We have experienced a huge jump with our clients having rootkits, malware, and viruses in the past month. These are even with those businesses that have updated anti-virus definitions, and keep Windows up to date. The cause? Old versions of Java code that are exploited by malicious programmers.

Java was developed as a way to have code written for it once and then can be implemented on a variety of platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, etc.). The problem stems that it can bypass security measures on those systems to allow code to exploit a user’s system. This can then be used to directly inject malware, key loggers, or a variety of tools that can steal financial or proprietary information from your business.

Updating Java is key, but the issue is, unless you know how, older versions of Java still linger in your system. First, go to www.java.com and make sure you have the latest version of Java in your system. Once it is done updating, it should automatically check to see if you have a version that needs to be removed. If not, go to:

http://java.com/en/download/uninstallapplet.jsp

and make sure to get rid of these potential back doors for yourself and your business.

Feel free to contact us at sales if you wish to have us assist with this, or to thoroughly scan your systems and network for other potential hazards at your company.