It's 2008: a fresh new year, with new opportunities for disaster, calamity, and costly repairs. Lucky you. Think you've got computer security covered? Having anti-virus, anti-spam and a good firewall is just the start. I'm promoting prevention here, because the cure is tough, draining and costly; poor security and backup can sink a business.
What are today's threats? Hackers and "script kiddies" have more ways into your computer than you can imagine. Own a business? Have employees? Got kids? Unless you watch over their shoulders 24/7, users can make devastating mistakes.
What about identity theft? Many start with a compromised computer. A Gartner Group study estimates that 1 in 50 people has been a victim. As early as 2001, 42 percent of the FTC complaints were for ID theft.
According to David M. Smith, Ph.D., in The Cost of Lost Data, 1MB of data is worth $10,000. Let's say he's off by 50 percent: can you risk $5,000? How about $2,500? Can you afford to lose critical data or client records, e-mails and the like, for over a week? For good?
According to a Pepperdine University report, "One study (says) that a company that experiences a computer outage (of) more than 10 days will never fully recover financially and that 50 percent of companies suffering such a predicament will be out of business within 5 years." What if it's your personal data? Tax records, family photos, e-mails from friends and family and other important items can be gone in a heartbeat without a fire.
Folks remember 9/11, but most forget that, a week later, the Nimda worm infected over 2.2 million machines worldwide in 24 hours, costing an estimated $540 million to clean up. The Sober worm in 2005 may have at times accounted for as much as 70 percent of all e-mail volume. Viruses, worms, root kits, bots, Trojan horses and hackers in general are far, far more sophisticated now.
The best strategies for data security are comprised of six main parts.
1. Risk assessment.
Have a business security audit by folks with security expertise. Also, examine user habits: Are they surfing the Web a lot? Downloading software? These days, the threat often comes from within.
2. Problem prevention.
Fortify! Ensure Windows and your security software have the latest patches and updates to fix exploitable "holes." Users working from home or the road (like public Wi-Fi hot spots) and tying into the office should consider a VPN to create a secure "tunnel."
3. Attack detection.
At the minimum, have a software firewall to keep hackers out; better is a router with a firewall and a software one. For home and small offices (up to four users), routers with firewalls are around $50-$80. Businesses need stouter protection and have hardware options that update themselves several times daily against new threats and bad Web sites, plus other functions like Web filtering and user monitoring.
4. Incident response.
For home, AVG offers free scans and software. The free versions aren't as strong as the paid ones, but they offer an external scan or software download to scan with. Root-kits are stealthy, so run a scanner, as you probably wouldn't know your machine is infected. AVG's software (runa backup first to ensure it doesn't conflict with what you have) might find something others don't. Again, businesses need stronger tools.
Find out how your software compares to others on the market by going to C/Net, PC Magazine or PC World for their security software reviews; for business reviews, check eWeek, www.networkcomputing.com
/channels/security/ Network Computing.
5. Reliable data back-up.
Today's 250MB external hard drives are around $100; personal backup software can be as cheap as $50. Online/offsite storage and backup companies let you upload your data away from your home or office and are generally priced based on your data storage per month. This "belt and suspenders" approach might save your business.
6. A climate of vigilance.
Users must realize that seemingly harmless things can be hugely destructive. Free software? If it's worth anything, why is it free? Cool, free photo for your computer's desktop? No - viruses hide in some picture files. Remind business users that it's just that - a business; save fun things for home. You can't race the company car, and the PC on your desktop deserves the same treatment.
At home, scan for viruses regularly and secure the system with passwords and "nanny" software; then, preach constantly to your kids that the wrong move might mean no computer at all - which might get their attention.
This is not a scare tactic. It's reality, and anyone can be a victim. Protect yourself and your business because, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" does not apply.
Frank Goad is an account executive with Box Lake Networks, a regional provider of information technology products and services. He can be reached at (859)389-9758.