ISO27001 and Data Cleaning

At long last we seem to have seen the last of winter. … I hope.  It was the coldest winter for many years and as the country emerges from the recession we all need to be on guard for computer viruses, Trojans and malware:

Our homes tend to get a thorough Spring-clean at this time of year and so should our computer systems:

• We use Mc Afee as our antivirus supplier and in the package is an application to scan the whole disk or disks and clean where anything adverse is found.
• It also has a registry cleaner to remove all the odd bits left behind from various download, software installation and deletion. 
• A defrag utility to consolidate the disks.
• We always review our computer settings and permissions; adjusting where necessary.
• We review all passwords and check that they are not easy to guess, are complex enough and contain a minimum number of characters.
• We review our wireless settings and change the code.We review our PDA settings and if the voicemail pin is still at default  then change the pin.
• And finally we review our intruder systems and again change the ode.

These are all sensible precautions and provide the basis for any secure system.