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The threats to businesses from damaging computer viruses are greater than ever. One out of every three businesses in the United States learned this during the past year. There is a very good chance that the other two will learn the same lesson next year. Although a comprehensive virus protection initiative is always a hard sell when things are running smoothly, the adage "pay now or pay later" truly applies.
The business risks and the potential financial damage that can result from a virus are great. The first step in a solid virus protection strategy is identifying the risks to your business and the impact they may have. Risks fall into the following categories:
The impact of business interruption alone can result in thousands of dollars in lost productivity. The loss from damaged client relationships, whether from negative publicity or by inadvertantly infecting your clients, can be even greater.
Virus protection needs to be implemented at several points in your network. First, identify all your Internet gateways. This includes email server, web servers and firewalls. By having virus protection at this layer, businesses can trap and block viruses at a limited number of gateways for the entire organization. If you use an ISP and do not manage your own Internet gateway, make sure your provider offers antivirus services. Next, install virus protection software on all servers, desktops and laptops. Although this is the most difficult level to protect, this is where the most damaging attacks can occur.
Once a system is properly installed and configured, maintenance is generally low and consists primarily of keeping virus definition files up to date. Without current definition files, the most comprehensive virus protection plan will become useless in a matter of months. Three quarters of all damaging attacks are from viruses released within the past 3 months. All major virus protection packages include a feature to update the virus definition files automatically from the vendor's web site. Businesses can download the definitions to one server and have each workstation update performed automatically when a user signs on.
All the prevention in the world won't guarantee against a virus infection. However, putting safeguards in place will go a long way to reduce the risk and minimize the impact. The time and effort invested up front will more than pay for itself the next time there is a virus outbreak.
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