April 27, 2020
Sometimes, the threats to your business are easily identifiable. Maybe it's a competitor going after your current clients. It could also be a disruption to your supply chain or vendor accessibility. Perhaps it's a disgruntled ex-employee plotting revenge by means of extortion. When you get down to it, even the employee break room refrigerator can be a threat, though a minor one by comparison.
What these threats have in common is that you might have a little insight into the activities or actions before they happen or at least while they're occurring. You can then respond appropriately, sniffing out the potential for danger and harm and appropriately react. But what happens if the threat is not as easy to identify?
Watch the hot water Linda gets into in this video — when she was simply doing her job.
The Gross Injustice of Malware
That's how savvy and sophisticated today's cybercriminals are. Just ruthless! They have figured out a way to infiltrate your data and render you at their mercy. The word malware refers to malicious software that's written intentionally to wreak havoc, cause damage to devices, pirate data, and leave businesses unsettled.
Regardless of type, all malware follows the same basic pattern: its power begins when an employee or user unknowingly installs or downloads the malware, thus infecting the device. The unwitting action is nearly identical to non-illegal actions, including email prompts, clicking a download link, or following a paid ad to a malicious website. All these tactics also apply to mobile devices.
Who To Trust
There's a flip side to the usual suspects of malware, and that's the potential, overbearing side of mistrust and paralysis when it comes to trusting your IT instinct. Not every company and certainly not every single employee should be tasked with knowing what's legitimate and what poses a threat online. If that potential risk hangs over the heads of an entire staff or even a single department, the effects could be long-lasting and detrimental.
Entrusting your company and employees' online safety and confidence to a dedicated team of specialists lifts the burden from your shoulders and squarely places the entire realm of protection where it's best suited. Managed IT makes that all possible.
Surprises can be fun ... except where malware and old takeout containers are concerned.
