An Ounce of Prevention

Benjamin Franklin said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In the world of business technology prevention takes the form of computer system security in its many forms.

The cure for the consequences of inadequate security can be very costly and in some cases sadly there is no cure. The cost to your business can be very high.

A recent study The Finacial Management of Cyber Risk reports that the cost of a security breach can easily be in the millions.

Let's take a look at the key forms of security that you should have:



1. Data Backup

This is simply the process of copying your key financial, customer and business data onto some other media and taking it off site to a safe place. This can be by tape or disk and taken off site in your pocket or via on-line system. Backups should be done at appropriate levels, daily, weekly, monthly.

2. Intruder Security Protection

This is a system of precautions that protect your data from being stolen by outside intruders, AKA hackers / cyber criminals, or your own staff. It consists of hardware and software that protect your system as well as password, audit and internal procedures that protect your valuable data from employees who may decide to make off with your digital assets.

3. Virus and Malware Prevention

Although not the threat they once were, dangerous and damaging computer programs that can be picked up while using the internet or e-mail are still a serious threat. They call them viruses, malware, spyware and they can really make a mess of your system.

So what is an ounce of prevention vs. a pound of cure?

Well consider this. What would you lose if your customer list was stolen and sold to a competitor? What would you loose if your entire computer system was done for day or two. What would that loss in productivity and business cost you. What would you loose if your accounting data was just destroyed and you had to recreate it from scratch. What would you loose if confidential formula's or business process were revealed.

I would suggest that you would loose quite a lot. The cost of these losses combined with the thousands of dollars to fix your system easily add up to quite a large number of "pounds."

Spending relative "ounces" meaning a few thousand to prevent this is a great investment.

Heather Clancy writing for Microsoft in her article 5 ways to win the PC security battle.

"Yes, as you've doubtless heard umpteen times, even the smallest business is vulnerable to a PC or network security breach. But you can find some peace of mind simply by taking some preventive measures. Better yet, by taking action before an incident occurs."


We think this is good advice and would like to give you some peace of mind. To discuss your security concerns contact Peter Conway at Net@Work today, 212-997-5200 ext 4333 or pconway@netatwork.com