Nowadays almost all the activity of most companies needs computer systems. For this reason its unavailability due to attacks can have dire consequences. It is thus imperative to prepare your company to avoid being a victim of one of these dramas.   Origin of computer attacks We can classify computer attacks to companies as having one of two origins. Competing companies and individuals or organized groups launching mass attacks. In the first category are companies competing with yours that, maliciously, through a computer attack, try to cause you damage. There may also be other motivations involved such as theft of sensitive data for the business area in question, so they can gain an advantage over your business. In this case it is an attack directed specifically to you. The second set of origin includes individuals or organized groups that launch mass attacks over the network, with no specific target. The goal is to launch multiple attacks, more or less randomly, and succeed with a part of them. In this case, the less protected companies will have the greatest impact, while in the others may have no significant effect.   Expected consequences The consequences of a computer attack can be quite varied. Most of the time they cause an unavailability of the company's computer system which, in itself, can already cause large losses. As already mentioned, at the beginning of this article, the activity of most companies currently involves the use of computers. So, if these are not available, the most likely is that your activity will be stopped. On the other hand, attacks often also aim to compromise corporate data. Customer data, bank information, supplier data, among others. This data can then be used for various purposes such as to be sold or availed to harm the image of your business. They can even be used to blackmail and force you to pay a certain amount if you want to get them back. This technique was recently used in ransomware attacks.   How to protect yourself Most of the time computer systems are compromised by human failure. Opening an attachment on an email, visiting a website, downloading and running a file, may be enough to infect your computer system. One of the great points of virus propagation is precisely the email. Therefore, you should be careful when opening attachments or following links that are in the body of an email. Particularly if you do not know the sender, or something seems strange to you, you should be very careful. Visiting a website where you download and execute some file should also be a very selective procedure. Download files only from official sites you know. For example, if you are looking for a particular program, do not download it from a non-official site.   Conclusion Computer attacks are becoming more frequent in companies. Thus, it is important to protect your company, mainly through the adoption of safe habits, by all its employees.