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Webroot Announces Top Four Malware Security Tips

April 2008 by Webroot Software

Webroot has issued a white paper entitled ’How to Protect Business from Malware at the Endpoint and the Perimeter’ that includes four key tips to protect enterprises and SMEs against malware infection.

This objectively written white paper gives businesses the essential
information to help them make informed decisions about their options for
tackling the ever-growing onslaught of malicious content on their
systems. The numbers of malicious programs in circulation have now
reached epidemic proportions with the Webroot(r) Threat Research Centre
identifying almost 5.5 million individual malicious programs during
2007. At its peak the team found 1,000 new variants of existing malware
in just one day.

Based on independent industry research from analyst firms worldwide,
such as IDC and Forrester Research and the expertise of the Webroot
Threat Research Centre in Boulder, Colorado, the white paper identifies
the top four threats to enterprises and SMEs; outlines the criminal
creativity behind malware; provides a glossary of terms used within the
industry and highlights the need for businesses to focus on email
security, as well as drawing attention to regulatory requirements and
recommendations.

The top four tips to protect your business against malware are :

* Be Above Average with Standards: follow best practices provided
by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, the widely
accepted British Standard BS7799 for information security management or
the International Standards Organisation issued ISO/IEC 27001.

* Get an Edge with Technology: maintain up-to-date detection
patterns and software updates of anti-virus and anti-spyware products;
select desktop security software that can be centrally deployed and
managed; maintain current operating system and browser patches to
minimize vulnerability to security exploits; ensure web browsers are set
to at least ’medium’ in the security and privacy settings; do not allow
users to surf the internet while logged on with ’administrator’
privileges to the network; maintain a list of allowable software and/or
executable files and run a weekly scheduled check against PCs in the
network, check results for non-standard entries and take appropriate
actions to remove unapproved programs; consider re-imaging chronically
spyware-infected PCs.

* Block Spam at the Perimeter: if you don’t have internal
expertise, consider a SaaS-based email or web security solution;
configure gateway proxies and firewalls to prevent ’drive by’ downloads,
executable downloads from known spyware sites or PC communication to
known spyware ’phone home’ sites or large numbers of email emanating
from one PC, i.e. Spam; scan files at the perimeter for known spyware
and virus code; maintain strong anti-spam protection with filters to
prevent drive-by attacks, DoS, registry harvesting or network
slow-downs.

* Proactively Educate Employees and Staff: require network users
to agree to an ’Acceptable Use Policy’ indicating unauthorized programs
can be blocked; teach employees and other computer users to understand
that many ’free’ programs and services on the internet install spyware
that drastically slow PCs, install annoying pop ups and steal private
and corporate information; ensure IT support staff are trained to
recognize the less overt spyware symptoms, including very long boot up,
slow and erratic application performance and frequent computer crashes
so that proper remediation can be taken.

Nick Banks, EMEA managing director, Webroot says, "Awareness of the
impact of malware has increased greatly over the past couple of years.
Dealing with spyware, viruses, spam, phishing and Denial of Service
attacks have become part of the average working day within IT
departments. One of the biggest risks in the future is that this
increased familiarity with the problem could breed complacency. We
predict that malware will continue to evolve and become even more
dangerous. It is important for those with a responsibility for the
security of their business to understand the threats. This white paper
will provide them with the necessary information."


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