Let’s face it. Without our computers, most of us wouldn’t even be able to imagine how we’d get all of our work done. Computers and work nearly go hand in hand in today’s workplace. If not a traditional desktop computer, then many of us are relying on phones, tablets, laptops and other devices to get us through the day, help us remember all the minutiae that needs completing and keep us productive.
Unbeknownst to most, most of us are culprits of computer safety. Out of years of bad habits, we have made cyber hacking simple for criminals vying for data or access to our networks. While computers are the gateway for networking, getting things done, or even entertainment, they remain our biggest security risk.
Fortunately, bad habits don’t need to remain bad, especially when it comes to protecting your business network! Today I want to walk through 4 bad habits that have crippled businesses and left them victims of cyberattacks and data breaches.
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One recent network audit that we performed for a prospective client exposed startling skeletons that might be hiding out of sight on your network. Because events like the one experienced by our security team a few weeks ago underscore the importance of why you need to be concerned about protecting your network from cybercrime and hacks, today I want to share this story. I’m hoping this tale will help you identify some poor practices within your company and lead you to a securer spot when it comes to network security.
The Situation
The prospective client [here remaining anonymous] called our office to speak with one of our solutions engineers, explaining that their network has seemed chronically slow in the last couple of months and wanted an IT Support company to take a look at what might be causing the problem (their current IT Support vendor was unable to find issues with their hardware and were in a constant battle with their internet service provider (ISP)).
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The General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR, is the European Union’s (EU) privacy regulations will take effect May 25th.
This legislature is significant in that it is some of the broadest restrictions on how businesses protect individual’s data—both keeping data private and secure from breaches, in addition to increased measures of how businesses will be held accountable.
The EU is instituting GDPR to protect the data and privacy of anyone living in the EU (citizen or not). It doesn’t protect EU citizens living outside of the EU.
Since several of our clients have asked about GDPR, I thought I’d walk through some of the basics in case you either work within the EU or handle data relating to EU citizens. Here are some of the top headlines from the EU’s GDPR legislation:
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At this point, many in business are fully aware of the target on their backs. This target placed on backs of businesses—sometimes targeting CEOs, CFOs, and other key roles in organizations, or even targeting entire business networks—from cybercriminals looking to use and exploit sensitive information on your network for financial gain.
The issue with many business networks is they continue to rely on legacy infrastructure, are inadequately staffed for their IT security—either internally or outsourced—and are consumed with too many insider threats from unsuspecting users, all making a difficult security threat landscape even more threatening.
Some of the biggest threats to business security lie within your infrastructure itself. This includes devices on your network that either have outdated operating systems and platforms, all of which can easily compromise your ENTIRE network (and ALL of your data).
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In some cases, running the latest updates may not necessarily mean that you’re automatically protected from data breaches and data vulnerabilities associated with a specific patch. In recent weeks, a number of security experts have identified two major vulnerabilities found in many modern processors that can exploit access to memory that should remain private, ultimately allowing them to steal your business data (think credentials, email and sensitive data).
Microsoft has already released a patch to mitigate effects of these two vulnerabilities—and many hardware manufacturers are starting to follow suit by rolling out firmware updates to address their security flaws related to processor vulnerabilities. The big problem with these security issues is that they are difficult to completely fix and it can be difficult to tell if your computer has been completely protected against attacks directed at these security issues.
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One question that keeps popping up is “how do I know if my antivirus is working?” That question is not always clear cut. What I mean here is that antivirus is just one tool meant to help keeping your business safe.
There is no one all end all for business security—I wish I could just download a piece of software on every user machine and server and say “you’re 100% safe”. But the reality of our current cybersecurity landscape is that antivirus is just one of the many tools in your cybersecurity arsenal aimed at keeping your business safe.
In addition to antivirus, you need to make sure your patches are regularly updated, your team understands the current phishing attacks targeting businesses (in some instances, there are very targeted attacks on specific business verticals), you have ‘smart firewalls’ in place, a comprehensive and tested backup solution, backup disaster recovery and an IT Support team that can help your users navigate resolving their issues so that they don’t seek their own unsafe resolution paths (the list goes on!).
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