Unfortunately there is no universal symptom which indicates that your IT system contains viruses or any other forms of malware.

The fact of the matter is that today’s malicious software code developers are typically extremely skilled and highly-proficient in terms of how they go about their business. In many cases if you have malicious code in your system it may be virtually undetectable other than to sophisticated security software systems and IT experts who know what they are looking for.

As a result, it would be a mistake to think that you can dispense with the costs of security simply because you have no obvious symptoms.

Even so, there may sometimes be a few indications that it might be time to start worrying and to obtain specialist IT technical support and security advice.

1. Your system is running slowly for no obvious reason. It’s important not to panic because in the majority of cases this is probably nothing to do with malicious code but it could be.

2. Your system starts to do things spontaneously. Once again, this isn’t necessarily cause to hit the panic button because many modern systems regularly ‘gooff’ and do things like automatic updates which are perfectly legitimate. Even so, messages appearing on screens for connections to the Internet that you don’t remember requesting may indicate something is amiss.

3. Odd failures to log onto regular websites. Some malicious software monitors the sign on screens of some of your more frequently-accessed websites and can replicate those with a view to capturing your ID and password. So, if you find that you are logging onto websites and nothing happens other than you need to do so again, it might be a warning symptom.

4. You see messages indicating that external parties are connecting to your infrastructure and you don’t know who they are or why they are doing so.

5. You are finding it difficult to access some of your databases and files for no apparent reason. If you find that you are being asked for passwords to do so and advised to contact a third party for further information, the chances are you have a virus of some sort on your PC.

6. If you are experienced enough to look at your system’s monitoring statistics, you may see processes running that mean nothing at all to you. Hopefully all of those will be legitimate parts of your software infrastructure and you can usually check that by doing an Internet search for the process name concerned. If processes are running though that you either can’t track down on the Internet or where the Internet response is that it is a virus, you should call for help immediately.

Do remember though that many malware infections will be entirely asymptomatic.

There is absolutely no substitute for having professional software and professional help to make sure that your installation is secure.

Keep in mind also that distinctions between hackers who operate for the sheer fun of doing so and those who have direct criminal intent are largely theoretical. If you do not keep malicious software out of your organisation, wherever it originates from, then you may find your entire business is at risk.

Article by: Vikas K. Sood

Hurricane Sandy, Black Forrest fire, 6.0 earthquake hits Napa Valley – major catastrophes strike large population centers, business are damaged and even destroyed. Even after these major events, many of which make international news, numerous companies have all of their corporate data in the same building, and, in many cases, the same room.

No matter what the business goal or high level requirements, organizations must take action, intelligent action, to protect critical data. While this may seem like common sense, it’s amazing how often companies fail to perform even the most basic protection.

Nearly every business has a policy in place to cover disaster recovery, a catch all phrase to cover the need to restore data should trouble occur. In reality, disaster recovery is piece of a larger concept that includes high availability and business continuity. All of these concepts revolve around two basic ideas: recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO).

There’s a tradeoff between potential for data loss, duration to recover, and cost. Certain businesses require high availability, the idea of near zero data loss and near zero downtime. Examples include financial industries, healthcare, and most organizations that utilize transactional actions in data processing. In other words, anytime one has a need to trace an action from start to finish there needs to be a way to have near zero data loss and more times than not, no downtime.

Business continuity is a step down on both RPO and RTO from high availability. The idea here is not about instantaneous recovery, it’s about making sure the business can continue to function after catastrophe hits. VMware and similar technologies using redundant infrastructure do a great job of providing business continuity; the key, how this environment is set up and over what distance, if any at all.

Disaster recovery covers both high availability and business continuity. Disaster recovery can also simply include a copy of data that sits on tape or a storage area network. The key here, where does that data reside. Having a copy of the information in the same location as the source data won’t offer protection against nearly every major catastrophe. This “old school mindset” really only protects a business from power outage, data corruption, or system related outages. Does your business implement this simplistic disaster recovery method?

Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast in 2013 and a number of hospitals were directly impacted. One facility, a client at the time, shut their doors after the storm due to massive damage. I recall their data center was in the basement and water rose to the 5th floor; everything in the data center was destroyed. Without offsite data storage, not only would this hospital be out of business, they would have no way to run down their accounts receivable to obtain payment for services rendered.

While working with a global storage provider that was within a couple miles of the most devastating fire in Colorado history, I found out they have zero data protection outside of their server room. If the building burned down, as did so many others during this catastrophe, this company would’ve gone out of business. Data is key, protecting it is fundamental.

The recent 6.0 earthquake in Napa Valley shows the need for not only private industry to understand and implement realistic and attainable disaster recovery, Government must do the same. When certain disasters strike they can impact our infrastructure including gas, electricity, and transportation. Computer systems run large amounts of critical systems including transportation signals, lighting, and gas and electric power to the populace. Without proper disaster recovery with the necessary RPO and RTO in place, a community can suffer major impact. Government cannot only consider physical infrastructure when preparing for disaster, they have to understand the information technology impact as well.

A major impetus in creating this article revolves around the discrepancy between what a business believes they have in place versus what truly exists. So many organizations, often up to and including board of director requirements, create extensive disaster recovery plans. Unfortunately, oftentimes significant variance exists between what the business says they want, and what’s actually in place. Third party audits are critical to help close this gap. Before that audit can occur though, leadership has to know about and acknowledge the gap. Education is key; know there’s a problem and act!