Fortunately,
antivirus software vendors now integrate these protection features
into their most recent product versions.
Beyond
shielding your company from the dangers of viruses lurking in files,
solutions should guard against common Internet-era virus threats.
Downloaded file protection – blocks
infected downloaded files from contaminating your system, even
before reaching the target drive volume’s file system
E-mail protection – defends against
problems coming in over the POP3 inbound mail protocol, viruses
spreading outward from your company over the SMTP outbound mail
protocol and viruses propagating internally throughout your
company over the MAPI messaging interface
Heuristic pattern recognition –
detects viruses even before your antivirus software has a
name for the virus; bases its alerts on knowledge of previous,
similar virus activity
Hostile applet protection – shields
you from malicious programs reaching your system through ActiveX
or Java applets (miniature software applications)
Antivirus Protection Software for Servers
In addition to protection for your desktop PCs
and notebooks, purchase and install antivirus software for any
servers on your local area network (LAN).
In most cases, you’ll need stand-alone
products or add-on modules that cover your servers at a much more
targeted level than mere file-level protection. Be sure to purchase
and install specialized antivirus software for network applications,
such as e-mail servers, proxy servers and Web servers.
Antivirus Protection Action Items
Which products protect your desktop PCs,
notebooks and servers from basic file-level virus infections?
What kind of advanced Internet-era features
do these antivirus software programs protect against?
How do your antivirus protection software
programs guard against malicious applets that may execute through
your Web browser?
What kind of antivirus protection is
available for files downloaded through your Web browser or FTP
utility program?
How does your antivirus software protect
against e-mail virus risks that can infiltrate through Internet and
corporate e-mail programs?
Can your antivirus protection software
quarantine an infected user's e-mail to prevent the virus from
spreading to others within and outside of your company?
Is your antivirus protection software able
to red flag suspected virus problems even before these new viruses
have names?
How are your LAN application servers
protected against virus risks? For example, what kind of antivirus
software protects your e-mail server, proxy server and Web server?
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