If your organization has poor network security, it can lead to vulnerabilities that result in cyberattacks. Cyberattacks can be detrimental to a business and can cost organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair their network following an attack.
For this reason, it is important to prioritize network security to ensure these significant disruptions don’t take place.
Fortunately, there are many different security solutions available on the market. However, it can be difficult to determine which solution is the best choice for your organization.
Coeo understands how important reliable network security is to an organization and has delivered thousands of solutions to improve their security and help them avoid cyberattacks.
We want you to be aware of the free cybersecurity tools your organization can use to help improve network security.
By the end of this article, you will be aware of the free cybersecurity tools that are available, and which one is the right fit for your organization.
Free security tools that can improve your organization’s network security
While network security solutions can be costly, there are other tools available that are free to use. These tools can help you identify how secure your network is and help you improve your network security.
The free security tools that can improve your organization’s network include:
Network security assessment
A network assessment tool is typically a free evaluation that asks you questions about your network and provides you with a score based on your responses.
This score ranks your network security and performance against your competitors and determines where your network is strong and where there is room for improvement.
Coeo offers a free network assessment on our website that any user can use. This enables your organization to understand how your network compares to your competition. To take the assessment, click the button below:
Vulnerability scanning
Vulnerability scanning is a computer program that assesses computers, networks, and applications for any security weaknesses.
This tool can help identify the weaknesses of a network system to help prevent network vulnerabilities that lead to cyberattacks.
There are a few different types of vulnerability scans that can be performed on your company’s network. There are internal, external, environmental, intrusive, and non-intrusive vulnerability scans.
These scans can be used for different purposes within the network. It is important to determine which type of scan is most appropriate for your organization.
Penetration testing
Penetration testing tests your network security vulnerabilities by simulating a cyberattack with the hopes of discovering exploitation points.
The objective is to find where the network is vulnerable so you can diagnose these vulnerabilities and address them to improve network security. This tool also tests IT breach security to identify any holes that may lead to cyberattacks.
Penetration testing can help obtain expert, unbiased feedback on your organization’s security process from a third-party source.
Because this third-party source has no biases toward your company, they provide analysis that is as objective and accurate as possible.
Intrusion detection and response
Intrusion detection and response (IDR) is a network monitoring system that detects suspicious activity within your network and alerts your team when these activities are detected.
This enables your organization to automatically detect a threat early on before any network damage can be done.
While some IDR services can remove these threats from your network, most of them only provide an alert and from there, it is the responsibility of your team to remove the threat before it damages your network.
Encryption
Another cybersecurity strategy that can improve your network security is encrypting tunnels. Encrypting tunnels enables you to secure and authenticate data being sent and received before it enters the network.
Ensuring that your organization's tunnels are encrypted will better secure your data to avoid data breaches and cyberattacks.
Password management and reset enforcement
Another free cybersecurity strategy that can improve your network security is actively managing your passwords and using password reset enforcement.
Many open-source password managers enable you to safely manage your passwords and generate strong and unique passwords.
Additionally, password reset enforcement is a strategy that requires users to reset their password after a specific amount of time.
Password reset enforcement ensures that passwords are always current and safe making it more difficult for attackers to figure out passwords preventing them from penetrating your network to access sensitive data.
This strategy can be enforced manually or automatically and can be programmed to change passwords based on a specific frequency that is determined by your organization. Typically, this timeframe is every year or every few months depending on your organization’s needs.
Which cybersecurity tool is most appropriate for your organization?
Now you are aware of some of the free cybersecurity tools that can improve your organization’s network security. However, it is also important to determine which tools are most appropriate for your organization.
If your organization is looking to improve network security, it can benefit from a number of these free cybersecurity tools. However, a network assessment tool may be a good first step for your organization to determine where your network needs the most help.
For example, if your organization has network holes and vulnerabilities within your network security, performing a vulnerability scan or penetration test may be appropriate for your organization.
If your objective is to improve network security to detect and remove threats when they enter your network, intrusion detection and response may be beneficial.
For organizations worried about experiencing data breaches or malicious actors stealing data, implementing encrypted tunnels into your network may improve your network security.
Finally, if your organization is having trouble with passwords being compromised, password management strategies and password reset enforcement may be a good choice for your organization.
However, if your organization needs more intense network security, these free cybersecurity tools and strategies may not be enough to secure your network, and solutions such as SASE or SD-WAN should be considered to better accomplish your objectives.
Determining whether free cybersecurity tools are appropriate to help improve your organization’s network security
Now you are aware of some of the free cybersecurity tools that can improve your network security and which of them are most appropriate for your organization. This will help you determine whether these tools will be beneficial to your organization.
Organizations can’t operate effectively with poor-performing network security that results in vulnerabilities causing cyberattacks potentially costing your organization hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the network.
Because of this, reliable network security should be a top priority for all organizations to avoid these consequences.
However, there are many network security solutions available on the market so it can be difficult to determine which one is most appropriate for your organization.
Coeo understands how important reliable network security is to an organization and has delivered thousands of solutions to organizations to help improve their network security and avoid cyberattacks.
We want you to be aware of the free cybersecurity tools that are available so your organization can improve network security without incurring an unnecessary expense.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about network security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Now that you are aware of these free cybersecurity tools and strategies and which one is most appropriate for your organization, read this article to learn what a network security assessment is and whether it can help your organization:
