An antivirus program is critical to keeping your computer safer from cyber threats, including viruses, malware, spyware, and everything else you can run into online.  Your computer is probably an important part of your life. Besides using it for entertainment and to stay connected, many also use their computers for business. The bottom line is that you need your computer functioning properly, and you don’t want cybercriminals stealing your information. Before you make your decision on how you’ll protect your computer, you should learn about the disadvantages of a free antivirus program.

Is Free Antivirus Worth it?

While free antivirus is better than nothing, it does not offer the best protection. Most of the time, free antivirus will cover the most known computer viruses. However, it will not protect you against much else. Because computer viruses are constantly evolving, employing only the most basic level of protection may leave you vulnerable to dangerous threats that could steal your sensitive information. So a free antivirus is better than no antivirus, but your goal should be to download the most top-notch software on the market.

What is the Difference Between Free and Paid Antivirus?

The main difference between free antivirus and paid antivirus is their level of protection. While you may get the basic protection from free antivirus that will cover the most common threats, free antivirus will not protect you from more advanced threats.

Additionally, you may only get to have one device covered with free antivirus. While some people only need one device covered, this may not be the best option for larger families or individuals who need to protect multiple devices. With paid antivirus, however, you will likely be able to cover more than one device.

Finally, you do have more control and features with a paid antivirus. With basic protection, you automatically get the few features provided. But with a paid version, you have more control over your private data and sensitive online activities, such as finances and passwords.

Advantages of Paid Antivirus

Virus Protection
The viruses will not only cause damages to your data, it also degrades the overall system performance. All of them can happen without your knowledge. The antivirus software installed on your computer detects and removes these malwares before they cause any harms to your computer.

Spyware Protection
Spyware as the name suggests is a kind of malware that spies on your computer stealing all the confidential information’s. These details also include credit card details, passwords, and other financial data. This ultimately leads to identity theft. The antivirus software has the capability to prevent these kinds of spyware attacks.

Web Protection
While surfing the internet, users can come across various other forms of threats. In an untrustworthy site, cyber attackers can gather your credit card and bank account details. One of the ways to overcome this is by using an antivirus software. Using antivirus program, you can protect your valuable information’s while surfing the web.

Spam Protection
Viruses can also enter your computer through means of spam emails and ads. These emails and ads can show up many times even if you have no interest in it. Once the virus finds the way to sneak into your PC it causes irreversible damages. An Antivirus works by the way of blocking these spam emails and ads.

Firewall Feature
Most antivirus programs include a firewall feature in them. Antivirus program with firewall feature ensures 2-way protection to your PC. This means that whatever the information that is sent or received will be double checked here. Therefore, no hackers can dig any personal information’s from your system.

Cost Effective
Even though there are many premium versions of antivirus programs for a monthly/yearly subscription fee, there are some antivirus programs those are completely free of charge. These kinds of antivirus programs offer almost the same level of protection provided by the subscription based. Even if you choose to afford a premium version, they are relatively inexpensive.

Disadvantage of Free Antivirus

Lack of Complete Virus Protection
Free antivirus isn’t the best choice when you want to protect your computer completely. You should not rely entirely on your free antivirus, especially when you’re visiting unknown or dangerous websites. Downloading unrecognized or unknown programs for your computer also compromise security as free antivirus can only detect common viruses. New trojans, spyware, and worms are being released every single day, and free antiviruses cannot detect specific viruses that are strong enough to bypass regular antivirus security checks. Free antivirus just scans limited and typical viruses, which can cause an inconvenient situation if it were to happen.

Frequent Advertisements
Apart from premium versions of antivirus programs, through some means the free antivirus software’s needs to generate an income. Advertising is one of the ways to achieve them. Many at times these advertisements degrade user experience by showing up every time.

Slower Scanning
Although the quality of the scanning process is usually more or less equal to services, offered by paid tools, the free software limits the speed of the process. To encourage users to purchase a free version, developers implement a slower detection process. However, since most of the scanning is done in the background mode, this disadvantage is not a dealbreaker.

Conclusion

When considering all the pros and cons, there are clear advantages to both free and paid for packages. With free you get a virus protection system that will ensure that your PC or laptop remains clear of virus’s that may damage your system or compromise your private data.  It is effective and, of course, free.With the paid option, you will benefit from all the advantages of the free system, plus many additions, such as firewall protection, performance enhancing software and anti-spyware, to name but a few.

It depends on what you want from your virus protection system. However, it is always worth discussing it with an expert who can advise you, based on your computer system and what you feel are the most important features dependent on your internet usage. Contact Us!!!

When it comes to improving security measures and boosting overall awareness for monitoring, CCTV comes in picture. Having a reliable network of security cameras around your property helps make sure everything is in order. In other cases, it can provide video evidence to find out what really happened in any event.

CCTV camera systems can be installed in both private and public properties. Although these tools have many benefits, they also come with some disadvantages.

Let us discuss key reasons why you have to install a CCTV system in your premises.

Deter Theft

When security cameras are properly placed around your property, they will cover every inch. When security cameras cover your building, they will be visible to anyone walking by, especially those inspecting your property. Individuals that are planning on stealing from you will see the security cameras and fear getting caught.

Potential thieves that plan out their crimes will choose a building without security cameras, and individuals who decide to steal in the moment will see the cameras and decide not to steal. When potential thieves see your security cameras, they will decide not to steal from you for fear of getting caught.

Document Crime

If a theft takes place, security cameras are the best way to ensure that the police catch the thief. Security cameras will capture the crime on video, creating evidence that can be presented to the police later. When the police have a video of the crime taking place, it is much more likely that the criminal will be caught.

Documenting these crimes will ensure that any thief is caught, making other thieves less likely to commit crimes on your property in the future. If a theft occurs on your property, security cameras are the best way to ensure that the thief is caught and suffers consequences.

Tracks all workplace activity

How much time are your employees or workers spending time away from their dedicated workplace? Face detection technology along with CCTV devices can be used to track the movement of employees during working hours. With more employees now working from home, time-tracking and attendance systems enable actual tracking of work hours put in by workers and keeps projects on track. As a business owner or manager, you can use video surveillance in your workplace to ensure that all employees are following your business policies and guidelines.

Monitors activities

CCTV systems keep track of what is happening at the premises where they are installed. By monitoring the activity of workers and visitors at your business’ site, you and your workforce can have total peace of mind about exactly what is going on under your roof.

Enables remote monitoring

As a business leader, you cannot be always physically present on your office premises. However, that does not mean that you cannot know what is happening in the office. Thanks to the internet and camera-enabled remote monitoring technology, you can now monitor your office or any commercial property from the comfort of your home or remote location. In the event of any unusual or suspicious activity, the remote monitoring system sends an automated alert to you or any concerned authority.

Keep records

It is always a good idea to keep records of when your staff are coming into and checking out of your site, as well as when deliveries are made or visitors enter the building, so you can ensure everything’s running smoothly.

There are many further reasons why CCTV really is an advantageous installation for any business premises, so why not consider getting cameras installed at your premises and give yourself and your staff total peace of mind  when it comes to the safety.

Firewall is a network security device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and decides whether to allow or block specific traffic based on a defined set of security rules. Firewalls establish a barrier between secured and controlled internal networks that can be trusted and untrusted outside networks, such as the Internet. A firewall can be hardware, software, or both.

When You Need a Firewall

You might be thinking: why firewall is necessary? Do I actually need one? Yes, a firewall is required for any machine that connects to the Internet. Not just your computer, but your web server, phone, IoT devices, or anything you can think of that has the ability to use the internet. An unprotected device can be hacked easily. This could give hackers the ability to take over your computer, install whatever they want, monitor as you enter sensitive information like bank credentials, or even look through your webcam/camera, and listen through your microphone.  In the case of a web server, if a hacker manages to get through, they could deface your website, embed malware that infects your visitors, change your  login credentials, or take down your site entirely.

Below are the few Benefits of Firewall

Understanding the benefits of firewall security is the first step in helping your business grow safely in the ever-changing digital age. Even if your business only relies on technology and networks for a small piece of your operations, it is still equally important that you take proactive steps to keep things protected. Firewalls serve as a first line of defense to external threats, malware, and hackers trying to gain access to your data and systems.

Preventing Malicious Traffic

A major responsibility of a firewall is to monitor the traffic passing through it. Whatever the information traveling through a network is in the form of packets. Firewall inspects each of these packets for any hazardous threats. If any chance the firewall happens to find them it will immediately block them.

Blocks Trojans

Malwares especially the type Trojans are dangerous to a user. A Trojan silently sits on your computer spying over all the works you do with it. Whatever the information they gather will be sent to a web server. Obviously, you will not know their presence until the strange behaviors of your computer. A firewall in this instance will immediately block Trojans before they cause any damages to your system.

Prevent Hackers

Hackers on the internet constantly look for computers for carrying out their illegal activities. When the hackers happen to find such computers, they will start to do even malicious activities such as spreading viruses. Apart from those hackers there can be unknown people such as the neighbors looking out for an open internet connection. Hence, to prevent such intrusions it is a good idea to be with a firewall security. Firewalls block all unauthorized connections to your computer (including those of hackers who are trying to steal your data) and even let you select which programs can access the internet so that you’re never connected unknowingly.

Blocking Prohibited Sites

It is highly impossible to run a business without the internet, the web is also home to plenty of distracting and unsafe websites. Firewall settings can be modified to block sites you don’t want employees visiting, like social media platforms or explicit content.

Stops Virus Attacks

An virus attack can shut your digital operations down faster. With hundreds of thousands of new threats developed every single day, it is vital that you put the defenses in place to keep your systems healthy. One of the most visible benefits of firewalls is the ability to control your system’s entry points and stop virus attacks. The cost of damage from a virus attack on your systems could be immeasurably high, depending on the type of virus.

Better Privacy

Privacy is one of the major concerns of a user. Hackers constantly look out for privacy information’s for getting clues about the user. But by using a firewall many of the services offered by a site such as the domain name service and the finger can be blocked. Hence, the hackers are with no chance of getting privacy details. Additionally, firewalls can block the DNS information’s of the site system. Due to this the names and the IP address will not be visible to the attackers.

Conclusion

Firewalls are the first line of defense in your network. If that line of defense is not maintained, it could cost you millions or harm your reputation. But there’s nothing to worry; if you are using a decent firewall, you can stay secure from external threats.

Why Internet Security is Essential Today?

As technology changes, it becomes more and more challenging to keep information secure on the web. Web security is important to keeping hackers and cyber-thieves from accessing sensitive information.  Without a proactive security strategy, businesses risk the spread and escalation of malware, attacks on other websites, networks, and other IT infrastructures. If a hacker is successful, attacks can spread from computer to computer, making it difficult to find the origin.

These days we do everything online, our computers, laptops and smartphones have become an extension of ourselves so ensuring we have the best internet security is a way of knowing that our identities, documents, and passwords are not compromised. With the internet came a selection of fraudulent activities from identity thieves to people who hack computers and steal private passwords, documents, and files. The fact we do everything online only opens us up to these frauds and makes us sitting victims unless you have taken the necessary steps to protect your computer to the best of your ability.

The safest method is to buy good internet security software, a program that will immediately remove viruses, advice you when you are browsing the internet and click on a malicious site and one that does regular scans of your computer to detect any damaging materials which may compromise both you and your computer.

Let’s Discuss on the major internet treat you face in your day-to-day life:

Phishing

Phishing attacks are the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source. It is usually done through email. Their main intension is to steal  the sensitive data like credit card and login information, or to install malware on the victim’s machine. Phishing is a common type of cyber-attack that everyone should learn about in order to protect themselves. 

Malware

Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network. Downloads or emails from some insecure sites carry ransomware, worms, spyware, and viruses that may compromise your security.

Password Attack

In this kind of attack, the hacker tries to crack a password by hit and trial method. It is easy to crack poorly chosen passwords.

SQL Injection Attack

Seeing the technological advancement used for hacking in this kind, you will exactly understand why Cybersecurity is so important. Here, the hacker will put malicious code into an SQL-using server. This is generally done with an unsafe website search box. If this works successfully, the hacker gains SQL injection is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its database. It generally allows an attacker to view data that they are not normally able to retrieve. In many cases, an attacker can modify or delete this data, causing persistent changes to the application’s content or behavior.

There are several protective measures that can be taken to strengthen your network security. Here’s what can be done to protect yourself online:

Install Reliable Antivirus Software

The first layer of protection for your computer is installing the Antivirus Software. Install internet security virus protection on your mobile and laptop, set it to scan on a regular basis, and check to make sure it’s kept up-to-date

Regularly Backup Data

Backup is crucial for data protection. A regular data backup preferably daily or weekly saves your important files from inevitable data loss situations due to common events such as system crash, malware infection, hard drive corruption and failure, etc.

Secure Your Wi-Fi Connection

An unsecured Wi-Fi connection can make your system vulnerable to potential cyber-attacks. Hence, it is advisable to secure Wi-Fi with strong very passwords. Passwords should be at least 8 to 10 characters long.

Set Up a Firewall

A firewall plays a vital role in network security and needs to be properly configured to keep organizations protected from data leakage and cyberattacks.

Avoid Suspicious Texts and Mails

Straight away delete texts and emails if you do not recognize the sender. These are the starting point of an online security breach.

The importance of online security is not something to take lightly, so follow the above-mentioned protective measures and safeguard yourself from cyber-attacks!

Securing a college or university campus is a tedious task. One important component of campus security is access control and key management, to protect personal safety as well as facility property. Losses can range from property, vehicles, lab, and media equipment to personal items such as computers, phones, wallets, etc.

Below are the ways we can improve campus security:

Evaluate Current Access Control – including physical keys

Improving security starts with taking an inventory of all key-holding personnel and access points on campus. You’ll need to answer:

• Who is the person issuing the keys?
• Where do those keys allow access?
• Is that access critical to that key holder?
• Who holds responsibility for card access master keys?
• How are the use of soft and physical keys audited?
• How much of this management is automated vs. manual?
• Do I have single individuals carrying around multiple keys?

Keep Track of Keys

Always it our prime responsibility to keep the track of keys, it can be personal keys/ master keys. If these assets are lost or stolen, make sure the incident is quickly reported and locks are changed with immediate action in order to avoid potential liability. Remember to collect keys when staff members leave employment, and never issue out the master keys.

Secure Keys

It’s vitally important to recognize the importance of the physical keys used to lock buildings, secure spaces, and valuable assets. Keys must be stored in a secure place, so that we can prevent the access of unauthorized persons and to prevent key duplication of the keys. They should only have keys when they need them and should NEVER take them home.

Lock Classrooms and Laboratories

Classroom and laboratory doors should be always locked when unused. This secures valuable equipment and deters theft. Ensure everyone that goes in and out of those secured areas after hours are accounted for.

Audit Access

It is always important to keep the track of keys. Maintaining an audit trail of key activity is imperative in preventing crime.  If users know they are accountable and the university has visibility on key use, they are less likely to misuse keys or gain access to areas they shouldn’t have access to. 

Have Remote Control

In the event of an emergency, a valuable tool in securing a campus quickly is the ability to remotely lock down doors, or temporarily revoke access to the keys that open them.

We offer advanced key and asset management solutions for all types of educational facilities to ensure valuable items are secured and access to certain areas is limited. Through proven integrations, electronic key management can become part of your existing security program, without adding any unnecessary administrative burden. For more information Contact us today.