Microsoft announced that it will terminate support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. While January 2020 seems a faraway date, the clock is ticking—and security experts warn that 11 months is not a very long time to plan and implement a strategy to transition from the Windows 7 operating system.
With that announcement came a LOT of confusion about what exactly that means. Will you be able to run Windows 7 going forward? And what exactly does it mean that support is terminated?
Generally, Microsoft promises 10 years of support for business and enterprise software. This support period is split up into two periods: Mainstream Support and Extended Support.
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They might be giving away more than they’d bargained to.
Hackers have actually come up with quite a devious way to get information from your users. In effect, by asking them to verify their identity through logging into their Facebook or other social media account—they are on their way to steal your user’s identity.
What are these scams called?
It’s actually another kind of phishing attack.
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Recently, there has been a lot of chatter from people concerned that their devices connecting to the internet may be compromised or experiencing issues.
For many of these devices, you might not need to be concerned, as long as you are making a habit of following a few ‘good housekeeping’ best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.
I want to take a few minutes to remind you of a few easy ways you can make sure your devices—both in the office and at home—are secure.
Even if your device hasn’t been hacked, your accounts may be vulnerable because your email addresses and passwords have been compromised, published on the Dark Web.
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I was reading an article on cybersecurity the other day that had argued that cybercrime is inevitable.
Whatever you did, someone is bound to find a way in. The article briefly mentioned an attack that compromised nearly 773 MILLION email accounts and credentials and was underscoring a theme that has grown far too common among cybersecurity professionals: there is no hope.
I want to be clear here: I am NOT one of those professionals. There is certainly more than just hope when it comes to protecting your business or your personal information.
While this article suggested we not digitize everything and revert back to paper, what it misses is that most people do not follow through on very simple techniques to keep data secure.
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Before I delve into how many backups are enough I want to start with a little story from a hospital that hit the news cycle about a year ago.
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid the equivalent of 17 thousand dollars to cybercriminals because their network’s data was entirely encrypted. Every single file was locked down and no one—not even the IT Department—was able to decipher heads or tails of the situation.
Their best recommendation? Pay the ransom.
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A backup server run by the Oklahoma Department of Securities had exposed terabytes of sensitive data. The server was misconfigured. Millions of sensitive records were released. Citizens of Oklahoma were notified that their identities may have been compromised.
What I want you to realize is that the State of Oklahoma is NOT the only organization with misconfigured servers. When we are asked to assess an organization’s security, nearly 9 times out of 10 they have a server that is misconfigured leaving them vulnerable to a ransomware attack or data breach.
The server at Oklahoma Department of Securities was discovered in early December of last year. The simple mistake was that it was set to public access—allowing anyone to ping it and get information out of it. If a hacker was scanning organizations for open ports or ways to get in, this would be the equivalent of a box office at the movies giving away free seats.
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