Regardless of their size, many SMBs still need to meet strict compliance regulations, such as PCI and HIPAA. In addition to any special requirements, there are a few security technologies every small business should have in place. Here are my four SMB security must-haves.

Jennifer Jabbusch, VP of Engineering and consulting CISO at Carolina Advanced Digital

July 28, 2010

1 Min Read

Regardless of their size, many SMBs still need to meet strict compliance regulations, such as PCI and HIPAA. In addition to any special requirements, there are a few security technologies every small business should have in place. Here are my four SMB security must-haves.1. Firewall. It sounds passé, but firewalls are still the de facto solution for minimum security. Small businesses are no exception. I frequently hear vendors trying to coax SMB owners into boxes bigger than they need, with full redundancy and licensing out the yin yang. As expected, most small organizations will balk at the $20K-plus price tags that hang off these shiny new boxes. The truth is, for bandwidths typical in SMBs (let's say T1s up to 10Mbps), a small ASIC-based firewall even with gateway services (such as gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, IDS or IPS) can be found for just a few thousand dollars. Even if it's not tweaked to perfection, some firewall is better than none. And no organization should rely on their Internet provider for this security.

About the Author(s)

Jennifer Jabbusch

VP of Engineering and consulting CISO at Carolina Advanced Digital

Jennifer Minella is VP of Engineering and consulting CISO at Carolina Advanced Digital, and an author, speaker and consultant for infrastructure security for government, education and Fortune 100 and 500 corporations.

Vincent Liu (CISSP) is a Partner at Bishop Fox, a cyber security consulting firm providing services to the Fortune 500, global financial institutions, and high-tech startups. In this role, he oversees firm management, client matters, and strategy consulting.

Vincent is a recognized expert, having presented at Black Hat and Microsoft BlueHat. He is regularly cited by the press, and has been interviewed by media outlets like Al Jazeera and NPR. Vincent has also co authored seven books including several industry best-sellers, such as: Hacking Exposed Wireless 1st and 2nd Edition; Hacking Exposed Web Applications 3rd Edition, and most recently Web Application Security: A Beginner's Guide. He serves as returning faculty at the Practicising Law Institute, and sits on the advisory boards for the University of Advancing Technology and the cyber security accelerator, Mod N Labs.

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