Let’s just rip off the band-aid here… Anti-Virus software just doesn’t cut it for computer security anymore. I know that’s not what you want to hear. Most likely you thought “Well I have the McVaston program that came installed on our machines, so I thought that meant we were immune to all of the terrible stuff you hear in the news.” Unfortunately in today’s threat ridden environment, Anti-Virus is really about the least you can do to keep threats from infecting your computers and hopefully not your entire corporate ecosystem. Now don’t start to feel bad and think this is all doom and gloom, you don’t know what you don’t know and hopefully that is why you’re here today reading.
The good news is that Infihedron is here to help and has the tools to drastically reduce your threat profile and give your business it’s best shot at avoiding ransomware, malware, or even targeted attacks. Many times people read the news about the data breach that stole the credit card numbers of millions of people. Those are the stories that make headlines and affect the largest number of people. Unfortunately that gives people the impression that they’re “too small” to worry about those kinds of threats and that people are out there actively targeting large companies. While partially true that large corporations become the victims of highly specialized and targeted hacking attempts because of their mass amounts of juicy data, you might be shocked to learn that research conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 70% of attacks actually target Small Businesses! Even more alarmingly is the fact that 60% of these companies that suffered security hacks go out of business within 6 months. Those are not statistics that you want to be on the wrong side of.
For the Small Business, the stakes are very high. With limited cash flow and tight budgets, small businesses quite literally can’t afford to be shut down for weeks, days, or even sometime hours without it drastically affecting their bottom line. But sadly, that is the reality. If you suffer a breach in your security or your company data, what’s at stake for you? I like to ask people a simple question “If every single computer in your building suddenly vanished into thin air, can you stay in business and for how long?” With today’s ransomware threats, that is a very real scenario. Businesses can lose their entire environment, workstations and servers in a flash, all because of one single user who clicked a bad link in an email.
At the end of the day, users control the spread of Malware. Unfortunately that’s also about the hardest variable to ever control; that’s why we’re here. We can put in play a host of security methods that will reduce your exposure to these events. Simply, we put in layers to reduce the possibility of the bad actors even getting to your machines. Just a teaser of those levels:
- DNS filtering – Can reduce the actual domains that your users can seek out.
- Content filters – Control the type of sites your staff can visit.
- Anti-Spam filters – Check a host of information about your incoming and outgoing email including where it came from, what links are in it, and what’s in the attachments.
- On premise security filters – You can think as a “Super Anti-Virus Computer”. These are machines that actually sit out front of your network and will scan every single piece of traffic that comes to / from your office via the internet. They are specially designed to do nothing but check your traffic. These devices can even help prevent brute force attacks.
- Firewalls – Probably something that you’ve heard of. They block strange back alley paths into and out of your computer.
- Security Patching – The majority of attacks are actually against fully known vulnerabilities, most of which can be prevented with patching of all the software that runs on your machine, both OS & 3rd party.
- Security Enabled Switches – Will help keep an eye on all of the traffic on your local network.
- Credential Management – Admin privileges shouldn’t be passed out like candy. Give your users just enough power to do their jobs effectively, but not keys to the kingdom.
- Finally… Anti-Virus Software – You’ve heard “last but not least”, well… this is “last and least” because this is really the last line of defense for you and your computers.
If you’re tired after just reading that list, don’t worry… that’s why we’re here for you. All of those things can be brought into your environment, many times even more affordably than you realize and definitely cheaper than going out of business. If you don’t want a lack of security keeping you up and night, reach out to us and we’ll help you put these tools into place at your business.
Ready to find out more?
See how Infihedron can keep your business safe.