PLANNING YOUR TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS by Greg Welsh Welcome to the first of an ongoing series of columns devoted to helping you think about and plan your information technology so that your investment serves your business needs. For many small businesses, the pressure to increase sales and meet customer demands often takes so much time and effort that even those who are technically savvy don't have enough time for this critical area. Left unattended, or given the benign neglect that frequently characterizes a company where the technology works "well enough," small businesses often lack the best solutions for daily operations, protection against threats such as viruses and hackers, and business continuity in the event of a disaster. Companies also often leave money on the table because they do not make small regular investments to upgrade technology when it's appropriate and have the most cost-effective environment. In this column you will find advice on these topics, relevant products and solutions, and contacts for your questions and the advice you may want from time to time on topics important to you. We will cover classic issues such as security, backup, operating policies, upgrades, licensing, web sites and e-commerce, among others. But we will also respond to your questions and concerns with special columns from time to time, as well as regular "tech tips" designed to increase your knowledge and demystify the jargon and confusion in a rapidly changing industry that is crucial to the success of your business. Let's begin with the essential tasks of protecting your data. There are three main threats to your business's vital information flows: file and service-based attacks from viruses, worms, and internet intrusions; data loss through catastrophic failures of storage media or disasters (think tornadoes, floods, and terrorists); and employee actions, whether they are accidents or malicious attacks. You may think that this is an area that will cost lots of cash, but the simple fact is that keeping your computers and network up-to-date with the latest patches and system updates goes a long way toward minimizing your exposure to viruses, worms, and other hacker exploits. In fact, the greatest risk from virus and internet attacks is loss of productivity, not loss of data. However, even if your data is completely backed up and can be recovered completely if destroyed by a virus, the loss of an hour's, or a day's work, can erase hard-won profits. This column will usually discuss Windows-based operating systems and applications, without intending any disrespect for those who use Apple computers or other Unix- or Linux-based systems. From time to time we will talk about events and items of interest in those areas, especially when striking differences or similarities invite comparison with topics under discussion in this column. The first line of defense is keeping your operating system and applications current by applying all patches and updates made available by Microsoft, your computer manufacturer, and the developers of the software applications you use. The easiest way to keep up with the steady flow of these updates from Microsoft is to sign up for Microsoft newsletters and alert services (you'll need a free Microsoft .Net Passport to access their registration site). When a new critical or security update is announced, read the full knowledge base article to determine its application to your system. In most cases, your next step will be to download and apply the update to your system. However, pay attention - recently Microsoft released a security update that posed problems for older systems, forcing administrators to reinstall from original system disks when computers failed to start the patch was applied. If you are comfortable with letting Microsoft's update services run in the background, you can configure your system to automatically download the updates and either install them, or to notify you that they have been downloaded and are ready for installation. Take the course of action that is most comfortable for you - but keep up to date. Most of the damage that has been done by the major viruses and worms transmitted through the internet during the past few years has taken place on computers or at sites where operating systems and applications have not been maintained; this failure to patch vulnerabilities as soon as a fix is released allows damaging code to propagate. While so far no one has been sued for liability because they didn't maintain their computer properly, making it a launching point for damaging attacks on other systems, surely someone will one day make that claim - and you don't want to need a legal defense fund when simple due diligence will protect your systems and your business. Two of the most useful newsletters from Microsoft are the "Microsoft Security Update Notification Service" and "Inside Microsoft Office - Product Update Alerts." Go to http://support.microsoft.com/ and follow the links through "Customer Service" to the newsletter site. As you navigate through the web site you will see a variety of other news and update services available in support of your business and technology environment. There are many news sources available - another valuable resource is Computerworld's web site (http://www.computerworld.com), where you can click through to their security section and see a chronology of recent articles discussing a variety of security issues. Operating system and application updates make up one of three prongs of a security policy designed to protect your business from attacks generated by malicious code. You also need to invest in antivirus solutions to protect your servers and individual computers, and a firewall to secure your systems against intrusions. Future columns will discuss how antivirus and firewall systems work hand-in-hand with operating system and application updates to provide you and your employees a safe and reliable information technology platform so that you can engage in productive work, growing your business and focusing on customers rather than computer problems, file repair, or data recovery. Return to top of page - Return to homepage