The 7 Deadly I.T. Sins Delinquent Web Filtering

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We all know that there are some deadly threats to your business out there on the Internet. Businesses used to be protected by simply blocking gambling, pornography and extremist context, but nowadays that’s no longer enough to protect your network from dangerous websites.

Sophos, a network security company, has determined that there are over 40,000 new threats discovered EVERY DAY. They’ve also determined that 80 percent of all web malware is now hosted on legitimate websites that have been compromised. That means that the next time you go to a news or shopping site you could actually be infecting your network with malware.

Because of the sophisticated techniques used by hackers to hide their malware, websites are now being compromised faster than ever before. You could even be infected by visiting a newly hacked website that was safe the day before.

Although it’s difficult to protect against these compromised sites there are some fairly simple things you can do to reduce the likelihood of a malware infection.

  1. Having current antivirus and anti-malware software will usually protect you from infections. And if it can’t prevent the infection, but it will notify you and remove it.
  2. Having a PROPERLY CONFIGURED enterprise grade firewall will keep infections from reaching your computer in the first place and can often “sniff out” dangerous websites before you visit them.
  3. Standardizing your organization’s choice of Internet browsers, applications, and plugins will keep you from being exposed to too many application specific malware infections. Enforce the use of these specific applications and browsers as a policy.
  4. Simple URL filtering to keep users from going to obviously threatening websites.
  5. Make sure web filtering is enabled for both employees within your office and employees working remotely. If a remote worker with a malware infection brings their computer into your office it can potentially infect the entire network, so make sure you have proper protection in place.

And finally, be sure to treat all websites the same. Just because a website is reputable and you’re familiar with it, doesn’t mean it isn’t infected. By staying vigilant and being ever conscious of the growing number of threats you can protect your computers and your network from disastrous infections.