What Does Cybersecurity do for Your Company?
Good cybersecurity measures ensure that all of your organization’s critical network processes are operating safely and efficiently at all times and that sensitive data is properly protected from cyber attacks and scams, while also making sure authorized individuals have the access they need when they need it.
How Much do Companies Spend on Cybersecurity?
On average, most companies spend about 10% of their total IT budget on cybersecurity. The final figure depends on a number of factors, such as industry, compliance requirements, customer services and so on. That’s why a consultation is necessary in order to determine your unique business needs.
What are Common Cybersecurity Issues Today?
Phishing
Phishing is when an attacker poses as some other trusted entity, in order to trick a user into giving up passwords and other personal information or downloading malware to corrupt and steal data (see ransomware attacks and credential harvesting below).
Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware attacks use a form of malicious payload, or harmful program unintentionally downloaded by the user, designed to steal their personal data or block their access to it until money is paid.
These attacks are most often incurred from phishing emails, as described above, or when a user accepts a download from an untrusted source. These programs can sit dormant in the user’s system a while before being triggered—sometimes even waiting silently for months before executing.
Credential Harvesting
Another common tactic used in phishing emails, by which the attacker tricks users into willingly giving up their usernames and passwords. In general, this is achieved by including a link in the phishing email that takes the user to a convincing but fake login page.
Once the unsuspecting victim enters their login credentials, the attacker is able to steal them. The attacker can then sell the information to another party or use it for themselves in order to access the victim’s accounts and steal money, data, and other resources.
IoT Attacks
These are cyber-attacks that come from Internet of Things devices with access to a network, such as wearable tech, smart appliances, and so on. These attacks often install malware to steal or corrupt connected personal data.
Cloud Attacks
In these attacks, rather than targeting computers and network equipment on-site with an organization, the attacks target equipment that the organization accesses remotely for computing, storage, and other services.
Software Vulnerabilities
Hackers often exploit coding features such as SQL databases and buffer overflows to inject malicious content into your system’s software. Another common way for bad code to sneak into your network is through the use of unverified third-party code libraries. While using such tools saves valuable time, it’s important to make sure the sequences being borrowed haven’t been corrupted and don’t contain malware.
Your network is also put at greater risk by overly lax API software policies, which govern how your machines interface with one another, allowing hackers easier access.
Machine learning and A.I. Attacks
A model is only as good as the set of data that it learns from. Outside parties can damage the A.I.’s functionality by purposely feeding bad information into the process. By the time the error is caught, it may already be too late. If the model has been thrown far enough off course, it may even be necessary to start from scratch, costing the company a lot of time and money.
BYOD Policies
This acronym stands for Bring Your Own Device. These policies, as the name suggests, allow employees in your organization to use their own devices for work. The most obvious advantage is that it can save the company money by not having to provide as much of its own equipment.
However, there are some disadvantages as well. In general, a system in which everyone brings their own devices is less streamlined, making it harder for IT to coordinate updates and functionality. Also, employees don’t just contribute devices.
For better or worse, their personal devices also come with habits. It’s hard, for instance, to control what content employees access from their personal devices, or what sources they download from, putting the networks they join at greater risk. For this reason, it’s important that organizations with BYOD policies also provide extensive cybersecurity training training for their employees to keep them alert and aware of best practices.
Insider Attacks
When someone in an organization uses their authorized access to harm or steal money or resources.
Outdated Hardware
Old hardware lowers productivity and is less reliable. Data is lost and corrupted when outdated systems crash as well, putting the integrity of the whole network at risk. Not only that, but older systems reach a point when they can no longer be updated with the latest software, lowering both their functionality and security.
When a single device is compromised, it puts the entire network at that much greater of a risk.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Attacks
The most common attack involving blockchains exploits their feature of reorganization. By controlling the majority of nodes on a network, a hacker can double spend their coin and then force the rest of the nodes on the network to accept the new branch in the chain as the true network.
Transactions made in the meantime are lost, and the hacker receives both their original coin as well as whatever they used it to purchase.
Cybersecurity Education for Employees
A solid cybersecurity training strategy strongly emphasizes individual accountability for protecting data and includes guidelines on a number of topics.
Instruction commonly includes things like alert reporting procedures, password management, responsible software practices, identifying unusual emails and network activity, and more. In addition, there are current scams and response, social media policy, personal device policy, and best practice for protecting and managing company computers that need to be addressed.
Cybersecurity Training for Companies
If you’re not outsourcing your cybersecurity services to a managed cybersecurity service provider, there are a number of certification training programs available to keep your workforce up to speed. If you currently have a company providing cybersecurity as a service, it is standard for them to include some type of cybersecurity training program in addition to the other services provided.
What is a Cybersecurity Consultant?
Every company has different security risks and needs. The job of a cybersecurity consultant is to assess the various aspects of your business and determine the best set of services for your organization.
Much like our Microsoft Office 365 consultants, our cybersecurity consulting services are aimed at providing your and your business the best possible solutions for what you need, when (and sometimes before) you need it.
4 Most Common Types of Cyber Attacks (and how to prevent them)
Phishing Attack
These are one of the most common types of attacks. Posing as a trusted third party, a scammer attempts to trick victims into sharing sensitive data or downloading bad files. Scammers are getting more and more cunning, designing emails that look convincingly professional and sometimes even identical to the emails of the businesses they’re attempting to memic.
If it’s your first time receiving an email from a particular source, be extra cautious. Scammers will go to great lengths to deceive you, even creating websites for their fake business or imposters of real business sites. Don’t click on links sent in emails unless you know exactly who it’s from, and never share personal or business information unless you are absolutely certain the person on the other end is 100% trustworthy.
Malware Attack
Malware is software specifically designed to harm your computer or gain access to sensitive data you have stored. It’s usually downloaded by the user on accident, either from visiting sketchy websites or clicking on links in popups and phishing emails. You can decrease the likelihood of an attack by always making sure your computer is updated with the latest anti-virus software and using common sense whenever you download. Be wary of emails from unknown sources, and limit your file-sharing as much as possible.
A handy new tool for preventing such attacks is the use of behavior-based endpoint protection. Cybersecurity as a service is offered by several managed cybersecurity services providers that uses machine learning to monitor user and program behavior on your network and spot unusual activity. When a potential threat is detected, the user or program in question is effectively quarantined until cybersecurity experts can properly assess the situation, determine risk factors, and fix any issues they find.
Password Attack
Hackers trying to break into your account can try trillions of password combinations in a matter of seconds. The best way to keep them out is to make sure your passwords aren’t too simple. Don’t reuse personal information to create your password, and make sure you change your password at least once every few months.
Many hackers specifically target accounts that haven’t had a password change recently. It’s especially important to change passwords on all your accounts if one of them has been compromised, as hackers will try variations of stolen passwords on your other accounts, knowing that many people use the same or similar password on all of their accounts. Don’t be that person. It’s also a good idea to monitor the dark web to make sure your passwords aren’t there from previously breached sites.
SQL Injection Attack
SQL is a programming language that computers and applications use to communicate with databases. Hackers are able to exploit them by injecting code into queries that allow them to see data stored in the databases being accessed. Hackers can use this access to steal user data or make changes to the code that negatively alters how the program functions. There are techniques of writing queries, such as using “Prepared Statements” or “Stored Procedures,” that developers can use to keep hackers from altering the intentions of the code.
Another method is to use “Input Validation” so that specific portions of the code can’t be altered, which makes it more difficult for bad actors to sneak their bits into your database and disrupt your system. The right option depends on the specific situation at hand. An experienced cybersecurity professional can determine which option makes the most sense for your network.
What Companies Need Managed Cybersecurity Services?
These days, just about every company needs some level of awareness and security to protect their business. That said, some need more than others. In general, the bigger the organization and the larger the volume of sensitive data it handles, the greater the need. That’s why a consultation is necessary to determine what’s right for a particular organization.
What is NIST Risk Assessment?
This is a set of tests and analysis designed to determine the potential for various types of threats to your system and the impact they would have on your business or organization. Once determined, a plan is created to address the issues that were diagnosed.
For a detailed list of the steps involved, see the Cybersecurity Consulting & Strategy section above and you’ll see why we recommend having a professional cybersecurity service provider for your business.
What Does CIA Stand for in Cybersecurity?
It stands for the three guiding principles of cybersecurity, Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.
Confidentiality is about creating policies that safeguard sensitive data; Integrity is about making sure the information available in your organization is accurate, up-to-date, and isn’t corrupted; and Availability is about maintaining and protecting access to the data by authorized personnel.
