Want to protect your midsize business from cybercrimes? Every business must have the proper antivirus software. Here are the programs IT experts recommend most.
According to a recent report from antivirus firm Malwarebytes, ransomware attacks against businesses increased by a whopping 365 percent in just one year — from 2018 to 2019.
To make matters worse, ransomware is just one of the many common types of malware that can handicap midsize businesses — and even put them under. From Trojan horses and spyware to classic computer viruses and worms, American midsize businesses face numerous cybersecurity threats on a daily basis.
So, how can businesses keep themselves safe? Several actions should be taken to ensure the cybersecurity your business. However, it all starts with antivirus software.
Ahead, we’ll list the top antivirus software recommended for midsize companies. But first, let’s define what antivirus software is and what it actually does to keep your business safe.+
What Does Antivirus Software Do?
There are different types of antivirus software. For the most part, however, the main goal of antivirus software is to detect and remove malicious software (malware).
Antivirus software does this by running in the background of your normal computing processes. The best types of antivirus software will continuously scan your machines, systems, and networks for out-of-place code, security vulnerabilities, and unusual behavior. Depending on the level of antivirus software a business has, scans may be patterned so that they run automatically throughout the day or night. Or, they may be run manually at any time.
Some antivirus software will not only detect and remove antivirus software, but it will also employ a suite of other cybersecurity measures, including file encryption, ad blockers, more secure online storage, and more.
For most midsize companies, antivirus programs are the first line of defense against malicious software. They are a must-have, even if your business only employs the use of a few machines.
The Top Antivirus Software for Your Midsize Business
We spoke to several IT security professionals to determine the best antivirus software programs for midsize businesses. Here’s what they recommend.
Symantec End Point Protection
Symantec End Point Protection is the next step up from Norton Security Standard. It features protection against all types of malware, including ransomware and zero-day viruses that could be threatening your business. Also included are a number of other features to keep your business running efficiently and problem-free.
Says Ian Brady of Melbourne IT support company Steadfast Solutions, “Symantec End Point Protection is a good fit for medium businesses.” According to Brady, it “can be delivered on cloud or on-premises [and] provides scalability and [customization] from medium business to enterprise.”
McAfee Endpoint Security
Not only does McAfee offer a free trial before you actually purchase the software, it’s also an optimal antivirus solution for small to large businesses and even for individuals.
One of its most useful features is its machine learning capabilities. This allows McAfee to identify new types of malware that have just been released and aren’t well-known by most antivirus programs.
Webroot Endpoint Protection
Webroot Endpoint Protection is one of the more advanced antivirus programs available for midsize business use. While many antivirus programs simply scan your systems for already-known threats, “Webroot Endpoint Protection provides services to detect patterns in application behavior to determine if the application could be a threat, even if the threat has not been detected before,” says Chris Briggs of SunRiver IT Partners, one of the top tech companies in Nashville, It then “[takes] action upon that threat.”
Briggs goes on to say that Webroot, which incidentally, is able to use fewer resources than many other pieces of similar software, “has DNS protection that [protects] end-users from visiting those sites that contain malicious activity and that could infect or compromise the security of an endpoint.”
When It Comes to Security, Don’t Forget Employee Training
It’s important to remember that employing antivirus software is not the only security measure midsize businesses should take in order to avoid the infiltration of malicious software.
That’s because the number one way in which malware ends up on business computers is through phishing scams.
Scam artists and hackers throughout the world employ phishing scams to deposit malware — like ransomware, adware, and spyware — onto business computers. Unfortunately, antivirus software cannot prevent phishing scams. That’s because phishing scams are a type of social engineering scam.
In other words, these scams can psychologically manipulate individuals working for a given company to willingly (yet unknowingly) cause the malware download. It works like this:
- A worker in your company receives an email from a source they trust — such as another employee.
- The email asks the recipient to do something, such as download a program or file, click on a link, or send sensitive information (like a login).
- Once this action is taken, the malware is unknowingly transferred onto the email recipient’s computer and can spread from there, wreaking havoc.
In order to avoid situations like this, companies must better train their employees to spot phishing emails and report them as soon as their noticed.
For this reason, all of the IT experts we interviewed recommended better employee training in addition to the use of at least one of the quality antivirus software programs listed above.