Let the 80/20 Rule Be Your Guide for IT Security

IT security is something that businesses of all shapes, sizes, and varieties have to be concerned about. You’ll be faced with the question of whether you have adequate security practices on a daily basis. For help with understanding why the smallest vulnerabilities often result in the most data loss, look no further than the 80/20 rule.

This rule, often called the Pareto Principle, is defined as such by Investopedia: “[the Pareto Principle] specifies an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. The principle states that 20 percent of the invested input is responsible for 80 percent of the results obtained. Put another way, 80 percent of consequences stem from 20 percent of the causes.”

In other words, the Pareto Principle is a strategy that attempts to explain how you should delegate your organization’s security resources in order to maximize the security you get. In this case, you are using your assets to protect your network from online threats. However, you might realize that even if you search and search for network vulnerabilities, you won’t find all of them. There are simply too many threats out there to identify. Instead, you use the Pareto Principle to identify where you can do the most good for your organization's network security.

This principle can also work in reverse; only 20 percent of the vulnerabilities on the Internet lead to 80 percent of the data loss. When you think about it, this makes sense. How often do you hear about major data breaches in which multiple vulnerabilities were exploited? Instead, it’s usually just one major hack that led to many compromised accounts.

Yet, the biggest part of effectively using the 80/20 rule is determining what your priorities should be, and which threats are the most dangerous. After all, if everything is a priority, then nothing can get done. This results in all-around subpar security that leaves large threats unchecked.

A penetration test can help Network Solutions Unlimited  to find where your organization's most important security flaws lie. We can locate and resolve your most critical security flaws through a process called Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), which allows us to connect to your office’s technology solutions and issue the required patches and security updates without an on-site visit. In fact, most situations will only call for remote access, so you can save both time and money with an RMM tool.

In fact, there’s one solution that is capable of protecting the majority of your network without much effort at all. It’s called a Unified Threat Management solution, and it includes all of the major components of network security in one convenient package. With an enterprise-level firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter, you can know with certainty that one solution covers the majority of the challenges presented by network security.

With Network Solutions Unlimited’s managed IT services, you’re creating many opportunities for enhanced network security, improved network performance, and optimized operations. To learn more about how we make technology work for you, reach out to us at (217) 428-6449.