Cybersecurity - Are you at risk?

Cybersecurity is one of the more recent buzzwords that have gained popularity in the IT industry. The concept of cybersecurity has actually been around for quite some time; however, as a result of a the recent hacking events the focus on that area has been heightened as more people have become aware of what could potentially happen if your system is compromised by an attack. As a result, I've come up with some basic tips and techniques to help prevent attacks for the average home user.

One of the main things I've noticed while assisting friends, family, and others with fixing their computers is that while many people have an existing antivirus program on their computer, many fail to either update them in a timely manner or they simply do not physically run the antivirus to detect threats on the computer. 

First, let's address the problem of not updating the antivirus program. Let's consider the following scenario: The antivirus on your machine hasn't been updated since 10/20/2014), under this scenario your system could potentially be exposed to threats through the internet. In fact, according to a report on Global Threats, Risks, and Vulnerabilities produced by Symantec (www.symantec.com) your system would be vulnerable to 99 viruses that were released after the last update. 

Next, let's address the problem of not physically running the antivirus. Quite often when I initially analyze an infected computer, one thing I notice is that a virus scan has not been performed in quite some time. This is a very dangerous practice because it leaves the machine vulnerable to every virus that was released after the last scan. Consequently, the antivirus can not protect if it's not utilized by the owner of the system. I like to think of it as a security alarm, the alarm can not do it's job if it's not activated. 

In conclusion, cybersecurity has become a major source of concern for many people on the internet today. Almost every week there's a new report of major company that may have been hacked into which would compromise millions of consumer's personal information and data. While there's no fool proof way to prevent becoming a victim to a data attack, there are ways to help minimize the threat. Please see below for a few recommended steps and look for the next blog where I'll be discussing more interesting topics in the area of cybersecurity. 

Recommended steps: 1) If you do not have an antivirus, please get one. There are plenty of free antivirus software solutions available online. 2) Set it to update automatically or update it manually at least every couple of weeks, if not every week. 3)Perform a scan at least once a week. If you do not want this to interrupt your normal computer use, you can set it to run when you're not on the computer.