I am sure you have seen the commercials that are flooding the television stations, touting PCMatic provides 100% protection for a meager $50/year. I would advise you to review these forum discussions and reviews. Draw your own educated opinion, before you give up your credit card information. The truth is Cyber Security is a multi-layers approach that entails System Security, Server Security, Software Security, Network Security, and proper end user training on how to quickly identify threats.

Reviews:

http://www.complaintslist.com/computer-software/pc-matic/

Forum Discussions:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/523305/pc-matic-whats-the-good-or-bad-word/

I cringe when I hear this guy from PCMatic rave about how amazing his product is. Not because it’s as good as he claims, but because the truth is that no product alone can provide complete protection from malware, viruses, attacks, ransomware, and more. True security requires a multi-layered approach, which this product simply cannot deliver.

We can significantly reduce the risk and employ multiple methods to detect and eliminate malicious attacks, but there is no such thing as complete protection against threats from locally installed applications. I recently interviewed a security analyst and expert who confirmed my understanding and provided additional insights into the current landscape of cyber attacks.

The only way to get to nearly 100% Cyber Security rating is to do the following:

1. Hire a local or well established Managed Services Company/IT company to take care of you and provide the following:
2. Have the industry’s best Anti-Virus on your system and pay for the license annually on every computer on your network.
3. Deploy an Intrusion Prevention System or IPS on every computer on your network.
4. Purchase a Router/Firewall that has Anti-Virus on it and maintain the annual license.
5. Have a network IPS installed that monitors all traffic on the network.
6. Deploy an edge device like PacketVipre®, that allows you to block entire countries from even communicating with your internal network.
7. Keep all systems fully patched at all times, i.e. Install all Windows© Updates.
8. Keep all 3rd party application up to date, like Adobe Flash© and Java©.
9. Educate users not to go to known websites that harbor viruses: bit torrents, file sharing apps, porn, online gambling, etc. In essence, use good judgement and think before you click.
10. Do not click ads unless you know for a fact that the company advertising is legitimate. Make sure you do not have any other browser tabs or windows up when you do click the ad.
11. Don’t click links in emails that you are not 100% certain are legit and from people you know or do business with.
12. Constantly educate and train your staff on the emerging attacks and how to avoid them.

The reality is that criminals, also known as hackers, are becoming increasingly sophisticated every day, devising new methods to breach computers, steal data, and compromise identities. Because of this, absolute protection is impossible. As Greg Clark wisely noted, “A hacker only needs to get lucky once, while your system, network, IT staff, and information security team must succeed 100% of the time,” which is both impractical and unattainable. Therefore, PCMatic commercials that claim total security are misleading, create a false sense of safety, and are outright deceptive. Buyer beware.

In closing, though Information Technology and Information Security experts can greatly reduce your exposure to malware and cyber attacks, no Cyber Security solution is 100%.