Online security and knowing what risks you should be looking out for isn’t the easiest thing to decide on or keep on top of. It’s important for both work and home devices that you make sure your security layers are up to date and working, but knowing exactly what you need and what to install can be scary stuff.
We want to help you with that, so this week we are taking it back to basics and will be focusing on Antivirus.
What is Antivirus?
Antivirus, sometimes referred to as endpoint security, is normally a piece of software that you can install on your device, that will provide defence against hacking and data corruption. It will run in the background scanning for suspicious activity when searching the web or downloading files.
Although this is a must have when it comes to security, it’s actually your last line of defence when all other avenues have been breached. Although that sounds scary, it’s really not. We strongly believe and recommend to our clients that security should be multi-layered, for that exact reason. Even though you can never guarantee 100% safety of your device, having multi-layered security gives you the best possible chances.
What should I look for in an antivirus product?
There is always a worry that you will download the wrong thing, or perhaps something that isn’t quite going to do the job you need. What should you be looking for? We recommend 3 key things:
Easy to deploy
Antivirus should not take being a rocket scientist to run or update. Essentially you want something that you can use in a few clicks, in the knowledge that it’s doing its job well. It should have real time scanners which will be running continuously in the background when you are using the device checking every file accessed for threats, as well as on demand scanning options that will periodically check files for malware even if they haven’t been opened in a while.
Unfortunately, without extensive knowledge of each individual company’s needs we aren’t able to advise you on which one to get as what’s best for one company may not be true for another.
It’s worth doing your research if you are planning on DIY-ing your IT or get in touch with an IT provider to help.
Easy to monitor
It should also be easy for you to monitor and get alerted to any suspicious activity. Notifications and alerts should be clear and easy to find should there be a problem, and you should be able to go into the software program to see when the latest scan was performed and what (if anything) it found.
What should my Antivirus include?
Every good antivirus should include the following:
- Web security – Monitoring your activity on the internet so that it can detect potentially harmful web pages and files.
- File scanning – For when downloading or opening files from unknown sources, checking there are no sneaky malware ninjas hiding within.
- Anti-malware – Something that will scan, find and remove malware from your device
- Firewall – a digital wall that prevents ‘traffic’ from entering your device without permission. This will not affect your usage but helps to protect you against external threats from public networks.
Most well known good antivirus companies have all of these things and will also update the software automatically without much manual input from you. Subscriptions are normally yearly, and packages can be chosen based on what it is you are looking for in a product.
We hope that helps you to understand the basics of Antivirus. Should your company need further assistance or if you want to talk through the options we have here are Crosstek, get in touch with us today.
