Network horror stories expose need for understanding

Beware the 'corporate ghost'

Alex Raistrick, director northern Europe at ConSentry Networks, said: "A flexible workforce, utilising temporary workers or contractors, can offer instant scalability and help control costs but it's vital this doesn't cost you your business. If you let people on to your network, you need to be able to track the movements of these 'corporate ghosts' and know where they are and what they are doing."

Know what's coming in 'under the radar'

Nigel Hawthorn, VP at network security and performance specialist Blue Coat Systems, said: "Keep watching for new technologies. Skype, IM and P2P were all new once, though many people have still not implemented rules for these. What about YouTube? Are non-business streams impacting performance? If so, ensure that the systems for control have enough intelligence to create granular policies for different circumstances."

The same is true for hardware, according to Kees Vos, global portfolio director for security and business continuity at AT&T. He said: "If you have people bringing in machines which are out of compliance with your policies then you have to make sure it can't get straight on to the network."

Introduce effective policies

All companies should have acceptable use polices and these should be well advertised during any induction of new staff. Regular reminders and organised refresher sessions should also become standard.

"IT should not work alone," said Blue Coat's Hawthorne. "Check with HR and senior management before deploying policies." Ensure staff understand everything from why they shouldn't take sensitive data out of the building unencrypted on USB keys to why they shouldn't sit streaming huge media files or forward large attachments.

Recent research from managed security specialist MessageLabs suggest 76 per cent of small companies have acceptable use policies. But how many can say they rigorously - and effectively - enforce them?

AT&T's Vos, said: "If you have policy make sure it's not just a PDF sat in some folder. Make sure it is enforceable on every machine."

Don't let policy dent your effectiveness

But policy can also get in the way, when implemented poorly. Blue Coat's Hawthorne added: "Consider allowing the user to override policies, so that IT does not have to react to instant demands for changes. Consider treating the users as adults, for example the system may say 'Bob Smith, the site you are trying to access, Playboy.com, is not usually considered a business site. However if you have a business reason to view this site please click here to continue. All internet access is logged and your policy is shown here'."

Such an approach would remind users their activity is being monitored but in instances where people do have to access content deemed adult or inappropriate for valid reasons and could reasonably defend their reasons - such as journalists researching a piece about internet gambling sites - IT doesn't have to add constant exceptions.

Don't just throw bandwidth at the problem

Joel Trammel, CEO of NetQoS, said: "Increasing bandwidth is not a panacea for solving performance problems. Make sure you understand the cause of the problem before taking corrective action like throwing bandwidth at it. Delay for example could be caused by the server, the application or even the transit path. The ability to measure the right performance metrics is key."

Don't assume the network is to blame

One of the most common complaints within a business is 'the network is running slowly' but it is not always the network that is to blame. Misdiagnosis is as detrimental to the effective running of your network as not spotting a problem at all.

Network Instruments' Cummins, said: "Often users blame the network when operations are running slow on their computer. To be able to quickly pinpoint network issues, it is critical to analyse and isolate problems pertaining to both the network and application performance."