What Managed Services Have to Say about Anti-Virus and Malware Protection

what managed services have to say about anti virus and malware protection

Is it Worth it to Invest in Anti-Virus and Malware Protection?

4corner-security

You may be surprised to hear it, but many businesses still struggle with viruses and malware. A lot of focus has recently been shifted over to cyber crime, particularly because of the development of the cloud. But the reality is that many businesses still haven’t secured their equipment to protect against viruses that have been around for years.

Of course, you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that has absolutely no anti-virus or malware protection. The problem isn’t that they’re not aware of such issues, but rather that they’re not thorough in protecting against them.

An example of this is running an anti-virus scanner during work hours. This may sound like a good idea since employees will be there to take care of any detected viruses. But what really happens? Employees are disrupted by the scanner and just turn it off. A recent Tech Advisory article explains how this happens:

“These days, it is essential that you have anti-virus, malware, and spyware scanners installed on all machines and devices in your company and that you take the time to configure these properly. It could be that scans are scheduled during business hours, or they just aren’t updated. If you install these solutions onto your systems, and they start to scan during work time, most employees will just turn the scanner off thus leaving systems wide-open.”

So even if you have anti-virus software installed, you’ll want to make sure that it’s configured right. In addition, try to run the scanners at a time when employees aren’t at the computer. This way there’s no one there to cancel the scan.

This is an easy step that businesses can take to avoid a common problem. After all, they say that you’re supposed to work smarter, not harder.

If you’d like to talk more about managed services or anything else, contact us. Thanks.

3 Ways that Hackers Steal Data from Small and Medium Businesses

3 ways that hackers steal data from small and medium businesses

It used to be that hackers stole the data on your computer network by sending malware to your system. But you and other owners of small and medium businesses got wise to these methods by installing a firewall and security software. These digital measures went a long way in reducing nefarious attempts at theft.

But hackers got wise. They now steal data by tricking you into physically revealing important information. The following are just three of the methods they like to use.

Phishing

Phishing gets you to reveal your confidential data such as passwords, credit card numbers, or Social Security number by faking an entirely legitimate website.

You may think you’re signing into your financial institution, retirement account, or government department. In actuality, hackers are showing you counterfeit pages so you can give them your private data. The quickest way to uncover such chicanery is to look at the text listed in the address bar of the site, also known as a URL. If it bears no resemblance to the title of the site or its agency, then your on a fake page.

For example, “.gov” is the ending of any U.S. government website. If the address shows “SocialSecurity.COM,” then the page is not affiliated with the government at all.

Fake Emails

Few people are going to accidentally stumble onto a phishing site, especially if they manually type in the correct address. Hackers bring you to their web pages by giving you a link, which they reveal in a fake email. You receive a message, purporting to be from a legitimate company, asking you to sign into the site to confirm information.

To be helpful, the email contains a link, which you click to reach the phishing site. To guard against this, never click on an email link. Instead, manually browse the site in question by typing its URL in the address bar. You can then independently confirm if the company is wanting your information.

Fake Dialog Boxes

You probably have dozens, if not hundreds, of programs and widgets on your system to help you run your business. So if you receive a dialog box asking you to update existing software, you simply click the OK button.

You think you’re automatically setting up the latest version of a program. Instead, you may either be taken to a phishing site or release malware onto your system. Use the same response as with fake emails. Ignore the link and manually browse the update site to confirm that it’s real.

Guarding against data theft is something you must do constantly. The hackers only have to succeed once to damage your business. For more ways to protect your network, please contact us.