Published:
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Don't let 'scareware' cripple your business
By Katy Brown
Northwest General Manager, Microsoft Corp.
In the Digital Era, Shakespeare might have written, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our software but in ourselves.” Indeed, the way computer users respond to fake warnings from malicious software — often called “scareware” — can lead to a tragedy of lost dollars and lost data.
Scareware usually takes the form of a phony antivirus alert. A window pops up with a bold, red, official-looking warning that your computer has been infected with a large number of nonexistent viruses, and it advises you to pay for the “full version” of the software to remove the threats. While scammers go to great lengths to make these alerts appear legitimate, they are designed solely to steal your credit card information and identity and to access all the information on your computer.
Microsoft found that, during the last six months of 2011, some 52 million computers in the U.S. were infected with scareware. Another Microsoft report notes that the havoc-causing Conficker worm has been detected 220 million times worldwide over the past two and a half years.
Whatever the scary-sounding intruder, it can be stopped if your business follows some basic security steps, augmented with common-sense actions. Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report notes, for instance, that 92 percent of Conficker infections were a result of weak or stolen passwords, and 8 percent exploited vulnerabilities for which a security update exists. So more often than not, the fault is in ourselves — our failure to download security updates or our lack of skepticism about messages that try to scare us.
How, then, can you tell if your computer really has been infected, or some hacker is simply trying to scare you into revealing your password or sending him money? Watch first for any of four signs of a scareware infection:
• Your computer is running much more slowly than usual.
• When you try to visit legitimate antivirus websites on the Internet, you're unable to get to them.
• You're seeing a large number of pop-up windows with false or misleading alerts.
• The antivirus software you recently downloaded is trying to lure you into upgrading to a paid version of the program.
How can you ward off malicious invaders in your computer? Here are seven important actions that every computer user should take.
• Install a firewall and keep it turned on. Microsoft Windows comes with a built-in firewall that you can use for free.
• Use automatic updating to keep your operating system and software up to date. If you're not receiving automatic update requests, you can go to the Windows control panel to turn on this feature.
• Install antivirus software from a company that you know and trust, and keep it up to date. You can download Microsoft Security Essentials from www.microsoft.com for free as one option.
• Use strong passwords, and educate employees on their importance. It's a good idea to use a password that includes upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. Never use only a word that can be found in the dictionary.
• Be cautious about clicking links in emails or on social networking websites. Hackers can assign any address name to a link, but the code behind it may take you elsewhere.
• Invest in newer software products that are built with a higher quality of protection against viruses and other “malware.”
• Consider using the cloud as a business resource. Instead of buying and maintaining potentially vulnerable servers and networking devices in your office, you can use cloud-based technology at a host data center that offers the highest available levels of protection for your data.
Don't unwittingly brew up a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions for your company. Make sure you are using legitimate software and updates and have armed your employees with the knowledge they need to keep their digital kingdom safe and happy.
For more information on how to keep your business secure, go to www.microsoft.com/security. Katy Brown is general manager for Microsoft's Enterprise and Partners Group Northwest District, responsible for directing sales, services and partner efforts in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho and Alaska.
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