Tips to protect your company-organization from virus attacks

Viruses, malware, and worms are sort of computer codes that spread by replicating themselves and create problems in the normal functioning of a system and its connected devices. It is essential to prevent and control the virus from affecting the entire network of an organization which can become a fatal situation. In this blog we will discuss some of the common causes of virus outbreaks in an organization, how to prevent it, and how to address the situation.

How can one protect against virus outbreaks in an organization

Safeguarding a computer from a virus outbreak is the utmost priority of any organization. Installing anti-virus software, efficient firewall installation, and keeping the software up to date are some of the methods that can be followed to protect systems and networks from attacks. Nevertheless, educating the employees and enforcing security policies in an organization is the most important precaution of all. Here are a few steps that can be taken to protect an organization.

Strict security policies:

Employees should never download any documents from the internet. Every document, application, and executable within the organization should be checked for viruses before opening. All systems should be kept clean and not cluttered with unwanted files and applications. Under a doubt discard any suspicious file or document instead of trying.

Check file type:

It is always a good idea to check the type of file you received in the email before opening. File types that are not required for company operations or suspicious-looking like .bat, .vbs, .chm should be reported as spam immediately.

Watch out for double extension:

Malwares disguise as legitimate-looking by placing double extension in their file names like job-offer-letter.txt.vbs or childschool.jpg.chm covering up as a harmless file look.

Policy on hoax messages:

Hoax virus messages can be misleading and an embarrassment for an organization. Company policy should clearly inform employees not to forward virus alerts for any reason, and only a designated staff has permission to notifying virus alerts. Fake alerts can result in waste of time and spoils the reputation of the company.

Installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software:

Antivirus and anti-spyware software monitors the system and identifies threats based on “definitions”. These definitions need to be up to date to protect against new threats that emerge everyday. Recently more sophisticated AV software can even detect suspicious files undocumented in their definitions.

Efficient firewall:

A firewall is the first line of defense that monitors traffic in a network. A firewall prevents unauthorized access to a network by being a barrier between the trusted and the untrusted network. Firewall makes sure employees don’t accidently sent out confidential data or receive malicious files through the network.

Intrusion Detection System (IDS):

An intrusion detection system is very efficient in monitoring the network or system for suspicious activity, policy violations and notifies the administrator immediately.Thus both employees and organizations must be responsible and be aware of the different possibilities of attacks, to protect against virus outbreaks in an organization.

What are the common causes of this problems?

Virus outbreaks are caused in many ways. That being said, carelessness and ignorance of the employees led to the majority of the virus outbreaks in an organization. According to a survey conducted by AV-Test, 114 million new malwares were developed in 2019. Attackers are getting sophisticated and users and employees are not aware of these different types of attacks. These threats make the internet a dangerous place, where stealing Personal identifiable information (PII), financial data, hijacking intellectual properties of the business, using legitimate systems to send spam messages, fake pop-up advertisements, and other criminal activities take place without the knowledge of the host.

Posturing as legitimate-looking websites, links, and files, malicious software can enter a network, attack a system, and keep spreading without the knowledge of the host if not addressed immediately. The various causes of a virus outbreak in an organization are through,

• Legitimate looking email attachments.
• Infested portable drives, like USB flash drives.
• Mobile apps and other third-party software downloads.
• Clicking random links in social media, email, and text messages.

How would you address this troublesome trend?

Malware is out there and there is nothing we can do to stop them, nevertheless, the best we can do is to safeguard our computers and do our best in preventive measures. It is always a good idea to keep all confidential data encrypted and backup all sensitive information in the cloud and be cautious of attacks. Recovery measures for any virus attacks and staying prepared to mitigate and handle the situation need to be formulated. Virus attacks or data breaches can happen just like any other unexpected natural disaster. When organizations handle other people's data, they must be more responsible in storing them.

Sometimes intruders stay in the network undetected and keep stealing data. Apart from relying on anti-virus, IDS, and firewalls for protection, it is also necessary to watch out for the behavior of the system. New pop-up windows or new icons that appear randomly, or when the browser is redirected to an unknown webpage, or when the system crashes and freezes often are clues to suspect that some form of malicious activity is going on. Always update the operating system and the applications used for company processes on time, and also keep the anti-virus software updated and regularly scan the system to remove suspicious files. These simple steps can go a long way in handling malware.