August was possibly the busiest month in the history of computer viruses: 800 new viruses were detected. Although this is not an unusually high number, four particularly widespread viruses - Mimail, Blaster, Nachi and Sobig - all seriously compromised security.

These viruses caused widespread infections and spread using a variety of methods. Thousands of companies worldwide found they were not protected against the viruses or had not appropriately patched their operating system.

Amid the onslaught, some businesses reliant on the internet may have questioned whether it is worthwhile to stay connected and must have feared that every moment of an IT manager's day will be spent updating anti-virus software and patching operating systems. But although there are disadvantages to being connected to the outside world, there are many advantages.

In a networked economy, businesses have the advantage of quicker, automated communication with their customers, suppliers and partners. Companies no longer need to devote so much energy to time-consuming manual processes such as snail mail.

[ Read more ]