cyber security Archives

Are you Threat Monitoring?

June 18, 2019

Proactive Security Against Cyber Threats

Too many organizations leave their network security to chance. If everything is running smoothly and you’ve never encountered a security breach, proactive security solutions may seem like a big investment, but have you sat down with your MSP or IT Team and looked at the list of potential expenditures associated with a data breach? Cybersecurity risk is business risk.

The Ponemon Institute estimates the breach cost of a single record to be $148. A typical breach affects 3,000 to 101,500 records, with 40% of companies being down for over eight hours after a breach occurred.

Also, cybercriminals are constantly evolving their methods—and to make matters worse many small and medium-sized business (SMBs) are prime targets for cybercriminals. According to Cisco’s 2018 SMB Cybersecurity Report, SMBs normally have less-sophisticated security infrastructure and in-house security experts:

Threats typically targeting SMBs:

Malware
Phishing attacks
Illegal file transfer
Viruses
Ransomware
Botnets
Web app attacks
Intellectual property leakage
Email spam and malware
DDoS attacks

Here are 5 Tactics Where Treat Monitoring Can Assist:

Fast Threat Detection – receive immediate alerts or know your system is being proactively serviced by your local MSP.
Consistent Security Monitoring – monitoring is 24/7, 365. Security is not efficient if it’s not operating continuously.
Alerts – you should be receiving high-level alerts from your local MSP. The alerts help the client understand the MSP’s proactive approach on keeping their infrastructure safe.
Simplified Compliance Efforts – keep it simple and secure (learn, comply, and succeed).
Remediation – you cannot keep a secure / safe infrastructure without consistent remediation. Technology is growing as we speak – so you need a company or your technology staff to learn and educate. When you find vulnerable systems, you must outweigh the risks and upgrade when the funds are available. Upgrading systems has many additional positive factors as well. Upgraded systems – make your organization more efficient, while catering to your employees.

How can SecurityRI.com help?

We can provide a non-intrusive Network Assessment (health check):

Diagnose slowness, problems or concerns you may have with your network. Our IT technicians will convert the highly confusing tech-terminology into plain English language on what is causing the issues.
Confirm you have proper security updates in place
Verify your backup procedure and ensure its operating correctly.
Check the integrity of your server(s) and workstations
Monitor your overall system performance
Answer any questions you may have with the Health Check
Secure a plan on increasing your security measures

Have you changed your passwords lately?

May 21, 2019

Passwords

64% of people use the same password for some, or all, of their online accounts, while only 21% use a different password for each account.

Other recent survey’s find:

– 21% of respondents said that they used personal information such as their favorite football team, their pet’s name or birthdays when creating passwords. This is particularly risky because this type of information can often be found on social media sites.

– 43% said that the number of different passwords that they had to remember was ‘overwhelming’ and 30% said they had at least 10 different accounts.

– 8% said that trying to remember all their passwords was more stressful than a divorce or changing jobs.

– 40% said that they ‘remembered’ their passwords, followed by 20% who preferred to write them down on a piece of paper.

Only a few (8%) said that they use a password manager, a single sign-on service like Facebook or Google (4%) or kept them on a document in the cloud (1%).

We suggest the following when choosing passwords:

Each password should be different for each account.
Passwords should be at least eight characters long and contain special characters, lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers and symbols if permitted.
Use Two Factor Authentication when Possible
Change passwords often
Consider a password manager

Importance of Cyber Awareness Training?

March 7, 2019

Training

Does your business have employees? If so, your company should educate your employees on how to reduce the risk of Cyber Breaches.

This may have you thinking – Why do I need to educate my employees on how to reduce Cyber Breaches? Because, hackers drive off of human error and employee negligence leading the main cause of data breaches.

In 2017, data breaches cost companies an average of $3.6 million globally, according to a report from the Ponemon Institute. For smaller businesses especially, that price tag could wipe out the entire firm or tarnish the company’s image.

What are some topics I need to train my employees on?

Basic Habits – Many of the most dangerous offenses by employees are things that they might not even think about as risky behavior. In recent reports, a surprising number of workers surveyed admitted to bad security behavior at work; over 25 percent said that they leave their computer unlocked and unattended. Even taking notes on paper, or leaving papers out on your desk, can have unintended consequences.

Remote Work – Working from a coffee shop or home is nice and convenient, but it could also be opening your company up to a dangerous data breach. Remote work is increasing. Over half of hiring managers agree that remote work is more common and a third think it is the future of work. This can be dangerous if not trained properly because, Cyber Security practices have not yet caught up. A majority of executives agree that the risk of a data breach is higher when an employee works remotely, yet few businesses have comprehensive off-site policies in place for those workers. Over half of small business owners said they have no policy for remote workers.

What are some quick tips on implementing a secure landscape for my business?

Frequently Train your Employees
1. Phishing Scams / Email
2. Malware Awareness
3. Password Security
4. Social Engineering
5. Mobile Security
6. Travel Security
Secure Physical Access to Information
Dispose of Old Hard Drives Properly
Update the Workplace Policies
Update Remote Work Policies
Understand & Educate the Correct Flow of Information
Upgrade your IT Infrastructure
Heavy Communication

The above listed – is a start to a safer and more secure business for your employees, clients, and entire organization.

If you would like additional information, check out our training’s page

Cyber Security Trends to Watch in 2019

January 31, 2019

Cyber Security

Another year has passed, technology has evolved and new techniques have been learned – especially for the Cyber-Thieves.

With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and biopmetrics, hackers are using the two platforms as entry points when entering your technology device. Below we’ll highlight some of the expected threats in 2019, to be aware of.

Phishing Scams Will Become More Popular

If you think phishing scams were bad last year, 2019 will develop greatly. New attack types have been created, improved execution – especially, via e-mail.

3. Slight Decrease in Crypto Currency Attacks

In the face of huge commissions, slow transfers, a large price for integration, and, most importantly, a small number of customers, the use of crypto currency as a method of payment has declined steadily from 2017 and will continue to decline in 2019.

2. Improved Execution of Existing Attacks

In 2018, cyber attacks and data breaches continued to increase in both frequency and intensity, and organizations can expect more of the same in 2019, according to experts. The biggest cyber security event of 2018 is probably just the sheer number of data breaches that have occurred across industry sectors, some utilizing advanced attacks, others as a result of mistakes made by the affected organizations.

4. Mobile, in-app Malware

While malware that runs on the Windows operating system vastly outnumbers malware for any other platform, users of mobile devices are increasingly subject to malicious activity that pushes malware apps to their phones, tablets, or other devices running Android and iOS, according to computer network security company Sophos’ 2019 Threat Report.

5. Attacks through Theft of AI & Biometric Data

While several major leaks of biometric data have already occurred globally, the Middle East and Africa regions could see the first attacks in the theft and use of biometric data in 2019. As more biometric systems for user identification and authentication are being implemented by various financial institutions in META (Middle East, Turkey and Africa), 2019 will see criminals exposing vulnerabilities in passcodes, touch ID sensors and facial recognition.