What is a firewall and why do you need one?

Firewalls are a protective barrier between your computer, phone or tablet and the other computers that are connected to you. As soon as you are connected to the internet, the whole world can see you and this can make your computer vulnerable to cyber threats. When data is exchanged between computers it goes into cyberspace. Firewalls monitor this data to decide whether it is safe, and therefore firewalls are essential!

If your computer is left unprotected, it can quickly be attacked with popup messages and viruses among other things, all in a matter of minutes. Having a firewall installed can prevent some of these attacks from taking place. In some instances, hackers can install a trojan (malware which is misleading to the user) onto your PC which will give them the power to control it.

Will your employees be tricked by email scams and viruses?

Despite an ever increasing number of online attacks being reported in the media and harrowing new cyber threats like Ransomware being created, many companies are still failing to take effective action to improve their online security. As well as failing to keep their anti-virus software and firewalls up to date, they also fail to educate their workforce on the latest threats - a key part of securing their operations.

Phishing scams are one of the most common forms of fraud committed online today. They involve tricking an email recipient into handing over sensitive data and trusted information. A hacker may send an email which looks as if it has been sent by a supplier, a company that you work with on a regular basis, a service provider or even another employee in your own business. So they aren’t always obvious. They hacker may then try and encourage the recipient to download a piece of software, visit an unsafe website or supply them directly with sensitive information that they can exploit.