Now that most businesses rely on cloud-based applications for many of their day-to-day routines, few things get in the way of productivity more than a slow internet connection. That’s why every organization should take advantage of the fastest and most reliable broadband connectivity available in their area, which here in Ashburn is fiber-optic cable or vDSL. However, no matter how fast your internet connection should be, there are both external and internal factors that can bring performance to a grinding halt. Here are five issues you’ll want to look out for:
Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks
Denial-of-service attacks involve bombarding a server with so many requests that it slows to a crawl or even becomes unavailable entirely. It’s the digital equivalent to a group of people jostling to get into a discount store on Black Friday.
Most attacks are distributed, meaning that incoming traffic floods the victim’s server from a wide range of different sources. It’s almost impossible to stop these attacks without also making your network inaccessible to employees and customers because with so many sources it’s difficult to determine the good from the bad.
Advanced persistent threats (APT)
Aside from being one of the most dangerous cyberthreats out there, APT attacks can greatly reduce network performance. In fact, when a network unexpectedly becomes much slower, it’s a common sign that a hacker has snuck malware onto your network and is exfiltrating huge amounts of data around the clock and under the radar.
What makes APT attacks so dangerous is that they’re stealthy, continuous and, most often, targeted towards a specific entity. If your network inexplicably slows down, you should carry out a thorough investigation immediately.
Employee misuse of IT resources
Many network slowdowns stem from bored employees procrastinating at work. Unsurprisingly, social media is by far the most common culprit, and while checking Facebook might not consume much bandwidth, other online activities, such as watching streaming videos on YouTube or Netflix, can bring everything else on the network to a swift halt. To prevent this from occurring, you can implement a variety of methods, such as installing a URL filter, prioritizing different applications, or limiting how much bandwidth each workstation is allotted.
Lack of access controls
Most of us have experienced the frustration of connecting to a painfully slow public wireless network and trying to get our work done. The most common reason behind slow networks is that there are too many people using it simultaneously, plus the fact that the typical public network places no restrictions on how much bandwidth each user consumes.
To keep your corporate network running smoothly, you should limit its access to employees and specific devices. After all, having people across the street being able to access your network is hardly desirable for security either.
Outdated technology
Few things in the world have transformed faster in recent years than internet speeds. Once we had to make do with dial-up until broadband technology upped the speed a hundredfold. However, today’s internet and cloud-hosted applications are more bandwidth-intensive than ever before, which is why every business should get the fastest connection available to them. That doesn’t just mean choosing the best provider; it also means using the latest network communications protocols. Outdated technology, such as old wireless-G routers, smartphones that only support 3G, and old powerline networks will quickly get in the way of your network’s potential to run at its optimal speed.
At Single Point Global, we understand that slow internet speeds are the number-one annoyance in the workplace. That’s why we provide customized, fully-managed and supported high-speed internet backed by an industry leading service level agreement. Call us today to learn more.
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