Malware: Viruses, Worms, Spyware etc how do I protect our network? IT, Computer and Corporate Network Advice from Finn Consultants – Bude in Cornwall, Holsworthy in Devon and Exeter in Devon

Most computer users today are aware of Viruses, a virus is a malicious program that infects files on your computer and usually causes some sort of damage or other illegitimate and unwanted action. Viruses are a form of Malware. Malware is software designed for a malicious purpose. They can damage and/or delete files either causing loss of important data or render workstations and/or servers useless: requiring a reinstall and reconfiguration.

Worms are also a form of malware, they were originally engineered to perform legitimate tasks: designed to spread themselves across all network computers. We are concerned with Worms that are designed to perform malicious tasks. MyDoom is an example of a Worm that spreads rapidly across computer networks usually infecting every machine requiring the network to be shutdown until every machine is manually cleaned of the Malware. Some other types of Worm have been used to Blackmail companies threatening to bring their network down.

Worm infections are usually sourced from emails, which may appear be send by a legitimate source, for example a friend, colleague’s or customer’s computer has been infected and the Worm accesses their address book or contact list; emailing copies of itself to everyone in the address book, using the infected party’s email address.

Spyware is a form of malware that can monitor the use of computers and has been known to ‘steal’ sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers. It can monitor the websites accessed and provide this information to another party, it can also access websites either to generate revenue for the creator (slowing down your computer and internet connection) or to download viruses. Usually infections come from unwitting computer users installing a program masquerading as a legitimate program, ironically there are many forms of Spyware pretending to be Anti-Spyware software.

How do I protect my network?

Policy
Finn Consultants recommend that all companies have an Internet and Email Policy informing employees of the rules of using the internet and email, also informing them of risks and how to avoid them. You should ensure that all staff members have read and signed a policy.

Anti-Virus Solution (including Anti-Spyware)
It is surprising how many companies still do not have any Anti-Virus Software or adequate protection. If you do not have up-to-date anti-virus software on all Windows computers on your network, the chances are all unprotected machines will have some or many forms of Malware. This is both dangerous internally (for example loosing data or the machines becoming unusable) and can look unprofessional as it is likely that you may be unwittingly emailing viruses to customers, clients and others.

A multi-tiered solution is recommended which means that every workstation, server and email server has protection. Workstations must scan emails, files and websites accessed for malware. Servers must scan the files accesses by users. Email servers must scan emails stored. Anti-virus must be kept up-to-date usually involving hourly/daily updates and an annual subscription.

Additional protection can be provided by scanning emails and websites at the ‘gateway’ to the network (i.e. between your internet connection(s) and your network); this ensures that these files do not even enter the network. Backdoors to your network must also be secured; these include floppy disk drives, CD/DVD drives and USB/Firewire ports (iPods, PDA’s, MP3 Players etc can all carry malware).

Software Updates
Software vendors such as Microsoft often release free updates for their software to fix vulnerabilities on the computers. With the correct solution these patches can be verified and automatically installed on each machine on the network. Solutions can also be used to alert certain persons should a machine not be adequately up-to-date.

Finn Consultants can advise and provide the correct solution for your company, helping to ensure that your network is free from viruses, worms, spyware and all forms of malware.