It is important that computer owners today protect their investment against threats. Computer security is not only for keeping your computer safe, but your personal information as well. In 2011, there were almost 43,000 incidents in the US alone involving data loss, data theft, privacy breaches and computer intrusions. The US Government Accountability Office has released data showing that cases of security breaches have been steadily increasing. Having an intrusion prevention system is essential. Antimalware, antivirus, enterprise firewalls and next generation networks are all important tools and software for preventing system breaches.

What exactly do you need to protect your computer against? There are many things. A short list would include trojan horses, malicious BHOs, keyloggers, spyware, adware, and dialers. Most of these basically involve taking information from your personal computer that networks are not usually privy to, or planting information on your computer in order to collect it in the future. For example, spyware is a form of malicious software that becomes installed on computers and collects information about them without their knowledge, over an extended period of time.

Users can fight against problems like these with next generation networks. New generation network security is software that tries to stay ahead of the curve in fighting malware of many types. This is important, since antivirus systems that only recognize current viruses and malware are helpless when new bugs are invented. Next gen network security is provided by a variety of different companies and brands. It is a good idea to read reviews on software before purchasing it to be your intrusion detection system.

Firewalls are often used for data protection, and they control ingoing and outgoing traffic, acting as a bridge that opens and closes between the computer and outside networks. Wikipedia, the online aggregate encyclopedia, lists enterprise firewalls as being the most sophisticated type of firewall. Enterprise firewall software is useful because it can handle security for a larger number of users. This makes enterprise firewalls good for companies that need a greater amount of IT security.