DAW security
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:05 am
I'm curious about DAW security as far as virus/malware protection. Mostly I'm curious to know what you guys do to protect your DAW.
My scenario is this: I have a wired (ethernet) internet service connection to my DAW. Internet service is supplied to my house/office via broadband cable to a cable modem. From there it goes to a simple home/office WIFI router. I have a home laptop that connects to the internet via WIFI (also a couple of smartphones in use at the house) but my DAW connects via wired ethernet directly from the back of the router. I enjoy 90 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up. Pretty snappy. Wish the upload was a little faster but generally it's ok for my needs.
That ethernet cable is connected to the back of my DAW 24/7.
When I want my DAW "offline" I simply disable the local area network connection in Windows. When I need to get online, I enable that network connection long enough to get work done, then disable it again. But is that enough? Is it even really necessary to do that? I should mention, I don't have any virus protection on my DAW because of the intrusive nature of virus protection software. Most would agree, it's better to NOT connect your DAW to the internet but I find that method annoying especially when I want to get software updates or upload client projects to my file server (or Dropbox or wherever). I don't want to give up that efficiency if I can avoid it. I've been doing it like this for years and years. Seems to work.
But here's another avenue for heartache. I get a lot of clients who bring files in on portable USB hard drives now. Or they want me to save work in progress on their flashdrives or portable drives. This seems like a open door to trouble if their drive is corrupted with malware.
Is there a better way to remain secure and sleep at night? lol
My scenario is this: I have a wired (ethernet) internet service connection to my DAW. Internet service is supplied to my house/office via broadband cable to a cable modem. From there it goes to a simple home/office WIFI router. I have a home laptop that connects to the internet via WIFI (also a couple of smartphones in use at the house) but my DAW connects via wired ethernet directly from the back of the router. I enjoy 90 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up. Pretty snappy. Wish the upload was a little faster but generally it's ok for my needs.
That ethernet cable is connected to the back of my DAW 24/7.
When I want my DAW "offline" I simply disable the local area network connection in Windows. When I need to get online, I enable that network connection long enough to get work done, then disable it again. But is that enough? Is it even really necessary to do that? I should mention, I don't have any virus protection on my DAW because of the intrusive nature of virus protection software. Most would agree, it's better to NOT connect your DAW to the internet but I find that method annoying especially when I want to get software updates or upload client projects to my file server (or Dropbox or wherever). I don't want to give up that efficiency if I can avoid it. I've been doing it like this for years and years. Seems to work.
But here's another avenue for heartache. I get a lot of clients who bring files in on portable USB hard drives now. Or they want me to save work in progress on their flashdrives or portable drives. This seems like a open door to trouble if their drive is corrupted with malware.
Is there a better way to remain secure and sleep at night? lol