Be Careful of Malware Problems for Your Business

Malware is used to refer viruses, Trojans and worms or any programs that have malicious actions.

Worm, a type of malware, propagates through the network.  This means that worms can propagate via file sharing, instant messaging, downloading applications from unknown sources and visiting malicious web sites.

An example of network-infecting worm is Slammer that spread around the world in less than 15 minutes!  Internet traffic caused by Slammer in its search for computers to infect caused slowdown of the Internet and affected telecommunications and some financial networks.

Trojans and viruses, also types of malware, are not capable of propagating through the network but they can modify and infect files.  They can possibly cause data loss.

Data is very important on businesses and contributes to a business’ profit growth.  If these malware infectors can cause data loss, they can also be a factor to profit loss.

Today’s malware comes as a bundled package: worms now often include Trojan functions or able to infect executable (.exe) files on the victim machine.

They are no longer worms, but blended threats.  Blended threats use multiple infection mechanisms and multiple methods of causing damage.

Malware can cause problems on businesses like data and profit loss and damaged computer systems.

Businesses especially the enterprise and medium segments are usually spending money to have a great implementation of security to their networks.

Usually, they are deploying desktop antivirus software to every client machines, mail and gateway security systems, and strong firewalls.

Some small and medium businesses are having outsourced antivirus protection.  This means that some of them are buying outsourced services like server monitoring, hosted mail security systems and sometimes, bundled software that can make system administration easier.

Small business like a computer café is very prone to malware attacks.  This is because most computer cafés are not implementing security policies to every client machines.

If they implement a security policy like blocking porn web sites, then sales will possibly decrease.  Basically, computer cafes are usually experiencing different malware attacks that can affect the business.

The least that this kind of business can do is to have a strong and effective maintenance of the computers.

Businesses may have strong security policies and protection, but most malware infections still start on every client machine.

This is possibly because most computer users are doing network-related activities like browsing malicious web sites, downloading and executing applications from unknown sources, instant messaging, sending and receiving spam emails with malicious attachments and file sharing.

Malware threats can have a big chance of attacking client machines if users are not safely using their computers.

Some of the common malware problems on businesses are:

• Corrupted data cause by file infectors
• Infected computer systems
• Network bandwidth consumption because of network worms’ propagation
• Employee low productivity because of having an infected workstation
• Malicious attachments from emails that can cause infections to mail servers
• Profit loss caused by damaged computer systems or corrupted data

These common problems can be easily addressed if users are using their computers safely.

To protect your businesses you may consider the following suggestions in order to prevent further malware problems:

• Educate users or employees with regards to malware infections.  This can be done through small meetings, seminar, and sharing and monthly email notifications about malware.
• Implement security policies to network shares like allowing “Read Only” access to shared files, disabling the Autoplay feature of the Windows to all client machines, and strong password policy.
• Make sure to apply all operating system patches.
• Have weekly computer maintenance in order to check if there are client machines that need to be addressed immediately.
• Scan removable drives first before executing the files stored on them.

These suggestions may be simple but can greatly help in order to prevent further malware problems on business.