Four Must-Have SMB Security Tools

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.