Long ago, going out and downloading the latest Norton anti-virus was enough. Things were much simpler back then. Anti-virus companies wrote scanning and definition files and kept them updated from time to time. Hacking wasn’t new back then, but it was evolving. Hackers kept within the confines, generally, of the definition files that were known. Anti-virus was pretty effective and it worked for the most part.
It used to be about getting ads in front of you in order to get you to click on them. Then, it was to show you ads and then install a program on your PC that tracked your surfing habits, for marketing purposes.
Fast forward about 15 years and things are WAY different. We have new terms now like 0-day and patient zero, now there’s Phishing and Drive By’s. This is all very complicated, and anti-virus companies have had to get pretty creative with their software to combat these evolving threats.
Having anti-virus installed on just your laptop or workstation just isn’t enough anymore. You need to be thinking about a tiered approach and adding components like anti-malware and a desktop firewall.
I’ve heard many times from customers that they have a firewall and anti-virus and that’s enough. The truth is, that’s not enough given today’s threat landscape. Firewalls are often outdated and setup incorrectly. If they were setup correctly, over time, updates and changes have been made and over time it’s made the device unreliable. Customers should consider a thorough review of their security infrastructure and a review or creation of a IT security policy.
If you would like to request a review of your IT environment or would like more information on CenterGrid’s managed anti-virus and desktop firewall suite, please email us at [email protected].
