Businesses with poor internet security are good business for those with malicious intent. 

Uncertain about what needs doing, and balancing a dozen other priorities, you may well have left IT security as a problem for another day.  Many people do – and that’s when attacks happen.  Attackers can - and do - corrupt systems, destroy entire networks and steal sensitive data.

The problem isn’t usually with the tools.  Internet security software can protect you against most risks, if you use it effectively.  Most attacks arise simply because people underestimate the risks and don’t put the necessary resources into security management. 

It’s absolutely critical that every business takes this seriously.  Here’s why.

Access from Outside

There are four main routes into your system.

• E-mail.  Still the main route in for attackers, e-mail can now bring subtle threats hidden in attachments previously seen as safe, such as PDFs, and also in the text of the e-mail itself.  HTML code can hide a multitude of sins.
• Unguarded web surfing.  Internet threats lurk in legitimate sites as well as more suspicious ones.
• Unprotected portable devices.  It’s common for staff to connect laptops, memory sticks and other storage devices to their business network without running security checks first.  And an unencrypted laptop is the simplest way for anyone with malicious intent to access your data.
• Unprotected wireless networks.  Without full security protocols in place, wireless networks are any easy target for anyone who wants access to your information and systems.

Types of Attack

Attackers may want to take information for criminal activities, to use your PCs as ‘zombie machines’ for their own purposes, or simply to disrupt or destroy your system just because they can. 

There are three main types of attack:

• Denial of service attacks.  A DoS attack will target your server or other network elements in an attempt to disrupt or destroy data, configuration information, or the entire network.  As a result, they can bring your network down without warning. 
• Bot net attacks.  This is where your server or system is ‘kidnapped’ and used as part of a network of compromised machines to send out bulk spam or perform Denial of Service attacks.
• SQL injections.   These insert bits of code that ask your system to do things you would definitely not want it to do. The technique is typically used to gain sensitive information including customer details and security passwords.

Prevention IS Possible

Put the right internet security software in place, use it effectively, and you’ll send the attackers elsewhere.
If you don’t have the time or expertise to be confident that you are protecting your business’s data and systems as well as you should, it’s critical for your business that you talk to someone who can provide that support.

At Amshire, our approach is to layer the software.  The first lines of defence are the anti-virus features built into your server software.  We make sure these are configured for maximum effectiveness.  We then add specialised server anti-virus software.  And if anything gets through both of these, it will have to contend with a third layer of protection, because we also install anti-virus applications on all the PCs in the network.
You can relax, knowing that you’re no longer an easy target.

To stop security worries and start protecting your business, call us on 0845 838 7814, or e-mail us.