One of the risks for the IT security of companies is the downloading of software. Sometimes the absence of a protocol of action at the time of downloading software can be downloading programs from the Internet can end up causing a computer virus to enter your computer.
In this post we want you to keep in mind some tips for downloading software without running risks that could compromise the security of your equipment and the proper functioning of your computer.
Open source vs. on premise programs, which is more secure?
A software or program is an application or tool that allows us to perform a series of actions.
There are paid programs and open source, or free, programs. In general, the programs are subject to a license of installation and use, so when we pay for the software, we are paying for the right to use that program. On the other hand, open source programs, or free license programs, are available to anyone who wants to download them.
What is the difference between open source programs and licensed programs, which are paid? First of all, if a program is open source, everyone can download it and try to check what vulnerabilities it has. A person with the right computer skills can identify bugs in old versions of open source programs and try to use them to his advantage to introduce malware on your server for different purposes.
For example, he may want to use your server to store his own documents. Or use your server resources to perform illegal activities, hiding his identity by using your IP as a bridge into a botnet or ghost computer network.
Therefore, open source programs are usually riskier than licensed programs, which does not mean that they are insecure. Because the main problem of any type of software is its programming and the security errors that it may have and can be exploited by third parties. The advantage of a licensed program is that the hacker does not have access to the code unless he buys the license.
When to download software from the Internet
Suppose you can’t find a program under a paid license that you can use. Here it is important to note that you don’t always need to download software. You can use software in the cloud, where the program is installed on the manufacturer’s or supplier’s servers and you only pay for your use of the program. You log in with your user name and password and do not have to pay for installation or maintenance.
In case there is no licensed program or cloud software that convinces you, there is nothing wrong with using open source programs, as long as you take some measures.
- Try to get a computer company to take care of the installation and configuration of the software especially if you need to install it on a server and you do not have IT staff in your company capable of doing it.
- Always keep your software up to date using the latest version of the program. Here it is very important to pay attention to which vendor you work with, because there are licensed software where the manufacturer has not updated the software for a long time and the software has important vulnerabilities.
- Implement security measures when downloading the software: download it only from the manufacturer’s site, scan the installation file with an antivirus before installing the program and check that everything works correctly after installation.
What to do if a virus has entered after installing the program?
Many times you will not be aware if malware has been installed on your server. However, after a while you find yourself with folders that shouldn’t be there. Or you see that server performance has dropped noticeably. Or there is some other type of problem related to the availability or performance of your server since you installed the program.
In these cases, it is of great importance that you go to a server maintenance company. This way you will be able to solve the computer problems that are affecting your server. Computer security is a very important aspect, because your data can be compromised if you have downloaded and installed a malware program without realizing it.
Call in computer experts to try to access your server and clean it of viruses, so that you can once again make safe use of the system. On the other hand, remember that using security backup tools allows you to keep your data protected, encrypted and safe.
Remember that you should only download software from the manufacturer’s official website. In addition, it is very important that you make sure that it is not a fake page. Through phishing, a website can be imitated to collect your data or make you believe that you are downloading the program you want.