.

Deciding which you need for your particular situation can be frustrating. These are some types of network security to consider:

• Antivirus and antimalware software: Malware (malicious software) is also known as spyware, ransomware, Trojans, viruses and worms. When it infects your network, it brings trouble galore. It can disrupt your computer’s performance and cause it to crash, slow browser speeds, allow unauthorized access to your system, steal sensitive information and cause connection issues. Installing antivirus and antimalware software can protect these things from happening.
• Network Access Control (NAC): If you install NAC, it helps you control who is or is not authorized to access your network and enforce your security policies. All of your devices and users need to be recognized to keep out potential hackers and attackers.
• Email security: Everyone’s at risk through email. Going through an email portal is the easiest way to breach a network’s security. Attackers can use your personal information to develop phishing schemes that trick email recipients into clicking on malicious sites. When you utilize an email security application, it can effectively block incoming attacks and control outbound messages so sensitive data is not at risk.
• Wireless security: With so many mobile devices connected to a wireless network with multiple access points, network security can be compromised. Wired networks are more secure than wireless networks, which are easier for hackers to enter. If your network is wireless, you need to enable security products that are specifically designed for these networks. Without strong wireless security in place, installing a wireless LAN could be like having accessible Ethernet ports everywhere.
• Application security: No matter how good the software you buy – or your IT department creates – is, it can be vulnerable to attackers. Application security is the hardware, software and processes your company uses to close holes and protect vulnerabilities.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): This software helps organizations guarantee that their employees do not send sensitive information outside the network. It prevents users from uploading, forwarding and printing information (perhaps from suspicious web sites) in an unsafe manner.
• Firewalls: These are barriers – walls – between the internal network that you trust and those outside your network that you don’t trust. Your company establishes a set of rules put into place to either block or allow Internet traffic (an external, and often untrustworthy, network). It can be software, hardware or a combination of both to manage web traffic and secure connections when you’re online.
• Virtual private network (VPN): If you ever work from home, you may have had to join your company’s VPN to access its main server. A VPN can encrypt the connection from an endpoint (such as your home computer or laptop) to a network, usually over the Internet. A remote-access VPN authenticates communication between network and other devices through IPsec or Secure Sockets Layer.

Since new vulnerabilities to our technology are coming about every day, the need for IT security specialists is growing. They are especially important to large companies and industries, such as health care and banking, that rely on secure, shared databases.

MTI College offers a fast-paced, hands-on Network Administration and Security associate degree program that prepares you for an entry-level position as a networking professional. After you complete your network security program at MTI and earn CompTIA Network+ and Security+ certification, it can open the door to an entry-level job as a:

• Network administrator
  You would be responsible for setting up and maintaining an organization’s computer network to keep costs down and production up.
• Security specialist
  In this important role, you would protect a company’s computer network and make sure that only authorized people could gain access to confidential information. You would also have to monitor the network’s infrastructure and firewalls.
• Information security analyst
  You would look for security breaches and investigate violations, install firewalls and generally help keep a company’s computer network safe from hackers.
• Systems administrator
  This job entails taking care of the day-to-day operation and upkeep of a company’s computer network.

MTI College provides the skills and certification you need for an entry-level job in IT network security. Call today!

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10 Personal Traits Every Accounting Professional Needs

Deciding on a career is not something you take lightly. After all, you need to invest in training – and you’re making a long-term commitment to the field. Although you can learn many of the skills needed to perform an entry-level accounting job in school, there’s more to the profession than that. Do you have the personal traits necessary to have a career in accounting?

If you think you want to study accounting, you probably enjoy working with numbers. If not, you’re definitely thinking of the wrong field. The other requirements are a little subtler. These are some traits you should have if you want to work in the accounting field:

• Organize well. Every company, regardless of its size, requires accounting personnel to manage its bookkeeping, handle payroll and maintain account data. There are lots of responsibilities that will keep you busy every day, and you need to establish an effective system to track those responsibilities. As a member of an accounting team, you need to be very well organized so that you can find files and answer questions.
• Manage your time. This skill goes hand in hand with organization. You may have an organized filing system, but if you don’t know how to prioritize your duties, you are not going to make it. You’re going to be very busy, and many people will rely on you. Managing your time will keep stress at bay and let you contribute to your company’s day-to-day operations – and long-term goals.
• Communicate with others. Accountants may have been misrepresented as employees who sit quietly in their cubicles and work only with numbers – not with people. This is a big misconception. You have to deal with clients and colleagues every day and be able to explain a variety of documents: tax returns, financial data analyses, loan details, payroll information and more. It’s critical for you to communicate and collaborate key insights and interpret data. Knowing how to communicate with clients is also a way to instill trust.
• Focus on details. Working with numbers requires diligence and paying attention to detail. Just one transposed or forgotten number could result in horrific mistakes. If you think something is slightly off, you’re going to get down to the nitty gritty to find the error and correct the miscalculation. You’re probably a bit of a perfectionist.
• Display honesty and integrity. You play by the rules – even when you don’t agree with them. Because an accounting professional is responsible for a company’s financial records as well as its financial well-being, you need to be honest and show integrity. Having access to such important documents requires strong ethics.
• Collaborate with others. You need to be a team player when you work in accounting because you will need to support different departments. That requires you to work toward common goals with all kinds of people.
• Solve problems by taking a methodical approach. If you think there may be an error in a file or calculation, you need to revert back to your math skills of “proofing” to find the error. Having a system of checks and balances in place and taking a methodical approach can help you find a solution to your problem.
• Be flexible. Embrace change and know how to adapt your skills and work to suit various industries. When you can easily adapt and be flexible with client requirements, you’re more likely to learn and grow in your career. Besides, when you’re ready for anything that comes your way, it will help you stay on top of the industry because it’s an opportunity to learn new things.
• Embrace technology. Although you don’t need to be an IT expert, you do need to know your way around a computer. Accounting uses many different types of software programs, and you need to be comfortable enough with technology and computers to adapt your skills to different programs.
• Show leadership. Have the confidence to own what you do, but be able to delegate when necessary. Be a role model who is open and available to the people you’re responsible for. In addition, lead by showing you are good at strategic thinking and long-term planning.

If you have the necessary personal traits, enjoy problem solving and like working with numbers, studying accounting may be right for you. MTI College offers a program that, in less than a year, can put you on the fast track to a career in accounting or bookkeeping.

Your expert instructors use a combination of lectures, videos and discussions to prepare you for situations you may encounter in the workforce as an entry-level accounting technician. In addition, you will learn the latest software that organizations throughout California and around the country use every day.

Contact an admissions representative at MTI College today to get the training you need for an entry-level accounting job.

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