How Managed Routers & Firewalls Work Together Against Cybercrime?

While a managed firewall guards the external perimeter of your network, a managed router behind that firewall guides your data through the network itself, like a bride’s groomsman.

Your IT network’s router is quite intricate and complex. Not only do you need to ensure its seamless functionality to a number of diverse users, it is critical that the router counter cyber threats as effectively as a managed firewall, while data is being routed properly – likely at a controlled expense. Where data is going and who's looking at it when it gets there are two very important elements to successful router management.

Access Control is Key

In a managed router solution, an expert service provider can implement what’s called denial of service (DOS) and denial of access (DOA). Whether access to your network is through a wire or is wireless, in both instances DOS lets you control a user’s access to select resources on your network, and DOA allows control of when access can be granted.

Think of it like this: An employee with a job in management goes to work, logs onto the network and is granted access to specific management directories on the file share. That’s what the management worker uses to help them do their jobs effectively. Later on, when an employee with a job in accounting logs on to the network, rather than accessing the management directory, they are allowed access to select accounting directories on the file share – that the management worker would not have access to. This is just one of the ways a managed router solution can prevent unauthorized access to your company’s critical data. DOA in action.

Denial of service gives you the ability to control when access is granted to users. For example, who would need wireless access to your servers at two o’clock in the morning, from a restaurant or a bar or supermarket? You have the power to shut that down before it starts with a managed router solution by creating a schedule for network access.

Primary Authentication into Your Network

Think of DOS and DOA as your primary two-pronged method of authentication into the network through a managed router.

Say you’re visiting the great city of Indianapolis, our corporate hometown. You check in to your hotel and the hotelier gives you a username and password to access the hotel’s internet. So access is provided as soon as you arrive – you can use the password for access anywhere inside the hotel- and that password is good for the length of your stay. It's dispensed when you first enter the building. You have to be in the building to use it. You type in the code that’s good for the length of your stay and then it will expire. By using this kind of authentication, the hotel is controlling any access to their network as well as securing your experience around what data is leaving and what data is coming in to their network.

Configuration and Change Management

In addition to software management, a managed router solution also covers router hardware, such as equipment manufactured by Cisco, Air-Watch, ArrowHodge and the like. If your network hardware fails, an expert service provider will get to the root of the issue, replace faulty equipment and analyze configuration issues for both hardwired and wireless environments.

With a managed router solution, you will have control over network performance while overcoming internal resource limitations and thwarting cyber threats at the very same time.