Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

We know that cybersecurity isn’t the most interesting topic in the world, especially for a small business owner, this doesn’t diminish its importance. If you fail to adequately protect your business, even a low-profile SMB can fall victim to a cyber threat. It’s your job as the business owner and thought leader to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Phishing emails have been around for quite some time, and for their entire existence they have gotten the better of even the most seasoned employees. What exactly contributes to their success? What kinds of subject lines go into creating a phishing email that users find to be convincing enough to actually want to click on and follow through on? Let’s take a look at a recent study that might glean some insights into this.

When it comes to network security, businesses need all the edges they can get, especially since cybersecurity as an industry is one which is rapidly adjusting and responding to various threats, as well as their responses to those security measures. One way in which security researchers have attempted to subvert this security rat race is through artificial intelligence measures, a trend that promises to change the way businesses protect themselves for the better.

In a zero trust network, you trust nobody, no matter how long they have been around or how invested they are in your organization’s future. Everyone’s identity on your network must be verified, a concept that has been quite helpful in limiting data breaches. Today, we are going to discuss the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s definition of zero trust and what they recommend to businesses wishing to implement it.

Authentication is one of the most important topics on the table for discussion this year, particularly in regards to how the need for secure data access has been increased considerably during the COVID-19 crisis. How can you make sure that your data is being accessed in a safe and secure manner while also verifying the identity of whoever accesses it? Voice-based authentication might be one option. 

The Internet of Things, a collective term for the countless connected devices out there that have traditionally not been connected to the Internet, is a vast and dangerous territory for businesses to cover, perhaps now more than ever before. Unfortunately, this massive group of connected devices also tends to make itself a target for hackers who want to leverage these devices to their advantage. A recent hack shows just how much hackers can stand to gain from infiltrating these connected devices.

Some vulnerabilities can fly under the radar for quite some time, some for months or even years. This is the case with a recently discovered Microsoft Azure database vulnerability. The exploit, discovered by cloud security provider Wiz, is found in Cosmos DB, Microsoft Azure’s managed database service, and it’s a real nasty one at that. Let’s dive into the details and see what we can learn from the incident.

The password has long been the first line of defense against security threats, but what would you say if we told you that the password could disappear entirely from your Microsoft account? Well, get ready, because boy do we have news for you. Let’s take a look at what it means to go “passwordless” and what it could mean for your account’s security.

It’s good to go about your business with an abundance of caution, but sometimes this abundance of caution can lead people to see threats where they simply do not exist. In cybersecurity, this is actually quite easy to see happening, as cybersecurity is such a multi-faceted topic. But how much do these false-positive security reports wind up costing organizations?

Email is a crucial part of any modern business, but it’s not always the most fun topic to cover. It’s more of a necessity than something super exciting, like machine learning or automation. Still, this does not make it any less important, so why don’t we discuss some of the ways you can make sure your organization’s email server is as secure as possible?

The ransomware attack against Kaseya’s VSA servers for approximately 1,500 organizations was yet another major challenge for businesses to overcome, and while most of the affected companies did not give in to the hackers’ demands, others felt forced to pay the ransom. The problem, however, is that some of those who did pay the ransom are now having trouble decrypting their data, and with REvil MIA, they do not have the support needed to decrypt their data.

While there are plenty of ways for a business to secure its resources, there are just as many ways for your employees to undermine these protections… often without even realizing that they’re doing so. Let’s focus on some of the cognitive biases that you and your team members might experience when it comes to your security.

It seems like there is a new data breach every time we turn around, and in most cases, these breaches expose the personal data of many people. The most recent breach in this troubling trend is for the popular social media website LinkedIn. This breach exposed 700 million profiles, an event which led them to be sold on a popular hackers forum. The scary part? LinkedIn denies that there was any data breach.

The 2020 hack of SolarWinds saw a major disruption of the supply chain for many organizations around the world, including the U.S. government, but a recent survey shows that these organizations have felt varying degrees of effects from the hack itself. Furthermore, many have taken the hack as evidence that further information sharing must occur if we are to ever take the fight to cyberthreats.

Ransomware is a threat that has seen exponential growth in recent years. We have witnessed it grow from a minor annoyance to a considerable global threat. Even the U.S. Justice Department has issued a declaration that they would begin investigating ransomware in much the same way that they would terrorism cases. Let’s take a look at how this policy could change the way your business should respond to these threats.

Any organization that holds medical records or other healthcare-related sensitive data needs to consider legislation and organizations that govern the privacy of those records. In this case, we are referring to HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and HITRUST, the Health Information Trust Alliance. These two acronyms are incredibly important for healthcare providers in the United States to understand.

The recent hack of Colonial Pipeline has led to no shortage of problems, chief among them gasoline shortages all across the east coast of the United States. The pipeline’s operations may have been restored, but the question still remains: what could have been done to stop it, what can we learn from this incident, and what changes can we expect to see as a result?

Everyday life relies on software to keep going, a phenomenon that is perhaps most visible in the business environment. Unfortunately, it is this software that can prove to be the point of egress that attackers need to your network. Let’s consider a commonly overlooked aspect of IT maintenance—patch management—and why it is so crucial to a business’ operational success.

Data is one of—if not the—most essential resources a business has, which means it is essential that you take the steps to protect it in every way possible from every potential threat. This includes those that could originate from within your own organization. Let’s consider the case of Xiaorong You, who was recently convicted of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft by a federal jury.

One of the most terrifying situations your business can encounter is when it’s clear that you’ve been hacked. It can cause extreme anxiety regardless of what size of a business you run. The most important thing is to know how to react to mitigate the damage to your business’ network and reputation. Let’s go through a few steps you need to take if you’ve been hacked.