Computer Viruses and Your Florida Business

Computer viruses spread with the speed of lightening these days. Recently a new virus was found to have attacked nearly 100,000  computers in a couple thousand businesses across the globe – including Florida businesses.

This virus does more than cause erratic behavior on your computer if you happen to have it. The “Kneber botnet,” as it’s known, collects login user name and passwords to financial systems, social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter, as well as email accounts.

Creators of the virus use the stolen information to get into accounts, steal more information and copy personal identities.

Small businesses are especially at risk for computer viruses because usually they are relatively unprotected, and, there isn’t a strict computer policy at most small companies which would eliminate much of what circulates online.

Keeping your Norton, McAfee, or other antivirus programs up to date is crucial. Something else you might mandate for your Florida business is the elimination of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser which is the most targeted piece of software by hackers. Switch to Mozilla’s FireFox, Google’s Chrome, or even OPERA browsers to have less problems than IE.

Most nasty viruses come through email – so ensure your virus scanner checks all emails as they come in.

Ensure nobody in your organization clicks on files on their desktop that look suspicious – this too is another way viruses spread – they drop a file on your desktop that you’re dying to know – what’s in it?

Don’t be fooled – and take your computer security very seriously.

Oh, I almost forgot… are you running Windows XP Pro with service pack 2? That’s the operating system this virus primarily attacks.

Still like XP?