By Vernadette T. Joven
December 1, 2007

Keeping one’s information safe is the topmost concern of individuals and companies today as the battle against various security threats continues. Everyday, new virus and malware are created and discovered, and with technological advancement, online networks have become more complex and more vulnerable.

During the recent Computerworld Philippines Executive Briefing entitled “Protecting Your Information,” experts from Symantec, Ray Ventures Inc., and Trend Labs shared their knowledge and gave advice on how to secure and protect corporate data and network communications.

According to Richard Velasco of Symantec, since IT Security is among the top concern of every business—from small to large—there must be pervasiveness of connectivity between the infrastructure, information, and network interaction— covering all areas from end point, database to network. “Companies must be well aware of the tools that they are using and must be knowledgeable with the policies (governing IT security).”

Choosing Data Back-up

Randall Lozano of Ray Ventures Inc. relates that software corruption, virus, theft, hardware destruction and failure, human error and lack of back-up practices contribute to the rising incidence of data loss everyday. He says that with growing digital data and continuous online activities, it is best to keep in mind some technology considerations when looking for the right back-up solution that will keep data safe.

First, the product should be simple to use and should not require technical expertise to do the back-up procedure. The application should be completely automatic and should not slow down the system while doing the back-up process. The product must also be affordable and must offer unlimited space.

“The reality is you have to do back-up and your data must be clean; so the gateway and the data in your desktop must be secured. You must have a unified threat management system, like a firewall, which serves as an all-in-one protection and a strong exchange server,” Lozano explains.

When searching for a technology provider, Lozano recommends choosing one that has a highly-scalable infrastructure that is designed for any type of user. The vendor should have at least three years head start in online back-up technology and should have a patent for the technology. Lozano also advises business enterprises to have their back-up offsite, and should not settle for external hard disk and thumb drives because they are not enough to hold all data.

Safe Computing Practices

For Ryan Flores of Trend Labs, a subsidiary company of Trend Micro, the challenge with data security is that the current infection models used by malware require protection from different channels; therefore file base detection is no longer the optimal solution. The best solution, according to Flores, is to have a suite containing anti-virus, anti-spam, and Web blocking capabilities, in other words, the best-of-breed.

“Make sure that all systems and applications are updated with the latest security patches or updated to the latest version; create and enforce policies prohibiting or minimizing the use of personal removable storage devices, browsing of non-work related Web sites and installation of unauthorized or non-work related program,” Flores shares.

He cites a checklist that will serve as guide in keeping data protected and clean. First, he says, educate users regarding safe computing practices, such as: do not double click on unsolicited email attachment or do not visit unsolicited email messages.

For messenger platforms, Flores says users should always verify if someone is intentionally sending a link. “Browse only trusted sites and use Google when searching because it is the only search engine that has a security tie-up with Harvard’s automated system which can check malicious sites,” he says. Lastly, he highly recommends investing in an anti-virus software suite that would fit the budget and business requirements.

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• Pacing with Security Evolution
• More Threats Yet to Come

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