According to ADT, around 20% of homes in the US have a home security system. Most of them probably value the system, even if half of them are trying to figure out how to get out of the long-term contract they signed.
That 20% figure is about half as large as the 39% who have “some security product,” according to Safety.com.
There’s a big difference between having a “home security product” and a home security system. A home security system protects the whole house – typically, this includes the doors, windows and other entry points into the house. Even if a sensor is disabled or a phone line is cut, there are backup solutions in place to alert the police of a home invasion. Somebody has thought about all the ways someone could get in undetected, and they’ve protected against them.
Home security systems are obviously more comprehensive than a home security product – but consider what happens if you add an expansion to the house. If you don’t have an expert come re-evaluate the security system and set it up for your new home configuration, you don’t have a home security system anymore. You just have a bunch of home security products.
There are obvious reasons for this – new windows and possibly new doors aren’t protected, and new rooms lack movement sensors to detect intruders if they make it past those door and windows sensors.
But there’s also the less obvious stuff – adding the new rooms might have broken some of the security sensors already in place. And even if you add new sensors yourself, when the sensor named “Secondary Bathroom” gets tripped, the alert sent to you won’t be as helpful if you added a third bathroom. Which one is the “secondary,” again?
Network Changes Require Security Changes
Your business network isn’t any different. If you have an experienced IT team managing your network security, they’ve examined your network and thought about the ways a cybercriminal could get in, and they have systems in place to prevent it. They should also have intruder detection in place to alert you when someone gets past those access prevention systems, because no access prevention system is 100% effective.
When anyone adds news hardware, it changes the layout of your network. Not only do your IT professionals need to make sure the new hardware falls under the existing layer of protection, they also need to make sure it doesn’t compromise their existing cybersecurity plan. In addition, they need to make sure the new hardware is recognized as ‘safe’ and given the network access it needs so it can meet your business needs.
It isn’t just hardware that affects your network security. Many of your employees require network access to specific data to complete their jobs – but your former employees do not. It’s important to let your IT team know ahead of time if you’re planning on terminating an employee. Otherwise, their credentials will continue to grant access to your network for hours, days or weeks beyond their termination date.
To learn how WingSwept helps its clients secure their data and boost employee productivity, call us at 919-460-7011 or email us at Team_WingSwept@WingSwept.com.