New technologies and innovations are forever making our work faster and more productive. With the interconnectivity of devices, new cyber threats often arrive in a familiar guise. Email scams, adware, and spam can exploit new security holes in our systems. There always seem to be a different issue for you or for managed IT services to monitor. One step individuals or companies can take to reduce these risks is think about using adblockers.

If a company has remote workers, or often lets their employees work from home, using a different computer than they might at work, there is a potential to introduce third party risks. Only looking at large companies, almost two out of three in the United States will allow telecommuting periodically. That number has been on the rise. Even in small businesses, 62% of employees had been offered the option to work remotely. Network security may be compromised from home workers. There are new security concerns to consider with working offsite. These concerns are growing as a larger number of people work from home. Remote workers using ad block software may prevent a malware attack.

Ad blockers are usually downloaded into a web browser. They prevent the user from seeing ads on different sites across the internet. More importantly, they block a computer from automatic drive downloads from ads.

What damage can ads cause? Flash ads, or any using javascript, offer an opportunity for those with malicious intent to access your computer. The automatic downloads hidden within some ads can often be malware like ransomware. These attacks can hold data hostage after it has been encrypted, and can result in the loss of important information. One in five small businesses will be hacked within the year.

There are other risks posed by malware. If your company has sensitive information stored on computers it may be vulnerable. Some malware allows others to view files or documents. Network monitoring may help companies stay safe online from malware, and prevent the loss of data or work. Almost half, 47% of data losses were due to users deleting information. But 13% of losses are a result of hackers deleting information. Ad blockers may shield information from the view of mischievous individuals piggybacking off advertising. Good managed IT services can provide online support monitoring and protection for your network.

While technology companies develop new and better ways to do business, staying safe online is one small way to protect your business. Security is a concern for the ever changing data landscape. You or your managed IT services have to stay prepared and vigilant. Long-term and more sophisticated attacks may not be apparent for a long period of time, but might start with malware from an online ad.