Sin #1: Pride - Avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins of Windows 7

PRIDE: Believing that the built-in security and backup technology is all you need

Many businesses operate under the assumption that built-in security and backup technology is enough to protect their information. To be truly protected against today's increasingly complex and organized cyber attacks, you need a comprehensive, integrated security solution that provides multiple layers of protection, in addition to scalable backup.

In 2008 alone, Symantec detected more than 1.6 million new malicious code threats worldwide, according to the Internet Security Threat Report XIV. This explosion in the number of malicious code threats, coupled with the continued trend towards Web-based attacks, reinforces the growing need for cooperative security and backup responses. Individual point products and add-on functionality are no longer sufficient to protect against today’s attacks, which are designed specifically to steal sensitive information for financial gain.

Many of these sophisticated threats can evade traditional security solutions, leaving organizations vulnerable to information theft, disruption of business-critical services, and damage to corporate brand and reputation. To stay ahead of the sheer volume and targeted nature of these new security threats, organizations must not settle for what is convenient or what was “good enough” to stop yesterday’s attacks. To be successful, businesses must advance their ability to protect their information.

To keep threats out of the environment, integrated security solutions combine antivirus with advanced threat prevention to automatically analyze application behaviors and network communications and detect and block suspicious activities, as well as administrative control features that allow administrators to deny specific device and application activities deemed to be high risk for their organization.

In addition to deploying comprehensive security, businesses must be able to backup and restore data or complete Windows 7 machines in minutes, even to dissimilar hardware. According to Symantec’s 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey, although 47 percent of SMBs do not have a formal disaster preparedness plan, of those without plans, nearly 89 percent say they will create one within the next six months. Lack of proper backup and recovery protection for desktops and laptops leaves your organization at risk of losing critical business data and employee productivity.

Windows 7 is clearly Microsoft’s most secure OS yet and includes an improved security foundation. However, it still requires additional security and backup software to protect your critical assets. Symantec provides businesses the security and backup software needed to successfully secure and manage their information.