• Home
• Core Services
• Virtualization
• Perimeter Security
• Backup / Recovery
• VPN
• Traffic Shaping
• Anti-SPAM
• Desktop A/V
• Secure Wireless
• Firewall Upgrade
• Vulnerability Assessment
• InfoSec Policies
• Network Analysis
• Microsoft Networking / Exchange Email
• Managed Services
• About Us
• Why Fortress IT?

Network Perimeter Security

Security is a cornerstone of any highly available network and that it must be a primary consideration in the undertaking of any network upgrade, overhaul or modification. It cannot be an afterthought; it must be engineered in from the ground up and an integral part of every aspect and phase of network infrastructure design and implementation.

One of the most critical areas in your network that must be secured is the perimeter, specifically that junction where your internal network meets the Internet. At the risk of stating the obvious, the Internet and specifically the act of connecting your internal network to it, is probably the single biggest element of risk and exposure you'll ever introduce into your trusted computer network.

If you think about it, almost every single disruptive event... from the catastrophic (e.g. major virus outbreak), to the insidious (e.g. ever-growing use of productivity impacting / bandwidth hogging application such as streaming audio and video) and everything in between (e.g. gaming, social networking, tweeting during work hours, etc. ), can all be traced back to the Internet. So why do we introduce and accept this enormous risk / liability into our trusted networks? The answer is of course that we perceive the benefits to outweigh the risks; in other words we see the Internet as a tool that provides us with so much upside and so many advantages, that we are willing to embrace it -- and accept the multitudinous risks that come with it.

The reality of course is that businesses and business owners don't really have a much of a choice if they wish to be viable; the rules of engagement have changed to such a point that it would be practically impossible for a 21st century business to survive, much less thrive without using the Internet in some way, shape, form or fashion nowadays. This makes it absolutely crucial to have the absolute best protection available at the perimeter; the importance of this cannot be overstated. You need a "stalwart, tireless watchman" as it were, guarding the entrance to your "Castle” 24 x 7 x 365 days a year.

At Fortress IT we live and breathe this type of security every day -- even our name was derived from this concept! We don't “fear” the Internet but do have a healthy respect for all the dangers and perils on it, and strive to impart that level of cautiousness and awareness to all of our customers.

To that end one of the very first services we typically provide for our customers is to assess their perimeter security and determine if the current solution guarding this crucial junction is up to the task. If reinforcements are needed in this area, we can recommend and properly fit / retrofit you with a state-of-the-art Network Security Appliance with advanced Unified Threat Management (UTM) capabilities.

A UTM device will give you the absolute best protection perimeter protection available on the market today at an unbeatable price point. It provides Stateful Packet Inspection firewall functionality, real-time scanning of all traffic to and from the Internet for Viruses, Exploits & Spyware, integrated Internet Content Filtering, Bandwidth Management, Traffic Shaping, VPN, Active Directory based policies and much more. It is a device that will pay for itself and deliver an ROI far greater than its initial cost, a classic example of where the "whole" is much, much greater than the sum of its parts.