“Mag 10” Steps to a Secure Network James C. Settle

1Prepare a network/computer security policy for your organization. (Many such policies are available from security organizations)
2Evaluate your own network using a standard testing tool. Then be sure to fix the problems found. Retest after Step 3.
3Hire a third party organization to do independent testing of your network. Fix the problems that are uncovered.
4Deploy a network monitoring tool.
5Deploy encryption for data transmission and storage.
6Fix static passwords. Install a password management program and cracking program.
7Obtain dynamic passwords for mobile computing users.
8Run a “war dialer” on your network to identify security problems.
9Establish an Incident Response Group for your organization — before a problem occurs.
10Require every business partner that connects to your network to provide evidence of security testing on their own networks and have fixed the problems.