Free antivirus (AV) solutions for your small business may seem like you are saving money, but it comes with risks and limitations. It could cost more in the end. You should consider the following thoughts before deciding that this is the area you want limit spending.
Limited Features and Protection:
Free AV does provide basic protection against common threats, but businesses need to consider more than the basics. Advanced features included in paid services can include real-time scanning, behavioral analysis, firewalls, and better ransomware protection. They will also have features that can prevent employees from engaging in less-than-safe activities.
Inadequate Support and Updates:
Free AV may not offer timely updates or dedicated customer support. This will cause delays in receiving the latest virus definitions and patches. New threats and variations of older threats can show up anytime and anywhere which could leave your business exposed.
Ads and Pop-ups:
Free AV may display ads or pop-ups, which can be distracting and impact productivity. Moreover, clicking on ads could introduce adware and/or redirect you to malicious sites.
Limited Scalability:
Free AV is usually not scalable to meet your expanding security needs. Paid solutions provide more flexibility as your business grows.
Data Privacy Concerns:
Some free AV providers may collect user data for marketing purposes. This can raise privacy concerns, especially for businesses that handle sensitive or confidential information.
Lack of Centralized Management:
Free AV lacks centralized management capabilities, making it challenging to monitor and control security settings across multiple devices and remote locations within a business network. Decentralization also raises the concern that individual computers in the network are not updating at the same time creating the "weakest link" scenario. To add to this thought, employees may be able to turn off the protection on their computer without your knowledge. This is huge concern with solutions like Windows Defender.
False Positives and Negatives:
Free AV may have a higher rate of false positives or negatives, potentially causing disruption to legitimate business activities or failing to detect certain types of threats.
No Business-specific Features:
Business-grade AV often comes with features tailored to the unique needs of organizations, such as endpoint protection, email security, and network security. Free solutions may lack these business-specific features.
Uncertain Long-Term Viability:
The long-term viability of free AV is not guaranteed. Some providers may discontinue their free offerings or change their business models, leaving businesses without adequate protection. These providers are not obligated to announce changes or inform their user base of any changes.
Compliance Challenges:
Certain industries and regulations require businesses to adhere to specific security standards. Free AV may not meet these compliance requirements, potentially exposing businesses to legal and regulatory risks. In addition, cyber security insurance companies will often require more in you security strategy than "free" can offer.
While free AV can provide a basic level of protection, small businesses should carefully consider the limitations and potential risks mentioned above rather than rolling the dice. Investing in a business-oriented antivirus solution will offer better security, better features, and better support for the specific needs of small businesses.
Keep in mind, free AV is usually intended to demo a provider's solution and allow for 3rd party analysts to test their scanning engines. These provider's often caution against using the free versions as your protection strategy and may have legal conditions disallowing their commercial use.
Read another great article written by Lena Borelli highlighting free solutions for home users.