2020 Threat Report – Highlights

Webroot, the trusted antivirus provider utilized by NetAscendant, recently released their 2020 Threat Report which includes some interesting and helpful information.

Please see the following highlights from this report and tips on how to avoid becoming a victim:

Consumer PCs remain nearly twice as likely to get infected as business PCs

With many people working from home and on personal computers during the pandemic, be sure to confirm that your system is fully-patched and has antivirus protection. Also, you must ensure that your antivirus is receiving regular signature updates and that Windows patches are being applied in a timely manner. NetAscendant provides this service for our customer’s work computers, but you must ensure these updates are occurring on your personal machine, so that you do not put your company at risk.

Phishing attempts grew by a whopping 640 percent

We spend a lot of time discussing phishing scams and how to avoid falling victim. Remember that one of the most important considerations is “When in doubt, don’t act on it. It’s simply not worth it.”

Malware targeting Windows 7 increased by 125%

Remember, Windows 7 is no longer supported and secured. NetAscendant has taken action to move its customers off of Windows 7, but if you are using it at home, make plans to move to Windows 10 ASAP.