| Knock Knock.
Someone's
at your door. If you kept your door open, would anyone knock? Ring the
Bell? Or just walk in? Chances are if the visitor is up to no good, they
will just come in and do whatever - take money, jewelry, and any other
valuables they find.
It's the
same thing with your computer system or network. If you leave the door
open, the bad guys will just walk in and help themselves to any valuables
you've left around on your drive.
The usual
excuse I hear about protecting your electronic information from small and
mid size companies is: 'I'm too small. No one will bother me.'.
That is
the worst excuse for not protecting yourself. No one is too small. Not
a single workstation.
In your
town and surrounding areas, you generally know what areas are more affluent
than others. Even if you don't see the bank statements, you can certainly
see the huge homes with manicured lawns, pools, tennis courts, expensive
cars and more. Online, your address is an IP number, with no affluence
or poverty attached.
Hackers,
particularly script kiddies will just 'walk in', take a look around to
see if there are any valuables. Or they may install a trojan and setup
your machine(s) as a zombie which has great value in sending spam and more
trojans to create more zombies.
Do you store
personal information? Business information? Financial information? These
bits are just what the bad guys want to find and steal.
As always,
hackers go for the easier places to break in first, just like a thief in
a house.
The internet
has become increasingly dangerous, not lust locally, but globally. The
bad guys can be anyplace in the world. Often, even if you can find traces
of them (usually you cannot), they may be in a place where you cannot prosecute.
You have
a problem.
No protection
is perfect. Layers and layers of protection work the best. Faster than
methods of prevention are developed, there are new methods of entrance.
Protect
yourself before it's too late.
Talk to
your computer professional about the steps to take easily and at low cost.
Thiink of it as an insurance policy. If you don't take the right steps,
you could be liable.
Close the
door. |
