If you’re concerned about what your business should be doing to protect itself from Malware like Trojan Horses, WannaCry, etc. you can follow these five simple steps. This assumes that you already have some sort of security policy in place and appropriate firewalls. Malware or Malicious Software has various ways to enter your network and can do serious damage.

• Keep your guest wifi and production network segregated.

This is a best practice for corporations with strict data governance. It can easily be adhered to. In fact, some carriers will provide a secondary guest access circuit free of charge. This will protect your production network from Malware that guests may ordinarily bring behind your firewall.

• Instruct employees not to insert thumb drives onto network.

Some do not know how dangerous a random thumb drive can be and the extent of business loss that can occur. Maybe an employee takes a promotional item on the way back into the office from lunch which contains malware that can log keystrokes on your network or tap into your microphones and cameras.

• Educate employees on the best practices of password protection.

Many employees don’t see the importance of securing their passwords. They base their conclusion not on malice but on the premise that they don’t have access to anything important. The truth is, once they’re inside your firewall other more sensitive areas that these employees don’t have access to is now accessible to a hacker. A post it note on a computer is like leaving the key to your house in your front door.

• Run network diagnostics tests regularly

It’s a good idea to run have a network diagnostics tool for any company over 5 employees on computers. Hackers can get software in your network that sends out data over your connection. It’s always a good idea to keep track of what is going over that network and what applications are running. Malware often runs on computers unnoticed so keeping an eye on what your processors are doing is a good strategy.

• Block unauthorized sites

This is crucial. Liberal regulation on in-office internet use is a bad idea for security. The more sites you allow access to, the higher the likelihood of attack. Most company’s employees don’t visit many sites so its easy to narrow down and create a ticketing system for unauthorized sites an employee may need to access. Many sites using Java allow for scripts that will automatically install malware into a user’s computer.

 

These days, security is a top priority for those responsible for a business’s technology. In fact, it’s a priority across the board for companies and government agencies alike to fend off malware and other attacks. Companies like AirWatch provide management across mobile devices and carriers like AT&T and Level3 are offering security at the network level.  Some have chosen to implement DaaS from vendors like RapidScale to take the liability off of their staff and kill a couple other birds with a single stone while focusing on security on their core applications in data centers.

There is a plethora of vendors in the space because staying ahead of the hackers is an arduous task. That said, finding the right vendor and developing a strategy should be an inclusive process across multiple business units.

For help developing and implementing a strategy contact us here.