The Computer Security Threat to Small and Medium Sized Businesses -A Manager';s Primer

The business use of computers has evolved with the widespread introduction of high speed data access at relatively low cost. This evolution allows many companies that formerly used computers as stand alone word processors or for database storage to network the computers and attach that network to the Internet. While this concept provides many benefits to the company including telecommuting and support to a mobile sales force, it also brings with it the potential for the introduction of computer viruses and hacking. This paper seeks to provide non-technical, easily understood, information for the business executive seeking to capitalize on the benefits provided by Internet access while at the same time protecting his internal network from viruses and hackers.