Most of us have been there. You open up what looks like a seemingly harmless email and click on the attachment only to witness near-immediate file corruptions; and once it hits your company’s server, chaos and terror rain down on your network – all just from opening up one little email attachment. But email is only one way a virus can reach your system. There are actually a multitude of ways they can sneak in and ransack your data. Let’s take a look at a few way you can contract a virus:
1.Accessing the internet with no security in place.
Having no proper security in place before you open up a browser is the best choice you can make if you want to corrupt all your files and have them held ransom by hackers. If you don’t want that, we suggest a firewall.
2.Visiting certain websites.
Sure, you could easily list several different websites that should be avoided at all costs if you don’t want to unleash a viral pest on your network (unknown links, file sharing sites, etc.); but there are plenty of other sites you might think are safe which actually could have some hidden surprises for you. Sites related to social networking, instant messaging, and even common sites you thought were fine (e.g. websites supported by multitudinous posters such as recipe-sharing sites).
3. Encountering a barrage of pop-ups.
Pop-ups are sticky little things. They work by bringing spyware into your system by enticing you to click on links, usually ones that look like a sales pitch or a warning telling you your computer is infected (how ironic). If you get them consistently, it becomes easy to click on a link even accidently.
4. Using external media without scanning it before use.
If it’s not a USB drive or CD that has never been out of your possession, then you don’t know where all it’s been; which means you don’t know what virus could be lurking around inside of it. If it is something that’s never been out of your possession but has been used while browsing the internet, then you still don’t know what viruses could be on there; which means something could sneak into your system without your knowledge. It’s best to stay on the safe side and scan a USB drive and similar technology before use.
5. Downloading infected software from the internet
Anytime you download software from the internet, make sure you’re doing so from a safe site. Even if you’re sure it’s a reliable source, you should still run it through an antivirus program once it has completed the download. Software from unsafe places could contain any number of malicious bugs.
Because viruses are constantly being created and updated, there’s always the chance that one could make its way into your network; but by taking a few simple precautions, you can make those chances minimal. And, of course, having a great IT team there to come to your rescue if something should happen doesn’t hurt either.
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