You all know you should have antivirus software, and why, but do you know which one is right for your business?
Anti-virus software scans your device infrastructure to prevent, detect and block malware to stop them doing any harm to your business and its data. There is plenty of free antivirus software on the market, however our advice would always be to get the best you can afford because as in most cases in life, you get what you pay for.
Malware is the umbrella term for anything attacking your IT systems. Malware can include viruses, worms, adware, Trojan horses, spyware and a number of other nasty threats that could risk the safety and integrity of your data and IT systems.
The Zeus Trojan is a particularly nasty threat as it evolves to target cloud-based company software utilized globally. Zeus was initially detected in 2007 as it went around grabbing online Banking credentials and using them to swipe funds.
According to Dell SecureWorks, Zeus is the top banking Trojan and contributed to the discovery of criminally-operated botnets. But Zeus has evolved…and is being used to grab large chunks of companies’ data from cloud-based systems, a recent example being Salesforce.com. Zeus was recently detected on an individual’s Windows-based computer waiting for the victim to login to Salesforce to grab their cloud-based data.
This evolution of Zeus comes as hackers attach a crawler to the original code and means the threat is not contained to Saleforce.com – any cloud-based system your company uses could be at risk.
This evolution of Zeus highlights a couple of areas all businesses should review to keep themselves safe:
- Antivirus software
- You get what you pay for and Zeus means business!
- Make sure it is and remains completely up-to-date
- Check to see if your Anti-virus software protects all the devices your business uses including smartphone and mobile devices
- Data Protection Act – familiarise yourself with it as it requires companies to take reasonable precautions in protecting their own, and customer, data.
- Data encryption – Make sure your data is properly and sufficiently encrypted
- Have a robust Planned Preventative IT Maintenance in place for all of your IT systems
Zeus is just one of the threats to your IT systems that antivirus software protects against, so it really is a critical part of your IT maintenance.
If you have any questions about your antivirus software or you are unsure if it is sufficiently protecting you against the potential risks, contact our experienced team of engineers now on 01332 513 333 for peace of mind.
