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The need for a quality antivirus used in conjunction with a good spyware is more
important in this day and age than ever before. With the ever increasing number of viruses out
there, we need to protect or company from internet based attacks with a quality antivirus. An
antivirus is a counter measure program used to combat and prevent computer viruses. Computer
viruses replicate cause damage to the system and can spread from host to host, computer viruses
do need to be activated and are commonly sent through emails or obtained through illegal
downloading of music, movies or other computer software. A computer worm is also a threat to
any unprotected system and unlike a virus that needs to be activated a worm is self replicating
and can travel on its own. A computer worm can slow down bandwidth which in a sense slows
down production. Not all worms are harmful but it would be a good idea to be protected from
them as well as viruses.
Antivirus software works in two ways. The first way is by the downloading of signature
files, when a computer virus is reported the virus is examined and a signature or definition file is
created. These are used during computer scans to identify viruses and eradicate them or prevent
them from infecting a computer. The second way is heuristics. Heuristics monitors all activity on
your computer and if a program is acting like a virus a red flag is sent up. It is believed that 40%
of all computers will be infected with a virus over the course of one year. So that means 40 out
of our 100 computers will be hit with a virus this year alone. The cost per virus can be broke
down as follows.
Cost for IT manager to be informed and take action. $500.00
Cost of one work station to be stopped and cleaned of infection. $1000.00
Total for detection and cleansing of virus per
workstation $1500.00
Total cost per year based on average of 40% of
computers being infected by virus.
$1500.00*40=$60000.00
These are projected costs and can vary from
situation to situation.
The antivirus I recommend we employ here
at Western Products is Norton antivirus by Symantec.
Norton antivirus is one of the most well known names in
computer security. Norton antivirus features multiple
levels of virus defense and a system recovery tool for undoing any damage from attacks that slip
through Norton’s defense. It also has SONAR which is Norton’s answer for threats that have not
been catalogued yet. Norton antivirus updates every five to fifteen minutes which is much faster
than any other vendor. Norton antivirus emphasizes high performance and is said to use less than
8 mb of system memory on average and installs in under one minute. Norton antivirus also offers
free technical support through the internet, email, or phone.
Not only does Norton antivirus protect against viruses but it also protects against another
very serious computer security threat which is spyware. Pop up ads are a common problem
associated with spyware, also computers loaded with spyware often experience slow and choppy
internet connections, erratic mouse pointing and can even cause your system to crash. Spyware
can most easily be described as software designed to gather information about you or your
organizations through the internet. Spyware tracks your internet surfing pattern, records sites you
have visited, keywords you use and collects information on your online activities.
The type of infections from spyware can range from adware programs, system monitors
and a Trojan horse. Adware is a type of spyware that displays unwanted advertisements while
system monitors are much more malicious and can gather personal information that can be used
for many unwanted things such as identity theft which can cause cost thousands of dollars and
years to clean up. A Trojan horse although harmless itself opens the door for more malicious
software to be installed. Web root, which is a company that provides internet security solutions
for consumers and businesses worldwide, found that at least one in every thirty spyware
contained a Trojan horse and at least one system monitor.
It is reported that 91% of spyware is installed without the users consent and 92% of users
didn’t even know it was there, this alone should be a good enough reason to employ a good
spyware which is included in Norton antivirus. With our company having approximately 100
users and at a projected rate of 79% that will be or are infected with spyware the cost per
workstation is around $265.00. The total cost would be around $20,935.00 per year. The total
cost for Norton antivirus purchased through www.buycheapsoftware.com is $3067.00 for 100
computers which is discounted 60% for a savings $4083. With spyware included with the
antivirus this is a very cost effective. To save money and time employees could take a brief web
based training course on how to use Norton antivirus.
The total overall cost for purchasing, installing and training employees to use Norton
antivirus is approximately $3067. While it could save as much as $60,000.00 in virus prevention
and detection and approximately $21,000.00 in spyware infection and prevention. For an overall
ROI investment for the year at 25%. $81,000.-$1,349./$1,349.=25. There would be the cost of
renewing the software every year and these numbers could change from year to year but the
initial return on investment looks very promising and should be implemented as soon as possible.
References:
www.spyware-assistance.org
www.surferbeware.com
www.notebookreview.com
www.biz.netvigator.com
www.stopzilla.com
www.webroot.com
Return on Investment Paper
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6/18/2012