The Egyptian pyramids and Great Wall of China were built to last forever. Microsoft products not so much. With increasingly short life cycles, most IT departments need to vigilantly evaluate their technology—including software and hardware—to determine when is the most cost-effective time to replace their systems, which includes workstations, servers, phone systems, and software.
Over time, old technology becomes too slow and too vulnerable to cyberattacks that software developers like Microsoft prefer to eliminate the old stuff to focus their attention on more highly used systems.
Windows Server 2008 has less than two years of extended support left. At which time Microsoft is completely dumping support. What can you expect if you choose to hold on and are using this old server after January 1, 2020?
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Thought ransomware was history? Think again!
Medical testing giant LabCorp remains in a state of disarray after a ransomware attack struck its offices over a week ago. The company is not saying how hackers got in, but one thing is certain—the impact is huge!
I’m sure many of you have already heard the devastating news of LabCorp, but if you haven’t the company reported “suspicious” traffic going over their network last Sunday. After evaluating what was going on, LabCorp’s IT department verified that patient records were impacted.
Several cybersecurity experts were able to verify the presence of SamSam virus on the network. SamSam is notorious for crawling networks quickly and infecting everything in its path (along with encrypting all files it comes across). With LacCorp, this SamSam attack is particularly bad. Experts estimate that over 1900 servers were impacted, amounting to likely millions of records.
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With standard password-based security procedures, you are likely protecting your network from cybercriminals simply with a username and password. But as passwords are becoming even easier to crack—especially when users use the same password for a variety of personal and work accounts as well as not keeping up with good password hygiene, criminals are relying on user credentials as a easy backdoor onto your network.
Many businesses have turned to using 2 Factor authentication (TFA)—a two-step verification—to provide additional security and validation that the person logging in is who they say they are.
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Back with a vengeance. A ransomware variant that’s been around for years rears its head again. But this time, is harder to detect and may cause much more damage to your business.
The malware (malicious software) that I’m talking about was recently upgraded to stealthily penetrate, infect, extort and ransom business-grade networks.
Cybersecurity experts recently detected the malware known as Rakhni on business networks around the globe. First seen in 2013, it has developed into a scary problem for businesses that care at all about their data security.
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Did you get an email informing you that you’ve been infected with a ransomware virus? You’re not alone. In fact, tens of thousands of emails flashing a bright red screen informing recipients being infected with a WannaCry virus infection has led some businesses to actually get infected with WannaCry (even though they hadn’t been before).
Many of the emails within the last couple of days actually encourage recipients to click on a link to get more information. By clicking that link, they’ve just infected their machine.
The next tricky new way cybercriminals are breaking into your network?
Using some of the same old tactics of old, but with a twist.
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In fact, over 93% of businesses admit that, if records went encrypted and there was no alternative to getting data back, they’d go all in to pay ransoms for encrypted files—including critical or sensitive data.
While most organizations won’t pay a ransom (ransoms range between a couple thousand and a MILLION dollars), recent investigations into healthcare cyberattacks have shown many willing to shell out as much as needed to recover their data and systems.
Why are some business owners willing to pay criminals?
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