Many varieties of ransomware begin doing damage as soon as they gain a foothold on the target network. They gain access often by Phishing techniques, credential stealing, or brute force attacks on internet-facing devices, and skillfully bypass or disable weak to moderate cybersecurity systems during installation.
A recent FBI announcement revealed that they expect that “telework software vulnerabilities” will be a major focus of cyber-criminals due to COVID-19 pandemic. (See the companion article in this issue.) With millions of business people now working from home in a hurry, each with potentially different devices, connections, firewalls and VPNs (or perhaps no firewalls or VPNs), now is the time to make sure your business is secure with remote worker security.
Attempts at Cyber Crime are increasing all the time, and the Coronavirus pandemic has given cyber criminals new logic and reasoning that they are exploiting in order to gain access to networks, install ransomware, steal personally identifiable information, and empty company and personal bank accounts.
So we’re in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic and your staff is now working remotely -- something you likely didn’t plan for and certainly were not ready for. Before you let your first worker connect to your office network from home, you probably installed new security measures to make sure they could work safely and securely.
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With so much of the business world almost instantly beginning to work from home due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the need to remotely collaborate with those we work with has become hugely important.
Every day you are hearing the news about data breaches all over the world: Equifax, Target, Microsoft...and just recently, MGM recently revealed that the personal information of over 10.6 million of its guests were posted on a popular hacking site.
Was the data of any of your employees found on that site?
Protecting your company data is one thing.
Patching software is one of the least expensive yet effective methods for preventing a cyber security breach or hack. It’s so important that Cyber Security Insurance Companies require that you have a regular patch management policy in order to qualify for their insurance.
As the history of cyber security unfolds, we’re seeing that the after-effects of any cyber security event gets worse over time. Now what we’re seeing is that the threat of Ransomware just got much worse with the advent of Data Exfiltration. In a typical ransomware breach, your data is locked up so that you can’t access it, grinding your business to a halt.
It’s our job here at Digital Uppercut to protect our clients from all kinds of hacks and breaches: trojans, viruses, ransomware, phishing, social engineering...all of it. And when we write about all the dangers that you, as a small business owner or manager face, we often talk about hacks and their immediate effects on you and your business.
If you have a Smart TV in your company conference room, break room, or spread throughout your offices as a perk for deserving employees, you may have allowed hacks, breaches, and privacy issues into your business. In December, the FBI’s Portland office issued a Smart TV warning that should concern everyone with a Smart TV. It seems that the features of these TVs which make them Smart also make them excellent portals for malware, which means you need to be concerned about Smart TV Security.