by Felicien | Oct 6, 2017 | Education
Thanks to an alert client of ours, a malicious phone caller was stopped in their tracks.
If you stay alert for suspicious calls and email, you can also avoid becoming victimized by hackers or scammers.
We have started to see an increase in these sort of telephone calls, so it’s wise to take the threat seriously. In these phishing attempts, the caller attempts to use social engineering to gather information or gain access through the phone.
In this recent incident, the caller claimed to work for an IT company and asked for remote access to the client’s computer. Thankfully, she detected some suspicious behavior, ended the call, and reported the incident.
Some key Red Flags to listen for are:
Intimidation or rushing the call, or falsely implying an urgency to the situation
Making small mistakes in knowing who/where they are calling or in their own identity
Requesting passwords, or other private or sensitive information
Requests to remotely connect when you have not initiated the call
Your gut instincts – more often than not, things just don’t feel right during one of these attempts
Other information to keep in mind:
IT will never call “out of the blue” and ask for sensitive information or to remote onto your computer – if you haven’t opened a service ticket, we would have no reason to call you – ask for the service ticket number
When in doubt; tell the caller that you will call them back – but only call us at {phone} or other advertised numbers we have shared with you in the past – don’t ask for the number to call back – call IT and reference the ticket number to be connected back to the technician
Know that Caller-ID information can be easily faked, a local number or even a recognizable number does not guarantee who the caller is
No one will ever be offended if you are on high alert and being security conscious
by Felicien | Oct 6, 2017 | Education
Equifax has suffered a major breach of sensitive data since March 2017. Millions of Americans have been affected. The first intrusion was discovered in March, and this agency’s central clearinghouse for sensitive data like driver’s license numbers and social security numbers has been stolen by hackers. It’s just another situation where the cybersecurity alarm bells are ringing off the hook.
The Chain of Events
The digital security company Mandiant was the forensic investigator for Equifax, hired to uncover exactly what happened and who was affected. The hack that took place in March had nothing to do with the Hacks from May through September. Regarding the investigation of the September breach, the report indicated that an additional 2.5 million Americans may have been affected. That brings the total amount of people who were impacted to 145.5 million. That is huge, and consumers need to be aware. Newly appointed CEO Paulino do Rego Barros stated, “I was advised Sunday that the analysis of the number of consumers potentially impacted by the cybersecurity incident has been completed, and I directed that the results be promptly released. Our priorities are transparency and improving support for consumers. I will continue to monitor our progress on a daily basis.
In written testimony, former CEO Richard Smith told the Energy and Commerce Committee, It appears that the breach occurred because of both human error and technology failures. Recently, adding insult to injury, the Equifax Twitter account recently sent customers to the site “securityequifax2017.com,” a bogus site that clearly plays off the real site’s web address: equifaxsecurity2017.com. The tweet, naturally, has since been removed, but this isn’t the first time the Equifax has sent people to the phishing site. Note that Google Chrome now flags the fake site as deceptive.”
What was Stolen and What’s Being Done?
So, what exactly was stolen and what’s being done about it? It appears that confidential personal information, such as bank accounts, medical information, credit card information were among the stolen data. This is about as bad as it gets. And if you had a credit report, the risk is high that you were in this breach. You actually have a 50 percent chance that some of your personal information was stolen. The investigation is ongoing, and Equifax is working closely with the FBI. It’s important to note that Equifax has been highly criticized for not revealing the breach soon that it did.
While Americans are getting used hearing about data breaches all the time now, the scope of this breach raises some serious questions. Many feel that the government should get involved. Some feel that Congress should create a universal data breach notification policy and increase data protection policies. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia will be pushing for legislation for stricter and broader consumer protections. In addition, Equifax plans to mail written notices to all consumers affected. Equifax’s current CEO, Barros, plans to take new steps to enhance its cybersecurity practices.
Steps to Take After the Breach
There are some steps consumers can take to protect themselves after the Equifax breach.
Place a credit freeze on your files. This action makes it more difficult for a person to open a new account in your name.
File taxes early. Do this before a scammer has the chance to. Tax identity theft is common today, especially when someone has your social security number.
Keep track of bank accounts and credit cards for charges that are unfamiliar.
Check your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Activity may indicate identity theft.
Place a fraud alert on your files. This will warn creditors to verify that it’s really you if someone is seeking credit in your name.
Why Identities Are So Vulnerable
As the scale of the Equifax breach sinks in, many wonder why our identities are so vulnerable. “It’s due to the fact that the triopoly of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion can collectively amass more than $9 billion collectively and even trade names without customers’ consent. Plus, consumers are largely powerless in being their own advocates. And the stark reality is that citizens and government are ill-prepared. Why are our identities such an insecure tradeable asset in the first place? If firms can make money on our identities, why are we not participating in the value captured? And the critical flaws in our identity analog system need to be fixed. Newer technologies and stronger data security standards need to emerge.” If not, the whole American economy could be adversely affected.
If you’d like to learn more about how to protect yourself or your company against cyberattack, contact {company} in {city} at {phone} or email at {email}. They are always happy to answer any questions that you may have. The experts at {company} in {city} will help educate you and get you proactive in the solution.
by Felicien | Oct 6, 2017 | Education
In response to the ever-increasing cyber threats on law firms, “companies are demanding a level of security. Pressure from clients is causing firms to invest and focus on cyber risk. According to the 2016 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report, 30.7 percent of all law firms and 62.8 percent of firms of 500 lawyers or more reported that current or potential clients provided them with requirements. Corporate clients are now demanding that law firms have detailed cyber-security plans and prevention tools.” But how can law firms deliver with technology constantly evolving and hackers investing new strategies to break in? The answer is to use managed services. Managed Services offers many benefits to law firms. Here’s a list of some of the benefits.
Enhanced Security
Law firms keep highly confidential data and information on clients and companies. The nature of this highly confidential demands the best of security. And if a breach of that information occurs, lives can be ruined and even the reputation of the law firm can be forever damaged. Plus, law firms don’t have the time to worry about the security of their network and computer systems. Managed providers give 24/7/365 security to law firms by protecting them against viruses, alerting them to suspicious activity and taking immediate, effective action when a breach does occur. Managed service providers use the latest software and applications to keep on top of things.
Technical Expertise
Law firms know the law but not technology, as it is always progressing. There are also constant new complexities, such as Bring Your Own Device to work. It’s these types of things that can affect security and revenue. Law firms need to be able to survive in the dangerous arena of cybersecurity. IT managed providers provide the most technicians with the most technical expertise and skill. The bottom line is that it’s in the best interest of law firms to take advantage of their technical expertise.
Compliance with Government Regulations
Client information is protected by law. For example, HIPAA has many strict records protecting patient medical records. If the laws aren’t followed, there can be both stiff fines and penalties for law firms. Hardware and software may be exposed to hackers just because the in-house IT team is behind with updates. Managed providers keep everything updated and in compliance with continually changing government regulations.
Easy and Fast Accessibility
Managed providers give attorneys and law firms easy and fast accessibility to files anytime and anywhere. It’s not uncommon for a lawyer to be in court and suddenly realize they need information from an important document that they didn’t bring along. With managed IT services, attorneys can have all of their files stored in the cloud and retrieve them on-demand from any carried device.
Coordination Between Multiple Sites
Most law firms operate a business from more than one location. With IT managed services, law firms can bring uniformity and the necessary coordination to function multiple sites. Most law firms don’t have the capability or the monies to do that. Plus, managed services can give security and lower the risk of network problems when doing this.
24/7/365 Monitoring
With managed services, there’s always someone at the helm. Managed services can help ensure a surefire way to control and avoid security breaches and hacker attacks all the time. This is something that companies cannot afford to do on its own, as it requires 24/7 labor and a significant investment in hardware and software. It’s helpful for all law firms, especially the smaller ones.
Manages Growth
Managed services are a necessity for business continuity and for revenue growth. When all law firms required a few printers, a fax machine and a couple of computers, managing growth was easy. There were no hackers way back trying to hack into computers. But today, there are many software packages, servers, and desktops required to run and grow a law firm. With a managed service provider, law firms are privy to the latest technologies in order to manage, monitor and grow their business.
Lower Operating Costs
There are many disadvantages with an in-house staff. The break and fix strategy is not a practical one for law firms with sensitive networks. In the long run, it actually costs more due to the fact that law firms lose productivity and money if there is a breakdown. The IT techs at a managed service IT provider fix a disaster as soon as it happens, which minimizes downtime. There’s no price tag one can put on a peace of mind.
All around, law firms should not ignore the many benefits of managed services. If you’d like to learn more about how to protect your law firm against cyber attack, contact {company} in {city} at {phone} or email at {email}. They are always happy to answer any questions that you may have.
by Felicien | Oct 5, 2017 | Education
Small to mid-size businesses around the country are considering how to maintain data security in the aftermath of one of the largest data breaches in history at Equifax. How can you ensure that your business has critical patches covered while still staying focused on operational effectiveness?
Recent national news regarding big data breaches in organizations such as Equifax has small business owners scrambling to understand what went wrong — and how it can be prevented at their organization. The reality is that the potential of a data breach can’t be eliminated completely from your organization, but there are plenty of ways you can minimize the threat and make plans to come back up to full speed quickly after a breach. Possibly the worst thing that you can do is start looking around in all directions in the hopes of shoring up your defenses. See how data security can become part of your ongoing strategic technology planning so you can skip the scramble.
Small Business Impact
Small businesses are every bit as vulnerable as enterprise-scale businesses to hack or data breaches, and sometimes even more vulnerable. The thought of having the personal and financial data of 143 million Americans stolen is enough to cause any business owner to get a bad case of the hives. Equifax’s security was violated due to the failure to correctly install a software patch, something that many small business owners can relate to as their internal IT departments are increasingly stretched in a variety of different directions. Installing patches and keeping software up-to-date is one of the first lines of defense for organizations attempting to reduce the possibility of a cybersecurity attack.
Dealing with Long-Delayed Issues
Many business owners find that there are hidden pockets of issues that could be exploited by cybercriminals, such as that one workstation that didn’t get updated from Windows XP or a proprietary platform that kept system administrators from applying a Windows patch, for instance. These risks may not seem significant by themselves, but allowing them to continue simply compounds the issues facing security professionals. Small businesses rarely have access to the same level of technical support as a larger enterprise, leading them to lag behind in both learning and application of ever-changing security principles. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop cybercriminals from targeting small businesses — a recent Verizon survey indicated that more than 60 percent of the breaches that occurred in 2016 happened in organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees.
Split Priorities
Staying focused on patching potential security breaches is challenging with IT departments in a constant state of damage control due to user needs and other ongoing, operational issues. This split priority provides the ideal breeding ground for security problems in businesses of any size. When there are not enough staff hours available to focus on creating a truly secure infrastructure and data privacy policies — along with ongoing training for business users and technology teams alike — businesses can find themselves in trouble. When IT teams shift their focus to security for the near term, they are often able to catch up on critical patches but will take heat from internal business units and leaders who feel that the technology team isn’t pushing forward critical business initiatives. It’s literally a lose-lose situation for understaffed mid-size business technology teams.
Dangerous Endpoints
Nearly everything today is an endpoint for your network: cell phones, laptops, tablets and WiFi hotspots are all crucial parts of your network as well as being at risk of infiltration by nefarious parties. While security concerns around these items are nothing new, the complexity of ensuring that you grant appropriate access to individual devices is growing as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) becomes a more widely accepted practice. Endpoint security solutions continue to morph and grow, with a great deal of misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding best practices. Any smartphone that can attach to your corporate network is essentially an endpoint, and must be secured — and that is true for VPN access from unsecured devices as well. The true danger of endpoints is not necessarily the technology; instead, the problem often lies in the lack of training, policies, and procedures being followed by business users. Simple antivirus and anti-malware protection are no longer enough.
Ongoing Training
Training around endpoints isn’t the only required training for business users. Every employee in the organization needs to be explicitly shown the dangers of clicking on links in questionable emails or online and how these actions can open the organization up to malicious actions. This proactive security training has been shown to reduce the risk of malware and ransomware being introduced by employees or contractors — which is important as phishing attacks are often launched on internal assets in an effort to get business people to click on a link or provide personal information. Simulated phishing attacks run within the organization may not get your technical team any popular votes, but they are incredibly effective in demonstrating how truly legitimate attacks can look in today’s world.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Having a proactive training and patching plan in place are solid first steps, but a truly holistic strategy includes backup and disaster recovery plans that you can trigger instantly in the event of an attack or physical harm to your location such as fire or flood. As Equifax has shown us, even the largest enterprise organizations can be caught off-guard and make decisions that later come into question during an emergency stop-gap situation. Having a backup and disaster recovery plan in place can allow your business to quickly react to a negative situation, minimizing the impact to customers and employees alike.
Ready to learn more about protecting your {city} organization from cyber attacks? Contact {company} today at {phone} or via email to {email}. Our cybersecurity team will walk through your current data security plans and see where we can make adjustments to shore up your overall security strategies.
by Felicien | Oct 5, 2017 | Education
The Sonic Drive-in is an old-fashioned and popular fast-food chain with roller-skating carhops and has almost 3,600 locations in the US. Just recently, it became a popular hit for hackers. The breach affected an unknown amount of its store payment systems. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that this may have led to a fire sale on millions of stolen debit card and credit card accounts. The first clue of a breach came to the surface when it was noticed that many of these accounts were being sold in nefarious underground cybercrime stores. Multiple financial organizations began to notice a pattern of fraudulent transactions on debit and credit cards that had been used at Sonic Drive-ins. Some of the cards were up for sale as early as September 15.
The Response
“Our credit card processor informed us last week of unusual activity regarding credit cards used at SONIC,” reads a statement the company issued to KrebsOnSecurity. “The security of our guests’ information is very important to SONIC. We are working to understand the nature and scope of this issue, as we know how important this is to our guests. We immediately engaged third-party forensic experts and law enforcement when we heard from our processor. While law enforcement limits the information we can share, we will communicate additional information as we are able.” The vice president of public relations at Sonic said that they didn’t yet know how many of its stores were affected.
The stolen accounts from Sonic is called “Firetigerrr.” They are organized by city, state and zip code and allows buyers to buy cards from Sonic customers that lived near them. This helps avoid an out-of-state transaction from being stopped. Cyber thieves usually steal credit card information by hacking into point-of-sale systems using the malicious software. So, this strategy is nothing new. The data can clone cards and use them to purchase high-priced items. The cost for these stolen cards was high, which is likely due to the fact that the theft was fresh. This theft bazaar caused Sonic’s shares to tank 4.4 percent and the stock is down. The company reported that “We are working to understand the nature and scope of this issue, as we know how important this is to our guests,” the company said in a statement.
“We immediately engaged third-party forensic experts and law enforcement when we heard from our processor. While law enforcement limits the information we can share, we will communicate additional information as we are able.”
The Last Known Card Breach with a Fast-Food Chain
This isn’t the first time that there has been a major card breach with a major fast-food chain. There was a security breach at thousands of Wendy’s stores that was extremely expensive for credit unions and card-issuing banks. And Wendy’s had a huge challenge trying to get a hold on the theft, which was due to the fact that the locations were independently rather than corporate owned. It’s the financial institutions that must make victims whole again. One of the major changes to ward off hackers is the use of using cards that are chip enabled. This makes it harder for thieves to counterfeit. As of March 2017, only 58 percent of Visa cards were chip enabled. Chipotle Mexican Grill also reported a breach earlier this year. Whole Foods Market also disclosed a recent breach. Even bigwigs like Home Depot and Target have been hacked.
The dangers of data breaches are very real for all industries today. Recently, it was learned that Equifax exposed the data of over 140 million people in the US. Hackers were able to access troves of names, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and birthdates.
While there’s no magic bullet to prevent hackers from attacking point-of-sale systems, there are steps fast food chains can take to lessen the chance.
Maintaining the most up-to-date POS software
Installing Firewalls and anti-virus software to protect the POS networks
Creating strong passwords and changing them often
Denying internet access from POS stations and terminals
Disabling all remote access
Educating employees about proper use of POS systems and security precautions
Protecting the hardware and software
Without a doubt, cybercriminals are costing the country money and companies revenue. It’s time for all businesses to take more action. One effective method is to use a managed service IT provider. These professionals update software, fix hardware and patch up holes. They also alert clients immediately if there is a breach. For many companies, the in-house IT staff don’t have the time or skills to handle everything. If you’d like to learn more about how a third-party service provider can help your company, contact {company} in {city} at {phone} or email at {email}. The experts at {company} are always happy to answer any questions.
by Felicien | Oct 5, 2017 | Education
Proper planning allows companies to protect data, systems, and people while keeping the business operational during a disaster.
The recent devastating hurricanes to hit the mainland United States and Caribbean countries and territories destroyed entire communities. Families, businesses, and governments were left reeling, forced to pick up the pieces, where possible.
The catastrophic impact of the recent storms reinforces the importance of having a sound business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Creating such a plan allows companies facing a natural disaster to follow a deliberate set of actions. In a time of chaos, having clearly defined contingencies can help leaders and employees weather a storm.
Business Continuity Defined
Business continuity plans allow a company to continue providing essential products, services, and customer support. In some industries, these tasks are critical for the company’s short-term viability, customer safety or meeting legal requirements. Disaster recovery plans, a subset of business continuity, often focus on recovering IT assets.
Business continuity includes the plans and arrangements that ensure that the essential products, services, and support can be provided, which allows the company to recover its property, data, and assets. It’s also a means to identify the employees, equipment, data, infrastructure, counsel, and accommodations that support business continuity.
While the recent hurricanes are the most recent, visible example of why business continuity is important, they are not the only incident where such plans are needed. Other actions that can prompt the launch of a business continuity plan include:
Other natural disasters such as blizzards, fires, earthquakes or tornadoes
Sabotage
Accidents
Power or energy disruptions
Environmental disasters such as spills, contamination or pollution
Communications, transportation or safety infrastructure failures
Cyber attacks and hacks
Threats and Trends in Disaster Recovery Preparedness
There are many threats, perceived or actual, that can shape a company’s disaster recovery planning. Here are some of the leading issues companies are considering:
The increasing number of natural disasters worldwide. A New England Journal of Medicine study indicated that the number of climate-related natural disasters increased by 300 percent from 2000-2009 compared to 1980-1989. The scale of these disasters has also grown and now affect more than 200 million people each year.
Disruptions may be more predictable. With massive amounts of data, often generated by connected devices in the growing Internet of Things, there’s an opportunity to predict some threats. With more advanced information, companies have more time to prepare for the disruptions, test plans and deploy resources accordingly.
Malicious cyber attacks continue to persist. The massive Equifax hack is just the latest in a litany of attacks where data is being stolen or held hostage.
Cloud computing offers an excellent defense. The growing use of cloud-based tools, data storage, and applications, gives companies more options when it comes to data recovery. Cloud providers usually have built-in safeguards for their services, including multiple data backups, universal access via devices and locations, and physical and digital protection systems.
Disruptions are the norm. The preponderance of natural disasters and rogue agents means businesses have no excuse for not having disaster recovery plans in place. Organizations need to embrace business continuity and disaster recovery as a cost of doing business.
Communications are expansive and expected. In the digital age, customers, employees, and the general public expect to have access to updated information about companies and services, even in the direst situations. Fast communications and frequent updates are the norms today and companies need to incorporate communications into their planning. Fortunately, the ubiquity of mobile devices and social media platforms means it’s relatively easy to disseminate key messages.
A Closer Look at Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery may vary depending on the industry and company but generally, focuses on a few core areas. Broadly, it’s the work a company does to maintain or recover access to data, software, and hardware needed to resume or continue critical business areas.
In addition, a disaster recovery plan needs to consider the human assets necessary to ensure continuity and ensure that the right people have the tools to ensure disaster recovery plans are acted upon. In some cases, those people may be dealing with their own personal issues in the throes of a disaster, so redundancies in personnel are important.
One key element of a successful disaster recovery or business continuity plan is the need to practice. Drills and scenarios should be developed to test systems, responsiveness, and efficacy.
How to Plan the Plan
How should a company begin the process of business continuity and disaster recovery? Here are a few key tasks:
Develop a risk assessment. Having a clear idea of the likely and unlikely risks and having specific plans for each possibility is an important first step. What natural disasters are likely in your area? What cyber attacks or events would have a significant effect on your business?
Detail the impacts. Once a threat is identified, play out the potential impacts of that scenario. Which customers would be affected? Which employees? Would inventories, documents, systems, services be impacted? What are the long-term risks to your customer base and your business?
Create the continuity plan. For each identified threat, a plan needs to be established, including the systems, data, people, and communications necessary. While some of these contingencies may be the same for multiple threats, each one should have a clearly defined plan.
Prep the people and technology. If key personnel is expected even in disasters, they need to be notified and trained about how they will be notified, where they need to report and what tools they will have. Employees should also be aware of how to exit buildings safely in an emergency and have access to emergency stores of water, food, radios, chargers, and flashlights. Services and data should be migrated to cloud solutions, backup facilities and alternate media well in advance of a disaster.
Protect the business. You should check with your insurance provider to make sure you have the right coverage and protection to keep your company whole when disaster strikes.
Time dedicated to planning can ensure that your business not only survives but thrives when facing daunting challenges.
