Why free anti-virus and spam-ware isn’t enough
In the world of small business it’s hard enough covering your overhead expenses, never mind having to worry about a stupid antivirus that keeps popping up saying “renewal needed” with a ridiculous pricetag on it.
Yet small business antivirus software is critical to protecting you business. You wouldn’t leave your business proposals on the park bench. You wouldn’t consider storing your business files in an insecure location. So you shouldn’t leave your computer unprotected, or non-properly protected.
Online threats in the form of viruses, adware, spyware, Trojan horses and rootkits come in masses. A security breach at the business level doesn’t just mean a little downtime. Once you’re infected you’re looking at irreparable damage that could be caused by those infections removing your archives or physically damaging computers.
Adware and spyware are more than just the annoying pop-ups you see. When they get in your business environment they can unveil crucial information or trade secrets. An single infection on any business computer can quickly spread to the entire network. With so many endpoints (desktops, laptops, cell phones, tablets), business computers are even more risk at risk. Several of today’s advanced threats specifically target businesses because business are like sitting ducks when it comes to their security and the scale of the potential damage of getting into a business could be massive. Don’t get caught without effective protection for your entire company.
Most free anti-virus today only cover a few aspects of potential attacks like scanning and maybe web monitoring. When looking for a proper anti-virus you want to make sure you see if they protect the following features before you buy them:
On-access Scanning
On-Demand Scanning
Scheduled Scanning
Heuristic Scanning
Adware/Spyware Scanning
Firewall
Script Blocking
Scan Compressed Files
Auto-Clean Infected Files
Quarantines Infected Files
Monitor HTTP Traffic
Email Protection
Antispam
Instant Messaging Protection
Registry Startup Protection
Also make sure that they protect the platforms that you need:
Server Protection
Workstation PCs
Laptops
USB flash drives
Device Restricting
4 Anti-virus suites have every single one of these features:
Kaspersky Business Space Security
Bitdefender Management Server
VIPRE Business Premium
G DATA AntiVirus Business
But if you don’t need every single on of these features there are also other anti-virus/spam-ware suites that will do the job, just make sure it protects what you need it to protect.
What kind of anti-virus are you using? And who do you recommend? Leave comment and share your thoughts.
If you need help finding or installing anti-virus software to get your systems and data protected properly feel free to contact Sentinel Digital Systems
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About Edson Monteiro.
Edson is a compliance & security specialist, as the President of Sentinel Digital Systems and author of Tech-Source blog, he helps small businesses meet guidelines and saving them big bucks on penalties.