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Aug

2021

Five Cybersecurity Statistics

77% of organizations saw more or the same number of cyberattacks over the past year.

Business owners recognize the new cybersecurity threat landscape. Criminals are targeting businesses in countries with more developed economies at a greater rate. The US and Canada are at the top of the list at 53%, with enterprise and midsized businesses being the most likely targeted at 50%.

15% of organizations shut down their business because of a cyberattack.

Businesses are feeling the impact of the large increase in attacks over the past couple years. Organizations cited employee downtime as the largest financial repercussions after an attack. Reputation damage, and theft of intellectual property were also on the list, but one in seven businesses reported they had to close their doors completely after an attack.

62% of organizations anticipate a ransomware attack in the next 12 months.

Ransomware is at the top of every list because criminals follow the money. Many businesses have no choice but to pay ransoms, which keeps the cycle of attacks high. Identity theft anticipation is a close second at 60%.

70% of organizations plan to increase their cybersecurity budget this year.

Businesses in all sectors are seeing the need to increase cybersecurity. Companies in financial services, transportation, and technology are at the top of the list for increased security. CEOs are realizing the minimum is no longer acceptable to protect the assets their business runs on.

58% of organizations believe they will face an insider security threat over the next year.

Increases in cybercrime will give employees the opportunity to initiate a breach both through misconduct and intentional theft. The move of many businesses to work remotely only increases this risk. Businesses have less control over their data than they did 18 months ago. The increase of cybercrime combined with remote data opens the door for abuse.

Business owners are being forced to take cybersecurity seriously. The solutions to the cybersecurity threat landscape change daily. If you are looking for a security approach that fits a need as well as a budget, reach out and see if we would be a good candidate.

Source: IDG Research Services; CSO Online

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Oct

2020

Social Media and IT Security

We are continuing the theme of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and talking about how hackers use social media today.

Think Before You Post
It is easy to get caught up in social media and overshare. Generally it’s a good idea to wait until your trip is finished to post pictures to social media. Posting while you are away from home could alert criminals to an empty house, or alert hackers that you may be on a shared network. Even something as ambiguous as “checking in” to your favorite coffee spot every day could give criminals access to your daily schedule and plans.

Social Media at Work
Many of us use social media in our business lives as well. There is a tendency to share more on these platforms to connect with others in our industry and seek out career opportunities. We’ve covered stories this summer of hackers using LinkedIn to tailor phishing attacks to infiltrate business email and data. It’s important to be conscious of the information you make public on all social media accounts. Hackers were using LinkedIn to connect with new employees and pose as in-house IT services. They were asking for username and password information for the internal business network convincing the user they needed to help them set up new employee services. We saw an increase in this tactic with the increase of new hires who were working remotely.

Passwords and Privacy Settings
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great opportunity to double check your security settings and update passwords on social media. These services change security settings often so it’s important to understand which of your social media accounts are open to the public and which are private. Many social media platforms offer two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA). If these are an option, they should be turned on and used. October is a good time to update passwords and make sure you are not using the same password on multiple platforms. More importantly, never re-use passwords on social media or other platforms that you also use at work.

Additional Reading

Click here to read our blog post on Password Management

Click here to read out blog post on Multi-Factor Authentication

Click here to access the National Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency tip sheet on Cybersecurity and Social Media

Quanexus IT Support Services for Dayton and Cincinnati

Request your free network assessment today. There is no hassle, or obligation.

If you would like more information, contact us here or call 937.885.7272.

Oct

2020

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Today on the blog we are featuring some great resources from the Federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. They published a handful of well thought out tip sheets in honor of NCAM. These would be great to share with your employees!

Today we are highlighting, Cybersecurity at Work, Multi-Factor Authentication, and Phishing tip sheets.

You can access all of the tip sheets from CISA Here, and click below for the three listed above.

Quanexus IT Support Services for Dayton and Cincinnati

Request your free network assessment today. There is no hassle, or obligation.

If you would like more information, contact us here or call 937.885.7272.

Jul

2020

Is TikTok Safe?

The social media app TikTok crossed the IT Security news threshold this weekend. Amazon sent an email to employees instructing them to remove TikTok from any mobile device that accesses Amazon’s company email. Amazon later retracted the email, saying it was sent in error, but the wave of news stories could not be stopped. Wells Fargo followed up by instructing employees to delete the app from any company owned mobile devices.

TikTok is a social media app where a user can create and share 15 second videos. The app launched in 2017 but has become wildly popular during the pandemic lockdown. TikTok is currently the 6^th most downloaded app in the world, with an 800 million user base. 30 million of those users are in the US and half of all users are age 15 – 25. The parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, is the most valuable privately held company in the world. TikTok filled the void after Vine was shut down by Twitter. ByteDance bought out Musical.ly, and positioned itself as the primary short video sharing app.

The app collects personal information like other social media platforms, but officials are concerned the Chinese owned app could filter personal information back to the Chinese government. There is no public evidence this has occurred. Another concern of US officials is the ability of a foreign government to have influence over a large part of the population during an election year. A third concern is the number of vulnerabilities TikTok has faced over its short life, possibly giving hackers access to its large user base.

This is not the first time the social media app has faced criticism. In 2019, ByteDance paid FCC fines for collecting data from minors. In March, it was found the app was accessing the clipboard of iPhones even when the app was closed. The app was banned in India last month with the country siting it was a danger to the country.

The app records users’ IP address, geo location, and search history. This is not excessive for a social media platform, the question is if the data is safe. This latest wave of criticism sparked by Amazon has other corporations and US lawmakers reacting, while the IT community continues to research and react.

Quanexus IT Support Services for Dayton and Cincinnati

Request your free network assessment today. There is no hassle, or obligation.

If you would like more information, contact us here or call 937.885.7272.

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