Photo: Jon Snyder/
Wired.com
One in six SMBs
(17%)
reported having experienced a security breach in the past year. Results of breaches ranged from
computers
slowing down to losing access to files or programs.
The evolving business landscape is further illustrated in AVG’s recent Cybercrime Futures report. In highlighting emerging risks the study recommends that businesses:
• Treat online security the same way they treat corporate governance and brand protection, and make it a boardroom issue. This is not just a technology debate • Protect, and keep protection updated for all computers and mobile computing devices that are brought in or taken home by staff,
contractors, clients
and visitors • Promote strong password management, with password and username combinations that are not easy to guess and which include a combination of letters and numbers
To help businesses keep safe from potential exposures, AVG has produced its Common Sense Guide to Working on the Move offering executives the following 10 usage guidelines:
5. If you have to use a “public” (or kiosk) computer, then make sure you never access your online banking details, make electronic purchases or enter ANY personally identifiable
10. Most important of all, make sure that you have a fully updated anti-virus suite installed and fully operational on your PC at all times.
1. Count the items you take out of your bag on public transport – and count them back in.
2. Think about where you are sitting and whether anyone can look at your screen.
3. Beware of ‘free’ Wi-Fi, unless branded by the business you’re currently patronizing. If you don’t know where your connection comes from, then you don’t know what you are connecting to.
4. Shut down Bluetooth in public to guard against Bluejacking or Bluesnarfing.
information.
6. Enable filters and other on-board protection barriers for Internet-connected smartphones.
7. Don’t ask a stranger to “look after” your laptop while you use the restroom or go to the bar in a web café. 8. Use password protection on your laptops and smartphones.
9. Make a note of your smartphone manufacturer’s emergency phone line so you can call them to have your phone immobilized in the event of a loss.
In conclusion the trend is for today’s executives to access e-mail and other proprietary data from more than one device. The risks of not securing them properly are very real. If malware on a mobile device is allowed to remain undetected by users, criminals can gain access to trade secrets, launch plans, operational literature, market strategies and a host of other confidential corporate data. As the report shows the cost in terms of time and expense associated with cleaning these up is often substantial.
About the survey. *Survey conducted by GfK of 1000 UK & US SMBs in August 2011. Download the full report here.
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