Antivirus management is complex, time consuming, and absolutely essential. Handing it over to a service provider could prove to be the easiest--and safest--option.
The rules of virus management have changed dramatically during the past three years. Even enterprises with a great deal of internal security expertise and generous budgets to tackle the problem have found it hard to protect themselves from an onslaught of virus threats.
Viruses and malicious-code programs are now more frequent and effective in their mission. Malicious-code programs are infecting the enterprise at an unprecedented, rapid-fire rate--often before the antivirus vendor can create an update or before the enterprise can distribute the update to its Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) gateway and desktops. Moreover, most small and medium businesses (SMBs) don’t have the resources of larger enterprises to institute 24x7 internal testing and distribution of new updates.
The means of virus infection is also changing. E-mail systems remain the most dominant method by which enterprises are infected. However, as Nimda and Code Red demonstrated--and as instant messaging vulnerabilities and the advent of Web services portend--Web servers, Web applications, and active content eventually will have to be protected from malicious-code attacks.
The already-strained method of signature-based detection used on desktops, file servers, and at the Internet gateway will not suffice for these newer threats. However, through 2003, e-mail will remain the primary vector for malicious-code infections for most companies.
The antivirus campaign
To keep your company safe from future virus attacks you will need a good antivirus program in place. Buying and installing the appropriate software is not the total solution, instead it is just the beginning. Effective protection comes from the management
of the software.
And of course antivirus software should not be your total solution, there are also firewalls to consider, as well as intrusion detection systems and many other security solutions on offer; antivirus software is just one part of an overall security strategy-- albeit an important and time-consuming part.
The amount of time you should invest in managing your antivirus software will vary from company to company--depending on the size of the organisation, whether you are protecting from the gateway or desktop, or both, and how much of a priority you place on antivirus systems. While some IT managers may spend 10 minutes a week on antivirus management, others will spend two hours a day.
If you are spending more time than you care to admit managing your company’s antivirus protection solution, or if perhaps the security space is getting too complex to handle, outsourcing is an option you shouldn’t overlook.
MY COMP HAS SOME VIRUS IN IT CAN YOU HELP ME