• Does each piece of equipment on your network that connects to the  Internet really need to?

• Do you have programs or databases on Internet-connected servers that, if compromised by an attack, might jeopardize your company's reputation?

• Have you limited the number of servers facing the Internet and removed any proprietary information stored on them?

• Are your Net-connected servers protected behind a firewall.

• Have you quantified the cost of your security needs?

• Are you logging any external attacks made on your system?

• Are your servers configuration checked?

• Are the default passwords on all your hardware and software  changed?

• Are your employees software that they use been patched and updated appropriately?

• Do the wrong employees have potential access to  your private data?

     Things to consider:

• Potential loss resulting from either an Internet-based attack or an inside-the-company attack:

 For example, a Net-based virus could shut down your e-mail server and require all employee desktops to be cleaned one by one. Or an employee could delete critical data from an internal database that would take time to recover.

• The cost of continuing to do business if such an attack occurred. How much would it cost your company to pay overtime for IT staff or to hire temporary workers? You may also want to factor in intangibles, such as your company's reputation, or, if you store customers' private data, your potential exposure to liability suits they might bring for exposing their info to others. Finally, remember that your insurance premiums could go up if such an attack occurs.

An outside security consultant will think outside the box, which is how a malicious user will approach your system. If you have blind spots, SRVTOOLS will see them.