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Most IT consultants have seen a lot of things on clients' systems that scare the heck out of them. If you're interested in IT consulting services, it's a good idea to learn about these five things that keep the professionals up at night.

Lack of Monitoring

Network and resource monitoring are critical aspects of many operations. If you can't see what's happening, it's hard to diagnose problems or identify attacks. Consequently, you either won't know that a response is necessary or how to respond. Fortunately, monitoring is typically one of the first solutions IT consulting firms add to their clients' systems.

Unpatched Software

Yes, it can be tedious to wait for updates to roll out. However, those updates are often critical to security and functionality. For IT consultants, every unpatched operating system or piece of software is a potential vulnerability waiting to cause trouble.

On the bright side, most professionals have access to tools that allow them to roll many updates simultaneously across a network. Not only is it a labor-saver, but it provides assurance that all of your IT systems will be on the same page.

Needlessly Escalated Privileges

User privileges are a critical part of making sure that folks on a network can't do more harm than you'd expect. Generally, IT consultants want to see users operating with the least privileges necessary to execute their duties. For example, the team in a company's printing department probably doesn't need access to human resources records. Consequently, they should be limited from accessing those folders and files.

Escalated privileges go beyond prying eyes. If an attacker compromises a user's profile, they'll be able to do maximum damage based on the user's privileges. Imagine how far they can get if they're allowed to modify other user's profiles, establish network connections, or execute programs.

Lack of Backup and Recovery Solutions

Data backup is a key function in most systems. Electrical disruptions, old storage media, or human errors can all spell disaster if you don't have a copy of your data sitting on a backup solution.

If you're worried about backups, you also need a way to restore data. Recovery solutions can ensure that all files go back where they belong once a problem has passed.

Auditing

The ability to audit systems is almost as essential as network monitoring. You need to have a record of who did what and when. If there is trouble, you can then use the audit reports to identify what went wrong and where.