"Never open the door to the lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it."
Baltasar Gracián
Statistics indicate that over 92% of businesses which lose their data and are unable to recover it, fails within the next year.
The time to worry about getting a virus is before you get one.
There are literally tens of thousands of different viruses that exist today, and more are discovered every month. These little strings of program code have only two purposes in their lives: to reproduce and to make your life miserable by messing with your computer. Depending on the kind of virus, it may do no more than pop up annoying messages on your screen, or it could wipe out your entire hard drive.
Using a good anti-virus program can save your data and your business! But just installing the anti-virus program isn't enough. You must make sure to go through the steps of creating the recovery disks your virus program needs in case of an infection on your computer. Most programs have a wizard you can run to make your emergency disk files. Simply follow the instructions and you will be all set.
Anti-virus programs usually consist of two basic components. The engine and the definition files. The definition files store the information about the viruses (the viruses signature) that allows the program engine to detect them. It's absolutely imperative that you keep these virus definitions up to date. Most anti-virus companies offer updates either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Make sure that you go to their site on a regular basis and update your program. That way, you will have the maximum protection against these little vermin of the virtual world.
On-line Security
Do you connect to the Internet with your business computer? If you do, your computer and your data may be at risk!
Many people believe that because they connect through an ISP (Internet Service Provider) and do not have a dedicated connection that they are safe from attacks. This is not necessarily the case. Hackers have developed methods to look for your computer even though it only has a temporary connection. Once they find you, they look for a way into your system. And you probably will not have a clue that they did.
The use of a firewall is a must for those who want to protect their computer and data when they are on-line. A firewall monitors the data being received and being sent from your computer. The firewall allows authorized data to pass through, while blocking any unauthorized data from entering or leaving your system.
Is your business data password protected?
Many small business managers don't feel the need to protect their data with passwords. Often, these businesses have limited access to their computers. Perhaps only the owner and a secretary or bookkeeper. Because of the relaxed atmosphere in these small organizations, passwords are thought of as unnecessary.
The fact is, just because your organization is small, it doesn't mean that it is immune to unauthorized access to data. You can not be constantly monitoring who is on your computer or what they are accessing. There will be times when you aren't in the office, or not at work at all. It is not a sign of paranoia to protect your data, it is good business sense.
If you operate your business out of your home, you still should have your data password protected. This is particularly true if your business computer also serves as the family computer. It's not that your family are going to turn into industrial spies and sell you out. But accidents can happen, especially if the users are not up to speed with their computer skills.
Passwords do not only protect your data from theft. It also protects is from accidental deletion or overwriting. You do not necessarily need high level security, but a simple password protection security plan may save your data from either unknowing or intentional harm.
Unfortunately, Microsoft Windows 9x doesn't allow file level security, and NT/2000 only offer it if you use the NTS file system. All is not lost though, there are a number of good password security programs available. Here are a few links for you, in case you agree that a little bit of prevention makes sense.
Concern for Internet security is no longer a matter only for those businesses with permanent connections. It is a concern for everyone. If you are not sure of how secure your computer is on-line, we urge you to go to Shields Up and find out just how secure your computer is. 
E-mail this article
All articles are owned and copyright of DarkStone Data. Reproduction in part or in whole is strictly forbidden without the expressed written permission of DarkStone Data
