About to be promoted to an administrator role in your company’s IT department? While it may be an exciting time for you, it can also be nerve wracking as you are now responsible for the technology infrastructure for the business that employs you.
Part of your role involves the acquisition of software that will help you do your job. From user activity monitoring to firewalls, there are numerous tools an IT administrator can use to effectively manage their networks.
In this post, we’ll share the ones that can have the greatest effect on their security, efficiency, and effectiveness.
1) Audit trail software
Virtually everyone who works for your company will have access to its intranet. While most use it to faithfully execute their work duties, a few abuse their access privileges to commit nefarious acts.
If you want to nail these criminals, audit trail software will help you do just that. In this age of hackers and corporate espionage, being able to identify perpetrators in a timely manner will minimize economic damage to the company and aid in the arrest and prosecution of those engaged in criminal activity.
2) IP monitoring tools
Sick and tired of fellow employees abusing their access to the internet by spending most of their working hours looking at cat pictures on Reddit? Track their use of the web by making use of IP monitoring tools.
This is how it works: every device on your network is assigned an IP address. As a result, a good IP monitoring utility will be able to log every site that a particular user accesses during their time at work.
If they are spending their time doing job-related research, great. But if they are using their internet access to watch YouTube all day or to look at inappropriate websites, then you will be able to collect data on these activities and present the evidence to management, who will then take action against offending employees.
3) Firewalls
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest threats facing businesses these days are cyber assaults launched by hackers.
After things like financial information, bank account numbers, and trade secrets, the consequences of a successful raid can sink your company.
To prevent this fate from befalling you, it is imperative you set up a robust firewall to block unapproved traffic from being able to access your networks.
Of course, it is also important that a firewall can be easily modifiable, as a setup that casts too wide a net can end up stopping legitimate traffic from reaching your website.
4) Bandwidth monitoring
Does the web seem slower than it usually is at work? Sometimes, you’ll have new employees who abuse the internet access privileges they are given, thinking they can use it to torrent movies while they pretend to work.
By installing bandwidth monitoring programs, you’ll be able to see who is hogging the most capacity, allowing you to confront them, cut them off temporarily if they don’t stop, and generate reports you can then give to their manager.