New reports by Symantec remind UK businesses that we mustn't stop talking about security, by David Bennie

A new report released by Symantec this week has suggested that hi-tech criminals are racking up more than 100 attacks a second on the world’s computers, and in the BBC news this week it was reported that while most of these attacks cause no trouble, the Symantec report does suggest that one attack every 4.5 seconds does affect a PC.

So what is causing this wave in attacks? Apparently it was driven by a steep rise in malicious software in circulation, and the number of malware (malicious software) samples that Symantec saw in 2009 was 71% higher than in 2008.

It has been said that the steep rise in malware was driven largely by the growing popularity of easy to use toolkits that novice cyber criminals are using to turn out their own malware. The threat to businesses here is that many of these toolkits now scour social network pages for details about employees inside companies and craft their spam and other messages to capitalise on the details they can gather.

In Britain, we are not the worst hit, however, it is essential that you give yourself and your employees a constant reminder that IT security is key to maintaining a safe and stable environment within your organisation.

According to a new paper from the Information Security Awareness Forum, PricewaterhouseCoopers, communication between disparate departments within a business can become difficult as more complex IT security planning takes place in UK businesses. Consequently, it has been claimed that IT professionals and business managers must better understand the many security issues created by the increasing demands placed on physical and information security resources.

The message here is to work together, communicate and keep the awareness of security importance always at the forefront of your business. Here are a couple of simple steps you can take within your organization to help keep you and your employees secure in the office, and at home:

· Learn about anti-malware for your business with Forefront security and download the free trial for 120 days.

· Download the free Microsoft anti-virus protection for your home PC from Security Essentials (pass this round to all your colleagues too).

· Follow the virus protection and security checklist which outlines 10 steps to help keep your business secure.

· Browse securely, privately and with confidence by downloading Internet Explorer 8 for free.