Hopefully your business computers are protected by an antivirus program that can stop viruses from spreading and remove them from infected PCs. This is good planning and part of a comprehensive approach to protect your information assets. But have you thought about what you would do if your business was attacked by the H1N1 "swine flu" virus? How would you contain the spread of this disease?

Your comprehensive disaster recovery plan addresses how to continue business operations if a fire or other disaster interrupts normal operations. It should also address a pandemic as well. Just like you have backups of your computer files, you should have backups for your personnel. Cross training employees to perform different job functions will provide the backup you need. Do it now before people start getting sick.

But how about employees that are not sick but don't want to (nor should they) come to work when everyone else is dropping-like-flies? Telecommuting can save your business and protect your employees that are still healthy. Telecommuting takes some planning and practice but it can be done with a small investment in equipment and software. Even if you don't buy it right away, developing a list of equipment, software and a project plan for implementation can save days of down-time.

• How to Write a Disaster Recovery Plan
• Work From Home - Is Telecommuting Right for Your Office?
• How to Decide If You Can Work At Home

Mozilla's Internet browser, Firefox has at least eleven critical security vulnerabilities that must be patched as soon as possible. Most of these security flaws exploit programming bugs in the Firefox software that expose users to drive-by downloads. These drive-by downloads require no user interaction and will allow a hacker that has attacked an existing site or created a fake website in order to entice unsuspecting web surfers to visit it and run his nasty code on your computer.

If you are running Firefox, you should update your software as soon as possible. If you have enabled the browser's automatic update feature, the software has already been patched. If your firewall or network is preventing the automatic updates, then in order to get the latest patches, start Firefox, click on "Help" and follow the directions provided by Mozilla.

Amongst all the whoop-la with the launch of Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, there was another record set by Microsoft. On Tuesday, October 13th, Microsoft released its biggest group of patches ever. There were a total of 34 security holes fixed across a variety of operating systems and applications. As the world and the press raves about Windows 7, let's not forget to maintain the systems that are currently running our businesses.

Two of the biggest applications that need updating are Internet Explorer (IE) and Windows Media Player. Most people realize that Internet explorer is used to surf the Internet. But what most people don't realize is that Windows Media Player also acts as a plug-in for IE and is used frequently to play multimedia clips and sound bites while you are surfing. Both of these applications have security holes that could allow a hacker to take over your computer. Be smart and run Windows Update.

If your business is planning on rolling out Windows 7 throughout your organization, then there are three things you need to do: Prototype! Prototype! Prototype! I have been experimenting in our lab at the college. It's not going to be an issue of "if" we are going to go to Windows 7; it is a matter of "when".

In my first attempt to install Windows 7 on one of the lab computers, the Upgrade Checker told me the on-board video card was not powerful enough to run Windows 7. I purchased our "standard" ATI video card that we use on PCs that need more video horse-power. Windows 7 installed just fine except there is not a Windows 7 driver for that video card and we cannot take full advantage of all the features that the video card has to offer. We are currently searching for a suitable drive now.

Before you make the move to Windows 7, it is to your advantage to prototype the installation on every basic type of computer in your company. We did and at least we know up front that there is going to be an additional $150 expense for each PC we want to upgrade.

In light of this month's massive data loss for users of T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone, I started to wonder if people really know who is storing their data. T-Mobile partnered with a company called Danger to provide a cell phone with tons of features. You can store your contact list, calendar appointments and photos. Fortunately, or unfortunately (now that its gone), your data was not stored on your phone but on a series of servers somewhere on the Internet. This is known as "cloud computing" and is the latest trend of Internet and wireless services.

I will not point any fingers, but I think Danger assumed T-Mobile was backing up the data, T-Mobile thought Danger was, and every Sidekick user thought one of those two "must" be backing up their data. Several weeks later, T-Mobile announced that it may be able to retrieve some of the data. This is little consolation for the business people who have already spent endless hours recreating their contact lists and calendars. It may be of some comfort to those who lost photos of once in a lifetime event (i.e. the birth of their first child, etc.) but all Sidekick users should be a little bit more wary about who has their data.

As more and more people and businesses start using cloud computing services like Google Apps and Microsoft Office Web Apps because they are easily accessible and "free," you may want to ask "Who is backing up your data?" and (more importantly) "Who else is looking at your data?"

Last week I reported that Apple Mac PCs were being attacked. Now the BlackBerry is being targeted too. The good news is that the BlackBerry's manufacturer, Research In Motion (RIM), already has a fix for it and BlackBerry users should download the patch and apply it as soon as possible. You can check for updates to your BlackBerry at RIM's website.

In the mean time, you can protect yourself by exercising caution when visiting websites or selecting links contained in email messages. If you get a "certificate error" when you visit a website, you are advised to click on "Close Connection" rather than continuing on to the website.

I was watching a webcast that was recorded last month where Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft executives were discussing the business aspects of their new platform of operating systems. What I noticed this time around (as opposed to the last time, AKA: Windows Vista) is there is not a lot of cocky Microsoft attitude of "let me tell you how to run your business' Information Technology department." I actually felt that Microsoft was extending their hand to the IT professionals of the world and asking "How can we help you."

At one point Ballmer said, "We have to help you make the business case." Wow! Microsoft has finally realized that "Because I said so" does not cut it in the business world. So far this is the right attitude that business leaders want to hear from Microsoft. What remains to be seen is, will Microsoft really deliver on the promise of helping IT professionals analyze and decide if Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 is right for your business.

News sources from the VB (Virus Bulletin) Conference 2009 in Geneva reported that cybercriminals were offering $0.43US for each infected Apple's Mac PC that hackers would give them control of. The most recent threat came from "Partnerka", a Russian organized crime group that is a purveyor of spam, spyware and other assorted malware, and crapware.

Partnerka commonly uses scareware tactics in order to get unsuspecting users to download their nasty software. They also set up bogus websites that offer "free" software and/or add-on programs for the Mac. What users end up getting is a variety of malware installed on their PC for hackers to use at their convenience.

If you are using Apple's Mac computers in your office, let your employees know that they are in the crosshairs of the latest hacker attack.

• How to Protect Your Apple Mac Computers

The other day I was at a client's site working with him on a business plan on his PC. He complained that the PC has slowed down since it was installed. I looked at his installed program list found his PC was loaded with crapware.

In a business environment crapware is not benign and yet is not malware either. It can and will affect the productivity and performance of your employees and your computer network. Most common culprits are programs that are bundled with your new PC. But not anymore. Apple is getting into the game of crapware. When presented with the option to upgrade my iTunes software (I really do love iTunes and my iPod) the updater program had already decide to install Safari 4 and the iPhone Configuration Utility. I don't have an iPhone and I don't want Safari. If I didn't uncheck these boxes on the installation screen, I would have been a victim of Apple's Crapware.

Moral of the story: Read the installation screen before you click the "Install" button.

According to security analysts at Purewire, hijackers hacked into the website PBS.org and reprogrammed it to serve up a malicious cocktail of dangerous web exploits. Within 24 hours of being notified of the problem, representatives at PBS acknowledge the problem and removed the malware.

"The above URL serves exploits that target a variety of software vulnerabilities, including those in Acrobat Reader (CVE-2008-2992, CVE-2009-0927, and CVE-2007-5659), AOL Radio AmpX (CVE-2007-6250), AOL SuperBuddy (CVE-2006-5820) and Apple QuickTime (CVE-2007-0015)."

Nobody and no organization is safe from the bad guys. They specifically targeted the part of PBS' website that provided content to children on the popular animated series Curious George. I know this because this is my daughter's home page. It just goes to prove that while we are living in the "Wild Wild West" days of the Internet, you can't be too careful.