Defending Against Malicious Software

Be Strong in These 3 Areas

by Tony Rushin

To get and stay healthy – as a human being –there isn’t just 1 thing we need to do.  There are 3 areas to pay attention to on a consistent basis: diet, sleep, and exercise.

In a similar way, to get and stay healthy – as a computer – there isn’t just 1 thing we need to do.  There are 3 areas to pay attention to on a consistent basis: infrastructure, antivirus software and updates.

Infrastructure: Mainly Firewall and Spam Filter.  Even for a small law firm it is wise to keep these as separate components for 2 main reasons: 1) you can tune and adjust them separately and 2) when there’s a problem you can troubleshoot, isolate and fix more effectively.

Antivirus Software:  This is the software, loaded on your firm’s server and desktops/laptops, that guards against and helps remove the Big 4 of Malicious Software I wrote about last week: viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware.

Regular Updates:  The bad guys are smart and they are always working hard to get at your sensitive information.  That’s why you need to download and apply software updates – sometimes called patches – on a regular basis.  What needs to be updated?  Here’s a partial list: firewall, router, spam filter, server OS, desktop OS, AV software, browser, applications, and utilities.

In my next 3 blogs I’ll provide some helpful hints for each of these areas.  In the meantime, “let’s be careful out there”!

This is the 9^th of 23 blogs I’m writing to celebrate the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators’ 23^rd annual Business Partner Expo.  This year the Business Partner Expo will be held from 3:00 – 6:30 pm on August 17^th at the Cobb Galleria.  Over 150 legal administrators and their guests are expected to be on hand learning about the latest technologies, finding solutions to business issues, uncovering emerging trends and developing valuable partnerships to help their law firms.  Already an AALA member?  I’ll see you there!  Not an AALA member?  Give me a call at 404.943.0800 x133 to discuss how you might be able to attend as a guest!