When a malicious virus or other security breach can cause major losses in time, revenue and reputation, it pays to invest in systems that can protect against such invasions. The Internet, with its known and unknown risks, can be a valuable tool as long as businesses are vigilant about protecting themselves. Jack Randow, chief operating officer for Nashville-based Investment Scorecard Inc., proudly calls himself overly paranoid about security on the Internet. As a result, the company is charged with safeguarding its own computer systems and its clients' personal financial information while still making that information easily accessible over the Internet for those for whom it is intended. The key is to think of Internet security in the same way you think about protecting your physical presence, he says.
Security is a major issue.
But you have to give the same thought to protecting electronic access to your systems as you do to the physical site. That depends on an business' assessment of its exposure to risk. For a business with a more dynamic Internet presence, the risk level goes up as its visibility increases. Computers at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Stanford University, a home business in Portland, Ore., and hundreds of other computers were taken over for bombardment use in the February attacks. Both experts say, even with a traditional firewall barrier, that outside connections to the Internet create vulnerability in the system.