Do Small Businesses Need Internet Monitoring Software?

If you base your security strategy on factors such as company size or assets stored on your computer you need to rethink your approach. If you think that no one is interested in your business, think again. Security is a complex subject and no strategy should be decided on a whim. A decision whether you should implement internet monitoring software, or even which package to adopt, should be the taken after a proper cost-benefit analysis. In this post I’ll explain why.

Many of the possible attacks on your your business network aren’t targeted. If one of your employees happens to run into a malware-infected site, the attack would be the result of a random action. Once a browser hits a malware-infected site, the attack will occur regardless of your company size or how valuable your electronic assets are.

Malware creators want to access your systems for various reasons and they use different tactics. One of your employees might be tricked into downloading malware which will effect harmful changes to your computer. Other malware will open backdoor giving full access to the bad guys. Once hackers have control of your systems they can use your infrastructure to send out spam, launch attacks on any target they choose, and also use your infrastructure to infect others. What’s worse is that all these attacks are trackable and can be traced to you and your business.

To fight this modern day scourge, Internet monitoring software is a great tool with many additional benefits. Basic packages provide anti-virus scanning to ensure any software downloaded by your users will be malware- and virus-free. More advanced packages provide advanced antivirus functionality that can detect zero-day and tailor-made malware, and technologies that can detect websites which are malware infected and provide user access control.

If you are still unsure whether it’s worth buying or not, ask yourself the following questions and look at the cost/risk for each one. How long would it take you to clear a malware infection and how expensive will it be? How much will downtime cost your business? If someone were to take full control of your systems, thus potentially spy on anything you do, what data could they steal? Do you process credit cards on these systems? Do you use these computers to logon to sensitive systems such as online banking? When you start factoring in the cost of and risk of attack, it becomes clearer that some form of Internet monitoring software is required to ensure your network’s safety.

At the end of the day, no matter how you decide to mitigate the risks, any control measures you put into place will make it that much harder for an attacker to be successful.

This guest post was provided by Emmanuel Carabott CISSP on behalf of GFI Software Ltd. GFI is the provider for web security solution, GFI WebMonitor: http://www.gfi.com/internet-monitoring-software.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.