No matter what size your company is, there are plenty of benefits to using Active Directory. Being able to control your network from a single location using Group Policy Objects makes managing all of your employees who operate on the network a breeze. We’ve already talked about active directory basics, the benefits of group policy, and group policy objects, but we haven’t fully discussed how active directory protects the safety of your company’s network.
One of the most frustrating things that could happen on your network is the possibility of one of your users downloading some kind of malware that winds up damaging your system. Whether it corrupts files, deletes them entirely, or renders your network completely immobile, malware is a detriment to the efficiency of your daily operations.
If your company’s network is backed up by experienced IT professionals, such as the team at TCI Technologies, an instance such of this is not the end of the world—though it is definitely an annoying hindrance for your workflow. When our clients experience this kind of problem, we are able to restore backups of all the files on their networks that have been affected by the intrusion in order to restore everything to working order. However, this could take time, and time is money.
Why Restrict Internet Access?
In order to prevent users from downloading these kinds of malicious viruses, there are several steps you can take. The first and most obvious is installing virus protection software, which will scan through your network to make sure nothing is hiding in there that shouldn’t be. Another preventative measure is to restrict internet access via proxy servers set up through group policy.
You can restrict internet access on a variety of levels. By this we mean that you can control both which sites are being restricted and which users are restricted from accessing them. Although a major reason to restrict internet access to certain sites is for the purposes of security, productivity is also a common factor for administrators to choose to restrict access to certain sites, either company-wide or on a user-by-user basis. Let’s look at an example:
Suppose you have a team of analysts working at your company. Their jobs require them to have basic internet access to gather the statistics and reports necessary for them to do their work. However, Steve, one of your newer analysts, seems to have a pretty heavy interest in watching YouTube videos throughout the day. You notice that since his three-month probationary period has ended, both the quality and quantity of the work he produces has decreased, while his time spent watching YouTube videos has increased. In order to remedy this situation, group policy objects are here to help! By setting up a proxy server to restrict access to YouTube, and then employing group policy objects to direct Steve’s user profile through said proxy, you make it impossible for Steve to access YouTube while he’s logged into his account on the network!
If you have problems with users on your network and think that implementing Active Directory is a viable solution for your company, contact the experienced team at TCI Technologies at (516) 484-5151! We’re ready to help solve all your IT needs!
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