Steps to Installing a Firewall

It is highly recommended that you have a professional company install and maintain your firewall unless you have an IT person responsible within your organisation that can do it. Unless a firewall is installed correctly, it will cause more problems than it resolves and it can leave the organisation exposed to malicious attacks.

1.  Make sure that you have antivirus software installed and regularly updated.

2.  Make sure that backups are carried out regularly. Ideally, this should be at least once a week. The reason being is that if data or information is lost, it will be possible to retrieve the latest information.

3.  Ensure that your organisation has a written security policy. This will ensure that all employees understand what is expected of them from an IT security perspective. This can include:

  • Processes and procedures for leaving their PC unattended.
  • What information they can access?
  • How often they should run the antivirus software?

    – Privileges – who can access certain types of information? This may be based upon role, function or job description.

4. Make sure that there is a firewall policy in place and an administrator who can manage and implement it. This is essentially a set of rules that allow users of the network to access certain information and websites while restricting access for others.

5.  It is imperative to keep up to date with any enhancements from the manufacturer and to upgrade as and when necessary. You may install the most leading edge firewall but if it is not updated regularly, it can become insecure and therefore vulnerable within a few months or less.

6.  You may need to appoint an administrator who can update and set up new policies as and when required, add websites to be blocked or filtered, and add further users when new staff joins the organisation.