Protect your IT against malware!

Who wants some malware?

You don’t have to even search for it, don’t have to pay for it, you just get it for free, automated and always up-to-date… The perfect delivery model is in place.. you will get it, rest assured!

Although there are some drawbacks.. Malware or other threats will probably cost you more than you bargained for, it may cost you – amongst others – your credibility, status, data and a lot of money.

Come to think of it, most people would consider malware to be unwanted in the first place and want to avoid getting it at all, even if it is free!

The point is that malware is big business, it is out there trying to outsmart you. Trying to stuff it through your throat as if you were a goose who needs to be fattening, and later be served for dinner. Since you wouldn’t want to go that risky road, you need to start protecting yourself and hence start protecting your IT against malware.

But what can you do? You are outnumbered by far, so you need to even be smarter than all those whiz kids – or let’s call them for what they really are: criminals – out there trying to enrich themselves at the your expense.

Fortunately there are some best practises they don’t like and implementing those best practices and using the right tools will surely help you.

I can’t promise you will be safe, but let’s give them a fight at least!

The battle is a on!

Let’s think about how they attack, and subsequently, how you get yourself armoured with the right protection layers.

Like warlords we analyse the battlefield; like chess players we think ahead; like men, we stand our grounds and drink a beer or two evaluating our strategies.. and then we start all over again, revisiting every step of the process to make sure we didn’t miss anything and nothing has changed that needs a new strategy…

After all we need to earn that beer!

Security updates and patches

If your armour is not strong enough, you need to patch it up to make it stronger. That is obvious.

Looking at software.. they will find out about any weaknesses and they will surely exploit them, most of the time before you know it.

You can’t keep a secret that is already public. The least you could – sorry, should – do is patch that vulnerability. There is no exception to the rule. And yes, there are (too) many vulnerabilities, so you will need to first learn which vulnerabilities exists, what the risks are, how to mitigate those risks and last but not least, prioritize accordingly.

Our dragon slayers of choice: Flexera (formerly known as Secunia) Corporate Software Inspector (CSI) and GFI Languard! They each have different qualities, different tactics,  but they do an excellent job in protecting you from the dragons out there.

The weakest link

Special delivery, just for you.. open it and you will ‘sleep’ forever. If the homer turns out to be a raven, don’t feed him… and surely don’t accept it’s package but get rid of it unopened.

Be wise my friend!

Having X-Ray vision would help, wearing boxing gloves would make it really hard to open the package. But to make sure you can only open packages from trusted sources wearing the right set of gloves we recommend Thycotic, previous Arellia.

Be slow to the draw

The hand is quicker than the eye. Your senses are tuned to (re-)act on anything that moves.  If they even breath they already have ‘it’. When you are behind your desk, you’ld better aim for a quick and cunning mind and be a little slow to the draw. Clicking a malicious link will open up the door just wide enough for them to slip in unnoticed.

Meet our doorguards that will help you keep the door shut if you accidently unlocked it. GFI WebMonitor, Bitdefender’s Content Control (included in the GravityZone products) and AppRiver’s SecureSurf.

Trouble for free, or free of trouble?

They offer to share their provisions, so you don’t run out. Naturally you refrain, they probably just want to eliminate you. Shouldn’t you be as suspicious regarding all those ‘free’ downloads?

Don’t leave the key under the mat

What’s the use of locking all doors and shutting all windows, if you were to leave the key under the mat? Some keys give access to the shed, others to your home or even your safe. If your locks are insufficient or they have easy access to a skeleton key, they are ‘in’ before you know it. If all your passwords are in tune, only one needs to be compromised. If they can easily guess your password, why not just give it to them or not use a password at all?

With Thycotic Secret Server we help you manage your  keys (secrets) and even change the locks regularly and automatically.

Get yourself a dog

Having a dog or rather a pack of dogs on patrol could help keep them out. Having a few in the house is not only cozy, but there is a preventive aspect too..

They hate dogs.

So, who is still paring on AV-Solutions? Get yourself some top dogs with Bitdefender, Avira Managed Email Security or GFI MailEssentials!

Keep an eye on everything

If you want to be fully aware off everything that is happening on your premises, you’ll need your troops to brief you at regular intervals, so you can make those important decisions.

Your trustworthy trooper is Panorama9!