Every small business is a target for hackers. You might think that the few dozen customers you store on your network aren’t worth a hacker’s time, but those customers are worth much more than you know. Usually, hackers breach multiple environments, including small business networks, and sell the collected data on darknet markets. Your customer data is a valuable addition to their revenue. 

You don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert to deploy good monitoring tools and create habits that protect your customer and their data. Protecting client data and avoiding a data breach are also beneficial to your brand. A single data breach can damage customer loyalty and trust, so you should make cybersecurity and data protection a priority for your business too.

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Most small business owners don’t have the budget for a full-time IT person let alone a full-time dedicated cybersecurity staff member. You don’t need full-time staff to add monitoring and data protection to your environment. Here are a few ways you can monitor your network without being an IT expert.

Review Your Router Dashboard

If you have a personal router connected to your network, it likely has a web-based interface that gives you information about your network. On small networks, the router has an IP address in the same subnet as your own computer. In many cases, the router is your default gateway. Type the router IP address (something like 192.168.0.1) into a web browser, and you’ll be prompted to authenticate.

Every router has its own dashboard, and more expensive routers will have activity logs and firewall features. Once you gain access to the router’s dashboard, you can view connected devices, bandwidth usage, and audit logs if you have them enabled. If you don’t have logging features enabled, enable them for future monitoring.

Disconnect any strange devices, especially if the router is also a Wi-Fi hotspot. If you have strange devices connected, it might be time to change the Wi-Fi password. Remember that any changes to Wi-Fi will disconnect other devices, which means that you should change the password during off-peak hours.

Use a Network Scanner to Identify Connected Devices

Reviewing a router’s dashboard is useful for finding devices connected to that particular router, but what if you have several routers or don’t have any personal routers on your network? Another option is to use a network scanner. Traditionally, the network scanner-of-choice for all administrators is nmap. Nmap can be used on Linux and the Windows command-line interface. Other more user-friendly scanners are available for download, but nmap has been around for decades and can be trusted not to host hidden malware.

Nmap will give you a list of all connected devices with an IP address so that you can take an inventory of infrastructure. Any strange connections should be further reviewed. If nmap seems a bit too complicated, find a trusted graphical interface. Chances are the graphical interface uses nmap in the background, but it will make reviewing connected devices more intuitive for someone unfamiliar with a command-line tool.

Separate Business and Personal Networks

When you work from home, it’s not unusual to mix business with personal devices. Mixing the two makes monitoring more difficult, especially when you have guests. Add IoT and security cameras to the mix, and now you have devices that you don’t control on your network. For better monitoring, you set up separate Wi-Fi hotspots for each section of your network including personal, work, and security cameras.

You can still run scanners to identify any strange connections, but now you have a better idea of the types of devices that should be connected to each router. You can also be much more strict about your work network compared to your home network. Guests can connect to your home Wi-Fi instead of your work Wi-Fi where you keep customer data.

Use Cloud Provider Monitoring Software

Whether you use AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or another cloud provider, the system has cybersecurity tools specifically designed for monitoring your network. Auditing, logging, and monitoring are all available to you as a cloud provider customer. Monitoring tools come at a cost, so they must be enabled when you set up your environment.

Cloud-based tools don’t monitor your local network. Keep that in mind when you set up a monitoring plan. You will need tools for any local servers, mobile devices, and workstations. Cloud monitoring tools cover resources in the provider’s environment, which includes storage, virtual machines, databases, and cloud-based infrastructure.

Review Antivirus Warnings and Logs

Every mobile device and workstation should have antivirus software running on it. Antivirus applications display warnings to users, but they also keep a log of issues. Some issues are critical, like downloading malware that could destroy customer data. Other issues are warnings, like installing software with no signature. Enterprise versions of antivirus software have a central place to review notifications, but enterprise versions cost a lot of money.

Periodically review antivirus software running on each machine to ensure that malware isn’t stored on the network. An executable on the network is an idle threat waiting for a user to run malware on the environment. If your antivirus software can scan the network, even better. A good antivirus will detect malicious files on network storage and servers.

Servers should also have antivirus software installed. Cyber-threats target servers for their invaluable data. A good eavesdropping application can retrieve user account information, device information, and data stored on the server. Email servers are especially good targets, because email is often stored in cleartext. Review antivirus notifications for these machines to identify malicious software.

As an aside, most server operating systems also have event logs. Use these event logs to identify strange authentication attempts. For example, a threat might attempt to access the server with hacked user accounts. If you see multiple authentication attempts late at night when no one is in the office, you might have a hidden threat on the network.

When Monitoring Becomes Too Much Work

At some point in time, monitoring your network manually takes too much work. Small businesses don’t have the budget for high-cost monitoring software, but you can get network monitoring at a fraction of the cost. Managed service providers like Corporate Technologies have the resources to monitor your network 24/7.

Managed service providers have many other cybersecurity resources for small businesses. Cybersecurity resources are paid for per-user and at a flat rate. See what else Corporate Technologies can do for you and contact us today.

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