Sorry for my absence but there is a good and true reason for it, and you’ll find out why here.
Recently I contracted a certain virus we have all become very aware of and at the same time tired of hearing about, Covid 19. As we have all spent the last couple of years learning more and more about this virus and how it morphs and spreads in different ways, first it particulate (spray) then airborne (breath), some of us have stopped protecting ourselves and others!
I started my Antivirus regimes recommended by “the pros” like most of us with 1 surgical type or cloth mask, then added a layer to that, then came my first vaccine, then the N95 or KN95 mask, then a 2nd vaccine, then a 3rd. All this time still masking and using hand sanitizer, wiping everything with disinfecting wipes, basically everything other than wearing a HAZMAT suit.
After 2 years of being able to stave off the Covid 19 virus and all its variants and all my Antivirus precautions recommended by the “Top Doctors”, I got hit with it!!! But how, I followed all the best practices, had all the vaccines, wore my masks, etc…? How could I get this virus???!!!
Then it came to me as I was laying in bed sick. I got it the same way I could get a virus on my computer at work or home. Someone else passed it along, unknowingly, but it was from someone else who was negligent and didn’t take the same precautions or even the simplest one.
I thought a lot about it and realized in our corporate environments people don’t spread viruses knowingly (usually), but most of the time simply by not doing the simple things, following best practices.. These are what I call “Corporate Virus Super Spreaders”!
With the current state of affairs in the hacker world viruses aren’t as easy to detect because hackers have figured out how to morph their own code and wiggle through your defenses. So what are some of the best practices you NEED to follow?
Here are just few examples:
- If you receive an email with an attachment, were you expecting it? If not before you click on it and open it, contact the sender. ‘Hey Mr. President did you send me this file?’. Hackers are great at masking email addresses so you think the file came from a reliable source, but if you look closely at the return address you realize it may not be, so double checking takes seconds and could save you.
- You receive an email from a Software company or Social Media platform (Microsoft, Adobe, LinkedIn, etc.) saying “Your account appears to have been attempted to be logged in to please click here to login and change your password”. Is this email really from the platform it pretends to be? Again check the return web address is it coming from a legit source or directing to a legitimate website. Hackers can produce a website that 99% mimics the real one. Once you’ve entered your information they have you.
- You log on to a website, that someone, a friend or colleague has told you about but they didn’t realize that the site is unsecure and you’ve just become part of the chain of people who has given away access to the company’s infrastructure.
- You receive a promotional USB Stick, do not think hey what a great gift, it can contain a self launching virus and the second you put it into your computer you are done!
99.9% of us have Antivirus software and believe we are “SAFE”, but don’t realize even the best software can’t block 100% of viruses, just like my 3 vaccines and masks and hand sanitizer. The next thing we know our complete corporate infrastructure is down or even worse potentially hit with Ransomware.
Protection and best practices training are something Company owners, CEO’s, IT should be providing to help keep you from becoming a potential Virus Super Spreaders so you learn, WHAT NOT TO DO and WHAT TO LOOK FOR! And the cost of training far outweighs the cost of getting hacked!
By the way, it’s now been a few weeks and I’m still not 100% back up to normal, what if your corporate infrastructure was down for weeks?
DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating, recommending, condemning or endorsing any personal medical treatments or decisions individuals make.