The definition of Internet security has changed over time and now it is impossible to ignore the threat of security breaches. The threat to small businesses has especially increased from hacking of the email server or documents to loss of valuable data due to malicious attacks. Intellectual property may also be stolen due to lapse in Internet security.

The problem is that many small businesses implement tough Internet security measures only after becoming the target. This results in tremendous loss in property as well as reputation. There is an imperative need for small business owners to wake up to the threat posed by such breaches. The businesses need to be informed about the present threats and guard their data accordingly. Basic steps that can help employees is setting rights permissions to documents and encrypting all email. Copyrighting the content on a website is also useful against intellectual property theft.

Some of the best business packages for Internet security are BitDefender Business Security, Kaspersky Internet Space Security, and Symantec Protection Suite Small Business Edition. These packages have been judged on the basis of price, servers supported, certifications, detection and cleaning, supported configurations etc. So I would highly reccomend to secure your system before you regret it.

A free antivirus email app offers a simple and effective way to manage your incoming email and stop spam. By allowing you to check and manage your email before you download it, MailWasher is a remarkably safe way to stop spam email before it ever has a chance to infect your computer. The non-expiring app works with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, Incredimail, Thunderbird and more.

This is a great way to turn the tables on spammers because it fools them into thinking they've reached an invalid address. It also allows you to add bounced senders to a blacklist so that all future spam attempts will automatically bounce back to them. MailWasher's comprehensive anti-spam tools include personal friends lists and blacklists, customizable filters, external blacklists, bayesian spam filtering and email virus filtering.

Security software firm Intego has identified a new piece of malware that masquerades as an antivirus program called MACDefender. This is in no way associated with the German company called MacDefender that runs the MacDefender.org website and writes geocaching and other GPS-related software.

In order for you computer to be infected by MACDefender, you must visit a poisoned website, allow the web browser to open files after the file downloads itself, and then enter an admin password in the installer. MACDefender then adds itself to the login items, displays a menu bar icon, and appears to be a legitimate antivirus program. The goal of the malware, however, is to scam users into paying for the program and possibly steal credit card numbers as well. To that end, it pops up notifications every few minutes that a virus has been found in an attempt to make the user think they're infected.