Is Antivirus Enough?

The most common first line of defense is antivirus software, which detects and removes malicious software like viruses and trojans. While antivirus software for your business is absolutely essential, it’s not enough to protect against all threats. You still have to watch out for various forms of social engineering, like phishing and spear-phishing attacks. If you have a company network or website, you also need to protect against threats like zero-day exploits, insider threats, and advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Lets face it, safeguarding your digital assets from this wide array of cyberthreats is a challenging task. Keep reading to discover why antivirus software as a singular solution isn’t enough to protect your business anymore.

What Is an Antivirus Software Application?

An antivirus software application detects and removes different types of malware, like worms, trojans, viruses, ransomware, and adware. It’s important to run because malware has the potential to damage hardware, prevent access to data, or allow a third party to take control of a device.

Antivirus software works by scanning a computer to look for malicious patterns contained in a database of known malware behavior. You can run scans manually or schedule them to run automatically, and you can perform partial or full scans as you wish. Once malware is detected, you can choose to remove it or leave it alone.

Although antivirus software can detect and remove some threats, it isn’t enough to get them all. For instance, threats are undetectable if they haven’t been added to the database yet, and social engineering threats can’t be detected by antivirus software.

Understanding Why Antivirus Software (as a Singular Solution) Is Dead

Decades ago, it was enough to run antivirus software on your computer. Today, that’s no longer the case. Even back in 2014, antivirus software business Symantec’s senior vice president for information security said antivirus is dead. To continue supporting their customers, the company has adopted a new approach that aims to identify hackers in a system and mitigate the damage rather than only attempting to prevent entry. This is a more realistic and effective approach to cybersecurity, and if you want to protect your business, you need to follow suit. Simply put, many businesses have top-of-the-line antivirus software and still fall victim to malware attacks. If you’ve been relying on antivirus software alone, you’re not fully protected.

Why Is Antivirus Software Not Enough

Why Is Antivirus Software Not Enough?

The first thing to understand about your business cybersecurity posture is the fact antivirus software has inherent limitations. It can only detect known threats that are stored in the software creator’s database. This means you can only get protection against newly discovered threats if your provider updates their database when new threats emerge.

By the time your antivirus software detects a threat, it’s sometimes too late. Often, it takes antivirus software too long to detect new vulnerabilities, and by the time a security scan has been completed, the malware has already infected several endpoints.

But that’s not all. Here’s three other reasons why antivirus software for your business doesn’t cut it anymore.

Cybersecurity threats continue to gain complexity

The complexity of cybersecurity threats is continually increasing beyond the capabilities of what antivirus solutions can detect. For instance, a user might visit a website and end up downloading malicious software. Antivirus software isn’t sophisticated enough to intervene in this situation before damage is done. It’s also not going to detect social engineering efforts, like phishing schemes.

The biggest problem is that antivirus software cannot detect anomalies on your company network that are often the first signs of a threat, like users logging in from a new IP or device or a device accessing an area of the network outside of the associated user’s boundary. Addressing these types of threats requires more than just installing software on employee devices. This is exactly why you need a managed service provider (MSP).

Managed services are a proactive approach to cybersecurity

There isn’t a single solution that will safeguard every aspect of your business. Cybersecurity protection requires a multi-faceted approach, and that’s what managed services can provide.

An MSP will monitor your company network 24/7 to identify and stop security threats that could lead to data loss, theft, or a data breach. Using an intrusion prevention system (IPS), malicious activity can be detected and blocked automatically. Network monitoring is a crucial part of cybersecurity, but you can’t accomplish this with antivirus software.

A good MSP will also help you create business continuity and disaster recovery plans to minimize downtime and preserve your data in the event that you’re targeted by an attack. Never ignore disaster recovery based on the assumption that you’re immune to cyberthreats. Hackers target everyone, but small businesses are their preferred victims because they know security is minimal or non-existent.

Managed services give you a strong cybersecurity defense

When you think antivirus software is all you need for protection, you won’t take a proactive approach to cybersecurity. Rather than only trying to keep threats out, it’s critical to assume there are always malicious threats lurking in your system and work to identify and remove those threats. This shift in mindset is the only way to fully protect your organization.

Whether you own a small or large business, you can step up your cybersecurity game with managed services

Safeguard Your Digital Infrastructure With BL King Consulting

Do you have a robust cybersecurity plan that includes 24/7 network monitoring, an intrusion protection system, and a business continuity plan? If you lost your company data to a ransomware attack tomorrow, could you ignore the hacker and restore your data without wasting any time? If not, managed services from BL King can help.

As one of the most trusted managed service providers in Massachusetts, we can help you with all your cybersecurity needs. We’ll start with a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify your vulnerabilities and make personalized suggestions for preventing and mitigating risk. We’ll work with you to create a custom cybersecurity plan to secure your business around the clock. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you protect your business.