Malware Mucks Up Business

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Each year, businesses are hit with malware infections. Malicious software may damage computers, enable corporate thieves to steal proprietary data or simply slow the network to a crawl. Regardless of the motivation behind malware attacks and infections, large corporations are not the only targets of malicious software. Smaller companies are also affected every year.

Malware Affects Big and Small Businesses Alike

Though 50 percent of all companies affected by malware employ 2500 or more individuals, smaller companies must deal with the problems caused by malicious software, as well. Eighteen percent of companies that are affected by malware employ fewer than 250 people. No matter the size of the company, malware is always a concern.

Malicious software may pose a security threat to companies. Not only are trade secrets and proprietary information at risk, but individuals may also have their identities stolen though malware infected computers. Over 187 million people have had their identities stolen as the result of hacking attacks.

Malware Threatens Productivity Levels

At the very least, loss of productivity may occur due to infected computers rendered inoperable or slow at the workplace. No matter the size of the business, training employees about the cost of malware, as well as how to avoid malware infection, is important. When training employees about mitigating risk of malware infections, it is important to discuss that malware is spread through infected websites that install the malicious software on the computer through the web browser.

Although most malware is spread through webpages, a computer could also be infected via email attachments. During training, be sure to cover that an estimated 1 in 239 emails contain malware in attachments. Train employees to avoid websites that are not work related while on the job. In addition, train employees to never open email attachments unless they know and trust the sender.

Security Awareness Training Can Help Stop a Growing Problem

Malware is a growing problem. Between 2010 and 2011, the incidence of malware increased by nearly 41 percent. Training employees and ensuring that the latest anti-virus sofware is installed on all company machines will help to mitigate the risk of malicious software infecting the company network.

Malware is Everywhere infographic brought to you by Inspired eLearning. Visit their site to learn about security awareness training and more tips for avoiding malware.

Internet Bots, Computer Bots, They can be a Help or Not

Internet bots, also known as web robots, WWW robots or simply bots, are software applications that run automated tasks over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone. The largest use of bots is in web spidering, in which an automated script fetches, analyzes and files information from web servers at many times the speed of a human. Each server can have a file called robots.txt, containing rules for the spidering of that server that the bot is supposed to obey.

A bot is an important thing that a computer uses when on the Internet. A bot is an application that works to run automated activities for maintenance and protection when the user is on the Internet. There are some instances of where bots can be dangerous. So, how can you tell if your computer is bot infected? You can find out when you follow the tips mentioned here.

Image via Wikipedia

How can you tell if your computer is bot infected? You can find out by seeing if your Internet activities have been involuntarily restricted. There are various different types of bots that can be dangerous to a computer. Some bots will cause denial of service attacks to take place. This is where the user who is trying to get it to work cannot access a resource that is on a computer. It will be impossible for you to access certain websites on the Internet. This is one of the main ways of how can you tell if you computer is bot infected.

You can tell if there is a good amount of computer viruses that are found on your computer during a virus scan. Even though a typical antivirus program will update itself often and do automatic scanning and protection, there can be instances where new viruses can sneak onto your computer that are not listed in the definitions that your computer program has. Many malicious bots will have these new viruses on them, so you should especially watch out for these when you are online.

One of the best things to do to find out how can you tell if your computer is bot infected is by checking to see how much spam you are getting in your email account. Bots will be especially effective in creating spam that can be sent to infected computers. This can even affect email servers that have strong spam filters. The reason why these filters will be avoided when bots send spam is that in some cases multiple bots on multiple systems can work together to send different pieces of spam. This takes place through a botnet that can build up when one bot infects a computer and it spreads to other computers.

Image via Wikipedia

Another thing to do is if you live in an area that is near a bot control server. Bots have become a global problem in many countries that have control servers that send bots to other innocent computers. The United States has most of these servers, particularly in the Washington D.C. and Chicago areas. Atlantic Canada, Stockholm and Seoul also have large servers. These are areas that have the highest concern levels.

Are there any products that can help you with understanding about bot infections and that tell you how can you tell if your computer is bot infected? Of course there are. You can check to make sure that your firewall and antivirus programs are fully updated and contain the latest patches. After you update the program, you can run a scan to see if your computer is bot infected.

Prevention is an even more important thing to use though. Having a firewall program is helpful. Protecting personal information that you may be sending online should be used too, as you should only give it to legitimate sites that are trusted. Do not forget to avoid spam emails that may sound like a good deal. This is one of the main ways of how bots can spread onto a computer, and it can indeed be prevented.