Does your company have a policy in place to help protect your systems from a virus infection? If not, MTI recommends implementing one.

Nowadays, employees plug their cameras, cell phones, ipods, flash drives, etc into their PC’s which increases the likelihood of transferring viruses and worms from PC to PC and even onto your network. 

Similarly, social networking sites such as Facebook & Myspace and online game sites have become havens for the spread/infection of viruses and worms.

 How can you prevent this:

• Create a simple company policy plan outlining items that may not be connected to a computer (flash-drives, ipods, cameras, phones etc).
•  Restrict access to certain websites and review browsing history regularly to ensure that harmful sites are not being visited.
•  Ensure all Pc’s have virus, spyware, & malware protection on them and are up-to-date.

Need help creating a company policy? Contact MTI today for assistance.

The Trojan is disguised as a  Apple Mac space invaders game that deletes files from the host system’s hard drive as the price of zapping aliens.

Symantec has created a video of the game’s behavior and posted it on YouTube. In the demo, the game is clearly shown to delete files from the Mac user’s home folder, starting with doc files and moving on to preference files. Each alien “killed” in the game destroys a single file.

Don’t fret, getting the file on to a Mac would require a deliberate act as it is not distributed using any subterfuge, yet. IN other words, you have to download it & play it for your Mac to be infected.  The author of game actually informs people on his website that the game deletes files, however there’s nothing stopping someone with more malicious intentions from modifying it and passing it on to unsuspecting users.

How To Protect Your Mac:

Please make sure that your MAC is protected with a form of malware/spyware protection. Contact MTI for assistance in locating & installing compatible software.

What Is The Difference Between Virus & Spyware Protection?

To understand the difference between virus and spam protection you need to understand the difference between what a virus is and what spyware is.

A virus is a piece of code designed to replicate itself as many times as possible, spreading from your computer to any other computers connected to it .  It is designed to infect and cause harm to your computer without your permission or knowledge.

Spyware is a computer program that imbeds itself into your operating systems.  The purpose of many spyware programs is to track your internet habits and bombard you with unwanted solicitations and advertisements.

As you can see viruses and spyware are two different woes for PC users each requires a separate software program to combat it. 

Firewalls:  A firewall is a software program or hardware device that filters the information coming through the Internet connection into your private network or computer system. Firewalls are customizable, you can add and remove filters to limit or block activity from or to certain websites at any time. Firewalls can also extend security to remote networks/offices.

 Do I need a hardware firewall if I have a software firewall?

 Many PC’s and servers have built in software firewalls; once the attacker hits your software firewall they are already knocking on the door of your PC, a hardware firewall is one step removed (almost like a security screen door and then your front door).

For companies with multiple PC’s and/or servers, a hardware firewall is the best option. It will allow you to set global policies to protect all machines and can be monitored and managed from one centralized location versus monitoring and managing each individual PC/server and firewall in your facility. 

Which Brand Should You Pick?

There are several different brands of firewalls the most common are CISCO, Watchguard  Sonicwall, & Linksys. 

Each brand offers similar protection and has the ability to add service features such monitoring attacks, email alerts and report creation.

If you need assistance with choosing the rightr type of virus and spyware protection for your company, contact MTI today.

A virus is a computer program designed to infect and cause harm to a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner.

Spam is social network nuisance, it is basically an unsolicited commercial advertisement distributed online.  While some spam can be harmful,  the majority of spam is advertising gone array.

As you can see virus and spam are two different woes for PC users each requires a separate software program to combat it.  Virus protection stops viruses, spam protection stops spam.

 The initial Swine Flu Spam campaigns emails sent out by scammers were intended to scare the readers, not necessarily including malicious attachments. Then the spam evolved into money-making schemes, with spammers trying to sell pharmaceuticals, medical devices and PDF’s that contain generic information on the swine flu for $20 to $30.

 The first swine flu e-mail with a malicious attachment surfaced late last week and included a PDF document of Swine Flu Influenza FAQ’s. When a user attempts to open up the PDF file, it drops malware on the local computer by exploiting vulnerability in Adobe. As we all know, malware can infiltrate your system and wreak havoc.

 What can you do to prevent the Swine Flu Spam for infecting your PC?

 Ensuring that you have antivirus software that would detect the threat if it attempted installation is important, and anti-spam software might stop the e-mail from reaching you in the first place. In addition, a patch from Adobe has been available for some time now that fixed the vulnerability in the software.

 Want to make sure you are protected with up-to-date anti virus and Spam software? Contact MTI Tech Solutions today.