Your IT - Your Future!

You  must have heard about computer spam, viruses & trojans, worms, mass mailers and perhaps even distributed denial of service attacks.  But what is it all  about and should you be worried.  Well if you don't know and you don't take  precautions you should be worried!

On 17th January 2004, Message Labs reported processing between 50,000 and 60,000 new copies per hour of the  "W32/Mydoom.A" virus exceeding the infamous "SoBig.F" virus  in terms of copies intercepted.  The company intercepted over 1.2 Million copies of "MyDoom" viruses at a peak infection rate of about 1 in 12 emails.  Trend  Microsystems estimated that PC Viruses cost businesses approximately $55 Billion  in damages in 2003.

You  cannot ignore the Internet as it has already become and will continue to develop  as the most successful new media for all aspects of modern day life.  We are entertained by it, we can use it as an immense, almost limitless, source of  information, we can use it to communicate and both shop & bank with  it.  It will not go away but neither will those that are perversely determined to undermine it.

Providing  well considered precautions are taken there should be no cause for  concern.  But the precautions are useless unless you fully understand all the  threats and how to make the precautions effective.  

Even the larger enterprises with IT departments get caught out and it is the expense and gravity of these attacks that hit the headlines.  In January 2004 even an Anti-Virus firm reportedly  accidentally forwarded a virus to users of their software; this was human error!

Recently the DTI showed that better user education would help to halt the spread of viruses but another report from PricewaterhouseCoopers said  that SME's tended to be hit hardest by malicious software as they have limited  resources to educate their employees and implement the precautions.

So apart from  installing precautions it is essential to train staff in ensuring that the precautions are  properly implemented.  It only takes one person to take their eye-off-the-ball and disaster might strike.  Your systems' down!  Your data lost!  Your invoicing failed!  Your cash flow stopped!  Your company....   well let's leave it there - if you haven't got the point by now...

So maybe you should ask these  questions of yourself.

• Do I really understand all this mumbo jumbo about computer viruses?
• What's spam if it isn't spicy pork and ham?
• What's a trojan horse if it isn't to do with Troy?
• Have I installed an anti-virus program?
• Do I really know what it does?
• Am I sure it is protecting me?
• Do I need anything else?
• Is anyone listening in to my WiFi?
• What's a firewall?
• What's spyware?
• What precautions am I taking to avoid Internet pitfalls?
• Do my staff understand all this?
• Can I trust them to invoke precautions?
• If I get a problem to whom do I turn?
• Am I worried?

Maybe you need an Internet Security Consultant???

All information on this Web site is copyright 2006 by PenTre Consultancy.