Dr. Lisa Bryan
Small business and personal computer users must be aware of the need to protect the information assets stored on their computers. For small businesses, company records, financial documents, and customer confidential data must be protected for the business’s success and reputation. For the home user or home business user, many of the same personal information assets are at risk. The days of protecting our information assets with locked doors and file cabinets are over. The minute you put your computer on the Internet, you are opening your information, even confidential information, to the world and people who seek to do you harm. The responsibility is yours to protect that information. If confidential or sensitive information is lost or compromised, you risk your financial future, legal action, and continued prosperity.
In 2013, I researched this area focusing on small business. I sought to determine the strategies that small businesses could use to protect their information assets. Many of these strategies could also help you at home. I will focus on the second of these three strategies in today’s article: Virus/Malware Protection.
Virus and Malware protection is needed on every computer connected to the Internet. This protection detects viruses and malware hopefully before it is opened or run on your computer. Once detected the program or file is placed in a quarantine area. The only problem with virus and malware protection is that it does not catch everything. The idea behind this type of protection is that it is developed for viruses already known about or found. That process requires that someone get the virus or malware first before a detection can be created. You should never depend on just virus and malware protection – you will get infected. Any software that is always based on the first incident is not 100%.
Many virus protection/malware protections are free. Make sure you check out the protection online and see if it really works. Download that protection from a reputable site. If this protection does not download new lists daily and scan often, your protection is not working. You can also buy protection for a small price in the store and online. I personally do not like the Internet Security products that contain firewalls and internet security add-ins. They may really slow down your machine. I choose just virus/malware protection because Windows has a firewall included already. Always make sure you uninstall any old virus protection before adding new protection. The two products will conflict and may cause major issues with your computer.
Since virus/malware protection is always behind the newly released viruses and not 100%, make sure you practice security awareness which I discussed in my first article on this topic. You are the one that controls what can potentially affect your computer.
Dr. Lisa Lee Bryan is the Program Chair CSU-Global – Management Information Systems/Data Analytics. She can be reached at staysafebusiness@gmail.com
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