Network boundaries & Cyber Essentials

Another area that is sometimes forgotten to be considered when looking into firewall configuration is whether there are any open ports, and the process around these. If there are open ports needed, say for VPN access or any other external services, well, this is absolutely fine. The problem is if open ports are not properly documented and monitored. There should be a clear business case in place for the need of the open ports, and a regular review process to check all open ports. This is to ensure there are no misconfigurations, all is up to date and if a port is no longer needed to be open, it is closed promptly. This will provide optimum protection from any hackers using bot tools to identify open ports as a way into a network.

As you can see, Cyber Essentials doesn’t expect you to reinvent the wheel or be a technical genius on the topic of business firewalls (phew – a sigh of relief I hear). Instead, it’s all common sense security basics, the rationale behind which should be clear. Thinking about these simple steps would help protect company assets from security threats and keep you safe online. In today’s world, this knowledge is ever more important.