The first reason that often comes to mind is a computer virus. Once one computer in the network is infected it's a very slow business day, week, or month all around and in some cases an extremely expensive problem to fix. Many businesses have established policies in order to minimize these risks. If your business does not have a security protocol in place for not only preventing viruses but also handling the aftermath of viruses, it is time to talk with your IT department or contact an IT specialist from outside the company in order to establish protocols and procedures to combat the risks that viruses pose to productivity and the valuable information held within your companies computer systems.
Regular back ups of the computer systems is another issue that many people do not consider when it comes to the security of computers for their businesses. However, stuff happens. Hard drives crash and servers die horrific yet spectacular deaths. The unfortunate truth is that these things never happen at opportune times (because there is never a good time for the computers of any business to go down). The lag time however can be greatly reduced if a business creates daily backups of all computer systems. This can be done in a matter of minutes each day and can save months of work trying to retrieve the information should the unthinkable happen. It is well worth the costs and time involved to back up your computers each and every day as part of your company's security routine.
Visitors. Most businesses have venders and clients in and out all the time. Many of these visitors have laptop computers and need Internet access. Rather than allowing these visitors computers to have access to the information that your business allows to employees it is best to have an external Internet source for visiting computers that is completely separate from the network shared by employees. While it would be wonderful if we lived in a world in which we could trust visitors but the truth is we can't. Not only are visitors not above sabotaging the competition they are also not above trying to steal your secrets as well as the new products that are in the pipelines. For this reason it is wise to pay the price for having an internal network and an external network for your business.
Remote access. This is something that many companies offer employees as a way of allowing them to work from home on occasion during family emergencies and even after hours. Many employees see this is a perk and more and more businesses are allowing this sort of access. The problem is that not all employees are as security conscious, as they should be. Discuss with the IT experts in your company or those you consult how to minimize the risks involved in providing this 'perk' to employees. There are ways that can be incorporated that limit the access to information that individual employees have while working remotely that still allow them to access the files that are relevant to their specific tasks and responsibilities with a password or code. Find out what will suit the security needs of your company best and implement that system.
The information age poses new risks for businesses at every turn in order to make up for the added conveniences. Be sure that your business takes the necessary steps to insure maximum security when it comes to the computers that make life so much easier.
Computer Security for Teens at Home
We live in a world that is increasingly dependent upon computers and the Internet in order to achieve even the most modest of tasks that once would have taken a drive to the library. This drive to the library could have taken anywhere from a matter of minutes and a cursory glance through the card catalog or hours spent sifting through dusty shelves and outdated collections of books in order to find relevant information to the topic being researched.
Unfortunately, the clear advantages of the information age, such as ready access to information twenty four hours a day seven days a week with just the click of a few keys is also proving to be a logistical nightmare when it comes to safeguarding the security of homes and businesses around the world. There is so much information floating around in cyberspace and we unwittingly contribute even more information each and every time we enter a phone number, address, or bank account number into our computers. The problem is that we often need to enter these things in order to get the information or merchandise we require from our computers.
To safeguard your children from Internet predators and material that simply isn't appropriate for their viewing needs enable parental controls on the computer. Your children may protest but a few hours of their complaints is well worth the peace of mind you have knowing that nothing should be getting through that you don't want them to view. This will result in some uproarious moments as favorite websites may be tagged for ridiculous reasons you'll have to take those on a case-by-case basis and decide whether or not you want to allow your children access to these sites that are often tagged with no real reason or inappropriateness. No system is perfect but doing nothing would be far worse.
Another thing you should do in order to more closely monitor their Internet activity is keep the computer in a centralized area in the home rather than allowing them to bring computers into the privacy of their bedrooms where they are unobserved. You should also keep in mind that even the best and brightest among us are quite likely to be outshone by our children when it comes to computer savvy. Do not trust that minimal efforts will net the big results you are hoping to achieve.
Discuss proper online safety procedures with your children, especially your teens. Remind them of these things on a regular basis and drill it into them. Safety is the most important thing when having discussions online, in chat rooms, or even in weblogs and websites. It is amazing how much information is accidentally given away through conversations that would never have been given away if direct questions had been asked in order to get that information.
For this reason it is even more important that you stress the urgency of secrecy on the Internet. Team names, practice times, school names, and sports participation should be kept to a minimum on the Internet as all of these things can be used in order to isolate and identify your teen. Photos should also be limited in all honesty, particularly those in cheerleading or ball team uniforms that can easily be used to identify location as well as those that include car tags and other relevant information that is identifying in nature. While this may seem harsh to your teen it is much better to be harsh with them than go through the heartache and uncertainty of a missing teen or worse because of Internet predators.
The safety of your teen is the most important thing you can protect on your home computer and if you do not make him or her aware of the risks he or she will not take those risks seriously. Part of home security is protecting your family members from themselves as much as it is to protect them from the world outside.
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