Most businesses rely on computers for their daily operation. Loss of information or damage to information stored on computers could mean serious losses for a business in terms of time and money. A business without proper protection might not even survive. This guide offers some practical steps for safeguarding computers, and backing up information and software stored on them.
To start planning for the security of all the information and software stored in your business, imagine the worst that could happen. Supposing:
- A virus irretrievably corrupted all the information on every computer
- A fire or earthquake destroyed everything
- All the computers were stolen.
How quickly could you get your business up and running again using new or leased computers? This guide offers some practical steps you can take to minimise the risk to your business.
What is a virus?
A virus is a piece of software designed to infiltrate your computer system. The challenge for the virus originator is to penetrate your defences, and for this reason new and more effective viruses are constantly emerging.
Common virus types
Many viruses are comparatively harmless and easy to eliminate. Others, however, are more malicious, and can seriously corrupt the information on your computer.
Worse, some viruses known as Worms are designed to spread from your computer, to repeat the damage in other computers. The virus typically replicates itself through the addresses it finds in your email address book.
A Logic Bomb virus sits in the computer until it is triggered by a certain date (such as Friday 13th) or a particular series of keystrokes. A Trojan Horse is a malicious virus that gains entry to your computer by pretending to be benign, then causes unexpected results.
A Macro virus targets the macro features in popular programs such as Microsoft Word or Excel.
How computers are infected
Identifying the ways in which computers can be infected is the first step towards defence. The three main ways are:
- Through your Internet connection. Emails are the most common form of virus infection. Infected emails typically try to entice you to open attachments containing revealing photos, or jokes, or ‘hot’ news items, or moneymaking secrets, or come disguised as emails from friends. Viruses can also be acquired from software and files downloaded via the Internet
- Through sharing files or data, such as floppy disks, CD-ROMs or software which may contain viruses
- Through another infected computer on the same office network.