Why antivirus practices should never be allowed to stagnate
Any individual or company is at risk of a cyber-attack and without the right protection in place, any computer or device can be vulnerable to security violations – particularly as those levelling the threats use new technology to enhance their methods of infection.
Consequently your antivirus practices should never stagnate and the protection you have in place, should be reviewed regularly.
Attackers will always want your data
The nature of digital technology means that someone will always be trying to obtain data they don’t own to benefit from it. This can be anything from bank details to commit fraud, to stealing confidential business information and ideas.
Often compromised machines need to be wiped to stop the threat of viruses. This causes unnecessary downtime for professionals so a proactive approach including data back-ups are necessary so that you are prepared should the worst happen.
The main methods of attack are by hackers distributing ransomware, malware and trojans to compromise computers and make users unsuspecting victims. The best response is to employ a layered defence of protection including internet software security.
There is no single option that’s going to protect you 100 percent. A good defence relies on different hardware and software all doing their bit, as with any type of layers the foundation is the key part, and this industry is no different.
The changing landscape of threats
Even with a layered defence in place, it cannot be left to stagnate as the nature of threats will change over time and older defences may not be designed to combat new attacks.
In an ideal world the end user is knowledgeable on current threats, in a position to check each and every link and able to anticipate the attackers methods. In reality we are far from that. Antivirus (AV) software is where the help comes from and it forms the very foundation of keeping the user safe.
Contributed by Julian Shelley, Director, Woodstock IT
Source | scmagazineuk
