Managed Antivirus Solutions For Small Businesses

The evolving cyber threat landscape has necessitated an equally evolving cybersecurity landscape where antivirus solutions must continually change and improve in order to keep up with cyber threats and offer the best and latest protection against them.

To be sure, this evolving cybersecurity is indispensable to individuals and businesses alike, but it has become increasingly essential to small businesses, which according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, comprise 58% of the cyberattack victims.

Fortunately, antivirus companies are responding to the ever-growing number of malware by developing bigger and better malware detection technologies for defending computer systems and their data.

Some examples of these technologies include heuristics-based technology, which detects malware by using machine learning algorithms to look for anomalous activity or behavior, sandbox detection, which checks for and detects malware by isolating and executing code or programs in a safe area away from other files, and AI detection which learns to recognize threats that are connected to certain URLs or malware.

The downside of all these new technologies is that antivirus software is becoming increasingly complex to manage, understand and maintain across many different endpoints.

Thus, while it might be feasible for small businesses with one or two computers to individually install and manage their antivirus solutions, it’s far less feasible for small businesses with more than one or two systems, since managing an antivirus solution for several endpoints is considerably more complicated.

This is why a managed antivirus solution, which is centrally controlled, can be a business’s best friend when it comes to cybersecurity. Of course, as with any important software, finding the right antivirus solution for a business requires due diligence, but an excellent option for businesses that are looking for antivirus is to try out a free antivirus for small business.

A free option allows business owners to see first hand, before committing to an antivirus, just how much more cost-efficient and effective managed-antivirus software are as compared to traditional, unmanaged solutions.

One of the most immediately noticeable advantages of a small business managed antivirus solution is that it provides security continuity for all endpoints.

Without managed solutions, many business owners will find that they struggle to make sure that all of their systems and data are protected. And we already know that running your PCs without antivirus software is pretty much a guaranteed path to trouble.

The statistics don’t lie:

• 60% of small businesses that experience a cyber attack go out of business within six months.
• Small businesses spend an average of $955,429 to restore their business to normalcy after a successful cyber attack.
• 50% of SMBs reported that they were a victim of at least one cyber attack in the last year.
• 40% of small businesses have at least eight hours of downtime after a security breach.
• In the previous year, new small-business cyber breaches increased by 424%.

And the vulnerabilities that can exist when a business doesn’t have a managed antivirus are too dangerous to ignore:

• Software patches are often not applied as soon as they become available, leaving systems susceptible to hackers and malware.
• Updates to the antivirus itself are frequently not implemented or only implemented on some computers so that the antivirus runs without the benefit of the latest virus signature database.
• Systems cannot be centrally monitored for intrusions, leaving it up to individual users to respond to potential hacks or malware.
• Threat analysis and remediation are more difficult and often delayed if left up to users who are unfamiliar with how to handle malware threats.
• Business resources can become encumbered because they have to spend valuable time on cybersecurity issues.
• Employees sometimes unilaterally decide to turn off the antivirus solution because they think it is slowing the system down, which leaves their systems and data exposed to cyber threats.

So what should a managed antivirus solution look like?

• A no-fuss, the simple and quick installation process.
• A user-friendly, intuitive dashboard so that endpoint protection is easy to manage.
• 24/7 real-time protection that constantly runs in the background, monitoring and protecting systems and data.
• A powerful antivirus engine so that the virus database needed for real-time protection is always current.

• Privacy protection features such as webcam and microphone protection to keep hackers from listening in on important business conversations or stealing sensitive data.
• A notification system to warn relevant users of threats, alerts, and updates.
• The latest detection technologies to prevent zero-day attacks.
• Anti-ransomware, tracking, phishing, spyware, and adware protection.
• A negligible effect on system resources.

Remember this statistic? 60% of small businesses that experience a cyber attack go out of business within 6 months

There are already plenty of challenges that small businesses must contend with without adding cyber threats to the list, but when they don’t use a managed antivirus solution, that’s exactly what they’re doing. adding another challenge to their already long list of challenges. And it’s a dangerous challenge at that.

Without a managed antivirus solution, businesses not only have to spend valuable resources making sure that their endpoint security is consistent and up-to-date, but the chance of dropping the ball in that effort is high, which puts them in danger of joining that 60% statistic.

Given the evidence, clearly, the smart decision for small businesses is to get consistent and reliable protection from a managed antivirus software.