Hello, James Brown here, welcome to my first blog post. I’m the newest team member at JamesCash.co.uk, having been here for only a year, although I’ve been in the industry for a while. I’m usually the first point of contact for people who call the office and as such I encounter the whole spectrum of IT issues.
I intend to use this blog spot to highlight common issues facing small business computer users today and where possible provide practical advice and guidance. Where better to begin than the murky world of computer viruses. . .
With the “Conficker” virus in the headlines at the moment, creating panic in the industry, and all the different terminology used such as malware, spyware, trojans, phishing etc, it’s very easy for the average small business computer user to be overwhelmed.
Historically a computer virus would arrive on your machine through a floppy disk or CD, and cause some very obvious and unwelcome things to occur, such as deleting files. The virus creator’s aim was notoriety and fame, and the risk of infection was low.
Now nearly all machines are connected to the internet. This has made it much easier for viruses to travel between computers and has lead to a new kind of threat which the industry is calling “crimeware”. Programs written to make money which collect your personal data such as address, phone number and credit card details and send them across the net. The programs don’t make it obvious they are on your machine so you don’t realise there is a problem, and the longer they are there the more likely they are to get your information.
There are some simple things that we can all do to reduce the risk.
- Have a working and up to date anti-virus program. All of our clients using our IT support service have this, managed by us to make sure it is working 24×7.
- Make sure your computer is up to date with the latest patches. Again all of our clients have this done for them, but non-clients should visit the Windows Update website and follow the instructions.
- Don’t open email attachments or go to websites that you do not trust 100%. Recently a lot of computers were infected by users opening an email appearing to be from UPS ,which had a virus contained in an attachment, and last year the American super bowl website was hacked leading to millions of machines getting infected.
The people creating these viruses are clever, but with vigilance and common sense we can significantly cut down the risk. If you have any questions about this feel free to email me on jamesb@jamescash.co.uk or call on 01384 880660.
by James Brown
No related posts.