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Why should
I be concerned about security? |
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Any organization
that uses email or has a connection to the Internet is at risk.
There are hundreds of thousands of viruses, worms and Trojan
Horses circulating around the Internet, many of which will destroy
data and even cause permanent damage to servers and workstations.
As well as losing data, IT systems that are infected with viruses
or worms will often be crippled for days, sometimes even weeks.
In some cases the corruption of data can mean a loss of reputation.
It may be bad enough to put a company out of business permanently. |
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I have
anti-virus software, so presumably I’m safe? |
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Not at all. There
are all sorts of other risks – hackers can break into your network
through Internet connections or via Trojan Horses sent via email
or downloaded from the Internet. Then of course there are disgruntled
employees – perhaps staff who bear a grudge or who have been
given their notice; they can cause an enormous amount of damage
to a compromised network. The vast majority of networks – even
those not connected to the Internet – are shockingly vulnerable. |
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Why would
hackers be interested in my company? |
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It used to be
the case that hackers would target large systems - typically
government, military or large corporate sites. These days hackers
are after any unsecured server they can find. Why? So that they
can store their programs on it and use it to launch attacks
on other networks. And because they use automated tools to scan
the Internet for servers which aren’t secured, you are just
as likely to be hit as anyone else. During tests, we connected
an unsecured server to the Internet to see how long it would
take someone to find it. It was probed within sixty seconds. |
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What would
happen if our servers were compromised? |
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Compromised servers
are typically used for launching attacks on other networks.
If this happens, the attack could be traced back to your servers
and you may be held liable for any damage caused to others.
If your mail servers are unsecured, they will be found and used
for relaying junk email (known as “spam”) around the Internet.
At best this will make you very unpopular and cause your mail
server to be blacklisted; at worst this will bring your mail
server to its knees and prevent you from sending or receiving
your own email. We have seen mail servers used so heavily for
relaying spam that the mail server has crashed, and crashed
so badly that it wouldn’t boot up again. If you’re infected
with a worm, you may have to re-install every server and every
workstation from scratch in order to get rid of it. |
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What can
you do for me? |
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We can carry out
security surveys to see how vulnerable your networks and servers
are. We then discuss our findings with you, and identify the
issues that need to be addressed most urgently. We will then
work with you to secure the network and make sure that you are
protected against the most common threats. We supply a wide
range of security products such as anti-virus software, firewalls
and authentication devices to protect your networks and servers. |
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What if I can’t afford
to spend any money on security? |
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You can’t afford
not to. You could lose your data, lose your systems for weeks,
lose your reputation – you could lose your entire business if
you’re unlucky enough to get hacked or catch a nasty virus or
worm. In any case, it doesn’t cost a lot to implement basic
security measures which will protect you from the most common
threats. |
