Most business owners have most of their company’s information on their laptops or desktop computer systems including financial information, work files, and the contact information for most of their co-workers, clients, vendors, and other important people. Losing this information could take several months to recover, especially if the computer is infected with a virus or hacked. Here are some of the ways to protect your system to prevent it from being hacked or infected with either viruses or malware.
Use Anti-Virus Software
Whether it is downloaded directly to your computer or the company’s network, you need to have an anti-virus program protecting the system. A good anti-virus software will have protection against viruses, malware, and other types of attacks such as phishing, which can result in having your business or clients’ financial information stolen. As new viruses and malware are always being detected, it is important to download the security updates for the software as they become available.
Back-up Systems
To prevent losing all your important data if your system crashes, your laptop is stolen, or computers are damaged in a disaster, you need to have the system backed up. If your business has an IT department, they should regularly back up all the data so if something were to happen, your company could be back up and running as soon as possible. Even though the business system may be backed up, you need to back up your laptop and other devices too. You can either back up the data onto an external drive or to the cloud.
Use Whitelisting Software
A whitelisting application can prevent viruses, malware, and ransomware attacks before the files even come to your attention. With an application whitelisting Windows program, any applications that you want running on your system are specified and permitted to run, while others found in downloaded files or on websites will be blocked. This a more proactive way of protecting your system as only the applications you allow will run when encountered.
Monitor System
Having the computer system monitored 24 hours a day can protect it from attacks that software may not be able to stop, such as hacking attempts. While most attacks try to sneak in the back door by embedding files onto a system when an email is opened or when you go onto certain websites, if you have anti-virus and whitelisting software, it should prevent most of those attempts. However, sometimes hackers operate live and attacks can be spotted and stopped by monitoring a system.
Enable Firewall
An anti-virus software doesn’t always have a firewall but your Windows or Mac system has one that is built-in. A firewall can block access to your system to prevent hackers breaking into the database and stealing your files. Make sure that the firewall on your business system and laptops is enabled as another level of protection for business and client data.
Businesses around the world lose millions of pounds each year because of hacking, viruses, and malware attacks. Prevent attacks on your system by using the protections listed here.