Network Security Breakthrough

Network Security Breakthrough Douglas Chick

A very interesting thing happened this week, as much as I have written about securing your network by country blocking, I never actually asked the phone company if they would do it. I just assumed that they would refuse me. This week I contacted Sprint and asked if they would block International incoming access to my network, and they said they werent sure, no one has ever really asked before. So they had a meeting with their managers, their managers had a meeting with some engineers and before the day was out, I received a message that said; "Sure, we will do it before the week is out."

I was actually expecting, and ready for a no, and I was prepared for it too. I was going to say, because 80 percent of hackers, spam and viruses come from international sources, I want the same protect on my companys network like I do our phone lines. My company doesnt do international business, and there is no reason why we should be exposed to international attacks. Furthermore, I was going to say: We are paying you a monthly rate; you should use your people and company resources to stop attacks that originate from outside our service area!

But I didnt have to say any of that because Sprint simply said; Sure, we can do that for you.

So how did that affect my network? For the first time in 4 years, instead of receiving over a 1000 pieces of spam every day, I only receive 100. My network bandwidth when down, my router doesnt have to use precious memory by dumping unwanted packets into a bit bucket, and 90 percent of my spam was gone. I realize that I already mentioned less spam, but it is such an important issue, I said it again anyways. I may even say it one more time before this story is finished.

Most U.S. companies dont need incoming international access, they dont do international business and there is absolutely no reason a company needs to be exposed to the constant onslaught of overseas attacks on their networks. So I erg all of you to contact your companys Internet providers and ask that they remove all incoming international access to your companies network.

I was surprised that no one before me had ever asked the phone company to remove incoming international Internet service. Whats more, that the phone company doesnt offer this as a service? There should be, Local Internet Incoming Access for companies that only have a local business and wouldnt benefit from a larger audience, a Long Distance service that would encapsulate only the U.S. where a company does its primary business, and an International Plan. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Unless the government finds a way to mess these up, it should work for everyone.