If you're considering getting a network assessment from a network consulting service, you may wonder about the true value of this report. After all, is the information found from these reports worth the money?
The first thing to understand about network assessments is how the process works. Initially, a network assessment will involve an MSP doing a deep dive into your network security, network performance, and physical set up. They'll also review any documents you have about licenses and providers for various IT services.
All of this information will be in a physical report. The report will break down exactly what your MSP discovered about your IT infrastructure during the network assessment. Usherwood refers to this report as the “The Odyssey Navigator.” This will be the foundation for all IT recommendations moving forward.
What's Included in the Network Assessment Report?
Network Assessments (or as Usherwood calls them, Odyssey Discoveries) evaluate servers, firewalls, network bandwidth, print, video conference, security & surveillance, and other IT elements. After your MSP presents the results to you, you can decide whether you'd like to work with them to implement these changes or just keep the report for your own use.
Here are some of the most common elements of your IT infrastructure that will be evaluated and reported on in the network assessment report.
Network Vulnerabilities:
Network security assessments will look for any loopholes in hardware, software, or processes that can put your network at risk of data breaches or loss. Several security issues can slip through the cracks, and many companies aren't aware of these weak spots.
Poor information security can look like weak passwords, faulty security tools, insufficient network management or monitoring, or unsecured backup methods.
If any vulnerabilities are discovered in your network, your MSP will include them in your network assessment report. They will also break down the cause of these vulnerabilities and how to fix them. Finding network security gaps is crucial to safeguarding your business from cyberattackers.
Active Directory Hygiene:
This portion of network assessment services will involve an analysis of your business’ domain information and user interaction with the network. The Active Directory is where user information, authorizations, and permissions are stored.
After evaluating your environment, it is common to find that your business has accounts in its Active Directory that are no longer needed. This often consists of accounts from past employees left over in the directory.
It is essential to clean up your Active Directory and remove any inactive accounts. This can improve effciency by:
- Clearing up storage space
- Improving server performance
- Mitigating security risks like expired passwords and phishing attacks using old credentials
The most important benefit of this step is the enhanced security it can allow for. Once you've cleaned up old accounts and identified old passwords, you can set passwords to automatically require periodic password resets. This will make it harder for hackers to get into your systems using outdated credentials.
Dark web credentials:
This part of the network assessment report will provide you with credentials in your network that have been exposed to the dark web. The dark web is an underground marketplace for stolen credentials accessible by special software and allows those who access it to remain unknown and untraceable.
People often use the dark web to buy and sell leaked information for future exploitation. To find out if your information is on the dark web, an MSP can perform a dark web scan for your company. This will determine what information may be exposed on the dark web.
In the network assessment report, you can determine which employees are at risk and need to update passwords that may have been exposed. This can help prevent your company from getting falling victim to a cyber breach.
Multi-factor Authentication:
The network assessment report will present any accounts on your network that multi-factor authentication (MFA) doesn’t protect. This can give you an idea of which accounts or applications may be at risk of a cyber-attack. You can then begin implementing MFA for users who do not have it to keep your environment more secure.
MFA requires users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access after successfully entering their usernames and passwords. This could involve various actions, such as a push notification on your mobile device or a code emailed to the address on file.
MFA ensures that if someone manages to get your password credentials, they will have to pass additional tests to gain access.This significantly decreases your risk of a cyber attack.
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Workstation challenges:
The workstation challenges section of the network assessment report evaluates the hardware that your business has in place. Your MSP will make recommendations based on the warranty status of your equipment. It is important to keep technology current with updates, upgrades, and planned replacement.
To reduce issues and ensure productivity, it's advisable to refresh equipment on a regular cycle. The network assessment report will call out specific areas in your environment with pictures and meaningful commentary to help you understand the state of your equipment.
Switch Environment:
A network switch connects devices within a network and forwards data to and from those devices. Network switches can facilitate intrusion detection, performance analytics, and firewalling. Your switch environment plays a critical role in the speed and security of your network.
A poorly maintained network switch environment can harm performance. Your MSP will evaluate your switch environment, present any flaws, and make recommendations for this in their report.
Wireless Environment:
In the network assessment report, your wireless environment will be assessed. Your MSP will look at your wireless access points and determine if anything could be changed to enhance the wireless connection.
This can sometimes mean adding more access points or your wireless devices are close to physical barriers that are causing the connection to drop.
Your MSP will provide you with the current state of your wireless environment, show any issues leading to poor connection and provide their recommendations to enhance your wireless.
Microsoft 365 and Other Licensing:
The network assessment report will also look into your current Microsoft 365 licensing. Your MSP will likely recommend upgrades to your licensing to optimize your environment. This is so all users have the latest cloud services, desktop apps, and advanced security.
Ready For a Network Assessment?
This assessment is a great way to form a relationship with an MSP. From there, you can build a plan with them to get the network infrastructure support your business needs to remain competitive and secure.
If this sounds like a service you're interested in, click the button below to speak to our expert network security consultants about your business.
