Why it matters to maintain your network

In most companies someone set up the network a few years ago and it has worked since. The router is in a cabinet, the switches under a desk, the wireless access point on the ceiling. While it works, nobody touches it. That is understandable, but it is exactly why the network becomes the weakest point: it is the one thing everything else depends on, and nobody is responsible for it.

What happens to a network that is not maintained

Equipment goes without updates. Routers, firewalls and access points have their own software, and security flaws are regularly found in it. A device that has not been updated for three years has known vulnerabilities that are exploited automatically, without anyone targeting your company in particular.

The vendor stops support. After a few years, patches are no longer released for a device. It keeps working, but every new flaw stays open for good.

Passwords and access pile up. The wireless password has been the same for five years and is known to every former employee, supplier and guest. Remote access opened for an outside technician three years ago is still open.

The network grows without a plan. A switch is added here, an access point there, a cable across the corridor. After a while nobody knows what is connected to what, and a fault takes hours to find.

Everything is in the same network. Computers in accounting, printers, cameras, guests on wireless and a machine in production can all see each other. A guest’s infected laptop has an open path to the server.

It slows down and nobody knows why. Without monitoring you cannot see whether the problem is the internet link, an overloaded switch or one device choking all the others.

What downtime costs

A company with thirty employees who cannot work without the network loses about thirty working hours for every hour of downtime. At a cost of around fifteen euros per hour of work, which we covered in the article on what an employee really costs the employer, one day without the network means several thousand euros in salaries alone.

To that, add undelivered orders, production standing still, customers who cannot reach anyone and an emergency call-out at emergency rates.

A security incident costs more. Encrypted data, a recovery lasting days, notifying customers and possible fines easily exceed the cost of maintenance for ten years ahead.

What maintenance includes

An equipment inventory. Which devices exist, where they are, how old they are, which software version they run and until when they are supported. Without an inventory you do not even know what needs maintaining.

Updates. Regularly, to a plan, with a check before and after. Security patches for devices exposed to the internet do not wait for next quarter.

Backups of configuration. If a router or firewall fails, a new one is up in an hour with a copy of the settings. Without it, the settings are pieced together from memory over days.

Monitoring. A system that reports when a device stops responding, when a link is saturated or when a disk is filling up. The aim is to find out about the problem before the employees do.

Network segmentation. Office computers, servers, production, cameras and guests in separate segments, with rules on who may reach whom. A problem in one segment then stays in it.

Access review. Who has remote access, who has administrator passwords, which user accounts are still active. At least twice a year and whenever an employee leaves.

Wireless. A separate network for guests, with no access to internal systems. Employees sign in with their own user account instead of a shared password, where possible.

Documentation. A network diagram, an address list, settings, provider contacts. In a place that is available even when the network is down.

A replacement plan. Equipment has a lifespan. A replacement planned a year ahead fits the budget. A replacement after a failure is paid for at emergency rates.

Redundancy for key parts. A second internet link, a spare switch, an uninterruptible power supply. For whatever the company cannot work without.

Signs that a network is neglected

• Nobody can say who is responsible for it.
• There is no equipment inventory or diagram.
• The wireless password has not been changed for years.
• Guests connect to the same network as accounting.
• The router was last updated when it was installed.
• You learn about a problem when employees start calling.
• Settings have never been saved outside the device itself.
• Remote access works “somehow”, through a tool someone installed once.

If you recognised three or more, the network is running on luck.

Your own person or an external service

A company with a few hundred employees has its own network administrators. For smaller companies a full-time position does not pay, and the job is done “on the side” by someone for whom it is not a profession.

Contracted maintenance with an external partner usually includes monitoring, regular updates, a quarterly review and an agreed response time. The monthly fee is known in advance, unlike an emergency call-out.

The link with regulation

Asset management, access control and network security are among the measures required by the Croatian Cybersecurity Act. We write about who is in scope in the article on NIS2. Companies that are not in scope get the same questions from customers and insurers.

Where to start

1. List the equipment and check whether it still has vendor support.
2. Update whatever is exposed to the internet.
3. Change shared passwords and close access that is no longer needed.
4. Separate guests from the internal network.
5. Save the settings of all devices in a safe place.
6. Name a responsible person or partner.

We design and maintain networks as part of technology consulting and cybersecurity. If you do not know what state yours is in, get in touch and we will start with a review.