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3PRIME Recommends Vipre Antivirus Solution for Macs & PCs

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For the next several weeks, 3PRIME and we expect many of you, will be activating work from home procedures. A relevant concern is whether the computers your staff may use at home are protected like the ones at your offices.

Cloudflare, a global cloud DNS solution we use for a portion of our client domains, sent 2 interesting statistics yesterday.

  1. As more people work from home, peak traffic in impacted regions has increased, on average, approximately 10%.
  2. In Italy, which has imposed a nationwide quarantine, peak Internet traffic is up 30%.

If you aren’t using a solid antivirus and Internet security suite, we want to share the same recommendation we make for clients experiencing issues with malware on your computers. We have used Vipre Internet Security  for our workstations and laptops since 2012, and in that time we haven’t had to rebuild any workstations due to malware incidents. Prior to this we would have to do this every 6 months or so, a real drag on focus and productivity.

You can protect 10 computers and laptops for $79 per year. Use this link to get the Home Protection package and receive a 20% discount.

Vipre also has several other options, including:

  1. VPN Software
  2. Privacy Shield
  3. Endpoint Security for network administrators
  4. Ultimate Security  package which bundles Privacy shield and VPN with the Home protection license.

While we do not directly support office networks, we’ve found the Home Protection very easy to install and essentially set-and-forget.

Installing Vipre Home Protection

  1. Please use this link to purchase the license for 1, 5 or 10 Macs or PCs.
  2. On that page, choose “Vipre Advanced Security”.
  3. Select the number of licenses you need.
  4. Once you complete the purchase, note your license key.
  5. Download the installation package and install it on each computer.
  6. During install specify the license key.
  7. Complete the installation, including the initial scans.
  8. Setup the scan schedule, we have ours set to run weekly during an evening, but set it to whatever you feel makes the most sense.

How to Start Protecting Yourself Online Today

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How to Start Protecting Yourself Online Today 

Whenever we head out the door, we will lock up our homes and keep our pockets zipped up. This is to protect our belongings against any slim chances of theft. However, it’s so much easier to protect your physical belongings than your virtual ones. There are less of them, they can be locked away, you can set an alarm, and we have the advantage of being vigilant about anyone who may be going for our phone or wallet. 

Protecting ourselves online is much harder. All of our data — from login details to personal information to even our buying habits — can be exploited for financial gain. Sometimes you won’t notice the breach because it won’t be your computer that was stolen from, but another business that has your personal data stored away. 

Knowing how to protect your online identity is the first step to protecting yourself online, so follow these steps today:

Go Through and Find Old Accounts 

Old accounts that you don’t use anymore are big security risks, especially if the company has stopped updating their security and are generally running into bankruptcy. In these cases, old accounts are easy pickings for hackers. If that account has personal data like passwords or answers to security questions, you could face a hack somewhere else.

Update All Passwords so They are Unique 

All of your passwords should be unique. Every single one. There are tricks to help you remember all of these passwords or you can invest in a password manager that offers encrypted protection on every account.

Google Yourself 

Old accounts aren’t the only threat to your livelihood. Old posts, news articles — anything that mentions you in a bad light — is something you need to address. On top of Googling yourself, your email, and your phone number, you will also want to go through your old social media posts to ensure that nothing from the past can hurt you in the future. 

The data you need to worry about isn’t just slanderous posts, either. If you publicly mention key data, like where you were born, who your grandmother is and their maiden name, or even what your dog’s name was, then it is a risk. They are answers to your security questions after all!

Use Two-Factor Authentication for Everything 

If two-factor authentication is available, use it. This way you will be required to have your phone or access to another account to login from a new device or computer. 

Encrypt Your Data 

Most laptops will offer the ability to encrypt your data, so if someone steals your computer, they can’t just hack their way in without destroying everything private. This is more necessary for business owners and those whose laptops are worth more than their lives; but, it is still an easy and worthwhile step to take.

Use a VPN 

To protect your search history and online activity you will want to invest in a VPN, especially if you like working in cafes or other public spaces. Free Wi-Fi is easy for hackers to gain access to and hack into your data. 

The level of security you will want to go through will depend entirely on the data you want to keep private. The above list of suggestions can keep your personal data safe from hackers, but if you own a business or work with sensitive data daily, more measures will need to be taken.