As many of us acclimate to a new mix of work from office and home, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to protect the work we’re doing on our home devices. But what kind of protection you need? Does antivirus still work? Do you need antivirus if you have backup? These are good questions, and we have some answers.
Backup ensures that your important documents, photos and other files are safe from theft, accidental deletion, corruption and hardware failure. But do you have adequate protection against online security threats like ransomware or other viruses?
Antivirus is your first layer of defense against cyberattacks. And, you may already have antivirus software installed on your computer. However, there’s a good chance it’s not as effective as you think. Here’s why: if you don’t have the latest version of the software or accidentally neglected to renew your software license, you aren’t protected against the newest threats. This is important because cybercriminals continuously adapt malware and viruses to evade detection.
Plus, there are always new threats emerging. In fact, cryptojacking recently surpassed ransomware as the top cyber security threat. If you aren’t familiar with cryptojacking, here’s how it works. When a victim’s computer is infected, the malware hijacks its CPU (along with hundreds or even thousands of other infected computers) to mine cryptocurrency. This is a problem because it slows your computer’s performance and increases power consumption, and thus, your power bill.
So, which is more secure, antivirus or backup? The answer is both, as antivirus and backup work as complementary layers into a more robust cyber resilience strategy. Viruses can wreak havoc on your computer that could take hours to remediate. A modern, cloud-based antivirus solution can save you significant time and effort compared with having no protection at all. But if a virus does get past the first line of defense, having backups can save you both time and money. If it’s a ransomware infection, having backup copies of your data can mean the difference between paying hundreds or thousands to get your files back and being able to recover everything without paying a ransom.
A cyber resilient business needs cloud based, automatic protection against viruses, malware and identity theft. To improve your cyber resilience today, try Carbonite™ Safe.
