NEWSLETTER - SMALL BUSINESS

Computer Security for Small Businesses

by Ross Miller, eBusiness Specialist
Spring 2003

Now that we have become so dependent on computers in our business, we need to make sure that information is secure. According to the Computer Emergency Response Team/Coordination Center (CERT/CC ® ), there were 82,094 incidents reported last year. Those incidents include viruses or intrusion attempts. Make sure your company is protected from external threats and internal threats.

There are 3 main threats to a small business computer system - fire, viruses, and hackers. Fire and viruses can destroy data very quickly in a computer system. Hackers can also destroy data, but many times will use your systems for other purposes. This can be stealing information, using your network to attack another network, or using your network to provide content on the web.

To develop a protection plan for your business we need to address two issues: recovering lost data and protecting systems.

The best way to recover that data is from tape or CD backups. Backup your data on a daily basis. This will make sure you have up-to-date data to recover from. Many people backup their data and store the tapes or CD-ROM in the same office as the computer. If that building catches on fire, the computer and the backup will probably be lost forever. A solution for this is to have another storage facility outside the office. This could be your house, a safety deposit box at your bank, or some other location. Change that backup for a new version on a regular basis.

If a computer accesses the internet or files from other computers are loaded on it, you need anti-virus software. The 2 most popular are Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee Anti-Virus. Both of these vendors are moving to annual subscription plans for upgrading the software. This is good, because with new viruses being created, the software needs to be updated on a frequent basis. Schedule your software to update its virus definitions at least once a week and run a complete scan of all computer files at least once a week.

For more help on protecting your computer, contact Ross Miller at (309) 677-2992.