It seems like we hear about businesses being hacked into daily - websites defaced, data deleted, or customer information stolen.  The most recent of these is Zappos, the online retailer.  The names and addresses of 23 million customers were accessed by the hacker.

And for every incident that makes the news, there are hundreds more that we never hear about.

You may not be an online retailer, but do you have data that a hacker may find valuable? Do you store credit card information, or your company's bank records  electronically? What would you do if a hacker deleted information on your server?  Do you have a backup plan?

And possibly the scariest question: Would you even know if a hacker had accessed your servers?

Don't be caught off-guard.  Make sure your data and networks are backed up and are as secure as possible.  No network is completely safe, as hackers have even managed to gain access to the CIA's systems, but you can make it difficult for them:

• Make sure every computer has up-to-date antivirus software (even the free version of AVG is recommended)
• Make sure all antivirus software is set to update automatically - new viruses are released daily, and your software won't know what to look for if its virus definitions are out of date.
• All internet connections should go through a router, which hides internal IP addresses
• Always password protect the wireless networks in your office.  All wireless routers come with this software, and it is easy to set up. 
• Use difficult passwords - a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.  Don't use real words.  And the longer the better.  Try using a pattern on your keyboard, or number substitution (for example, Pa55W0rd!Pa55W0rd!) Choose something easy to remember, difficult to guess, and long to make it difficult for it to be cracked by sheer force.
• Backup your data daily, if not more often.

Call 3C Solutions for a free security review. We also offer data storage and backup on our own secure servers.