Today, we are all aware of the enormous amount of data generated by computer systems. This data is stored in data centers or on dedicated servers. At the same time, more and more companies are offering products or services over the internet. Because of this, it is essential to have the necessary security measures in place, such as a firewall, to prevent unauthorized access to the stored information, which, in most cases, contains confidential data crucial to the company's core business.
How can a company be protected?
Numerous technological strategies are emerging to transform a company's network into a secure environment for information storage, although, in most cases, their implementation is costly. For this reason, Spanish SMEs find it difficult to access a high-availability firewall system or similar solutions. Information remains unprotected, and the business vulnerable.
According to a Google study.
According to a Google study, nearly three million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Spain are unprotected against cyberattacks, and three out of five lack basic security protocols. Each cyberattack costs an average of €35,000 for a small or medium-sized business. Furthermore, cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
What resources can an SME access?
At Binhex, we offer a solution within reach of small and medium-sized enterprises: free software, which allows the implementation of technological cybersecurity strategies at a reduced cost, such as Pfsense and OpenVPN.
What is pfSense?
pfSense This is a customized distribution of FreeBSD (operating system), adapted for use as a firewall and high-availability router. It is characterized by being open source and can be installed on a wide variety of computers, allowing companies to acquire the hardware where the application needs to be installed.
In this way, we can increase the level of network security at a reduced cost.
Tests performed with specific and accessible hardware.
The hardware that we have tested and successfully installed at Binhex has a price that ranges from €130 to €260, depending on its features (RAM, CPU, hard drive).
With 4 network cards, this type of device is ideal for building a router with an advanced firewall and ensuring that the hardware and software work together to protect your business against malware and safeguard important private data and content.
Network configuration.
The configuration will depend on the network design, although the main features that can be configured are:
Firewall System: o Firewall, Filtering by source and destination IP, IP protocol, source and destination port for TCP and UDP traffic.
NAT: 1 NAT para las direcciones IP individuales o subredes enteras.
High availability:
The combination of CARP, pfsync, and its synchronization in the configuration, provides high availability functionality.
Multi-WAN: Multi-WAN functionality allows the use of multiple Internet connections, with load balancing and/or failover, to improve Internet availability and bandwidth distribution.
Server Load Balancing: Used to distribute the load across multiple servers.
Dynamic DNS: A dynamic DNS client is included to allow you to register your public IP address with a variety of dynamic DNS service providers.
Captive Portal: Allows you to force authentication or one-click redirection through the network login page.
DHCP Server and Relay.
High availability firewall system for SMEs.