The Internet is filled with all sorts of threats to a brand’s network security.  Every day, hackers come up with newer and more sophisticated ways to launch attacks against inadequately protected networks.  Some brands have seen and reacted to this threat but a considerable number of companies have still not properly protected their networks from the threat of Web-based security attacks.

For whatever reason, these companies have not set aside the budget to allow for their security systems to be able to provide the protection their network needs.  This is basically like not installing alarms and locks on your business.  There probably isn’t a brand out there that would leave their offices so unprotected.  So why do some of them leave their virtual offices so vulnerable?

These vulnerable brands need to view the cost of network security as another cost of doing business.  Generally speaking, the cost of security packages that can protect a brand’s network won’t break its budget, even costing less than it does to buy all those locks and alarms.

A proper investment in network security can enable a brand to benefit from the protection provided by these security services.  One of these security measures is a good firewall.  A firewall is by far the most important security investment a brand can make.  Firewalls help protect the brand’s network from any unauthorized access.  For the corporate environment, it’s better to go with a hardware firewall than a software one because a hardware firewall can provide blanket protection for every single machine on a brand’s network.  Software firewalls only protect the PC they’re installed on.

Other security investments a brand needs to make to help keep its network safe include:
•    Anti-virus protection to protect the brand’s network from being infected by any sort of malicious software that can bring it down
•    Anti-spam protection to keep the brand’s system free from the costly clutter and system slowing burden of unsolicited e-mails
•    Regularly scheduled security scans and testing of its network to make sure that network security is still up to date and able to combat the newest threats

It’s too risky for your brand to leave its network improperly protected.  A security breach can result in a financial hit far more budget-breaking than any investment in a solid, reliable, network security package would be.  Hackers shouldn’t be able to just walk in and have their way with your brand’s network.  Invest smart and get your network secure.

I was asked recently what I thought had made the most impact this year on website design. For me, I think the top trend of 2008 so far has been the strong swing from the use of table based coding to full CSS coding for building websites. The increased use of CSS has enabled the creation of designs that can be manipulated quickly and easily over an entire website. Thanks to CSS, web builders now have the ability to switch out an entire design of a website for an entirely new one at a previously unheard of speed.

The true power that CSS can give designers is illustrated by CSS Zen Garden, a website that posts a challenge to its visitors to use its code to create a completely different design for the site. The wide range of user created spins on the website’s design featured on CSS Zen Garden provides a perfect set of examples illustrating the diversity that is possible when designers use CSS. From just the set of code used for CSS Zen Garden, over 200 unique websites have been created.

As the popularity of CSS coding takes hold and its use becomes the norm, brands will be able to have their websites keep their content intact while receiving a full design makeover much more rapidly than ever before. Sites may still need to develop fresh content over time but thanks to CSS coding, making these sites look brand new will not be the time-consuming task that it once was.