PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FROM THOSE WHO WANT TO DESTROY IT
CYBER SECURITY SHOULD BE TOP OF MIND FOR ALL BUSINESSES NO MATTER THEIR SIZE.
Ransomware, Malware, Viruses, Worms, phishing attacks and brute force attacks are just some of the many threats we all face when trying to protect our businesses from cyber theft and extortion. If a proper cyber security isn’t employed, you will find yourself held ransom by merciless cyber criminals. Criminals who demand 10s of thousands of dollars to get your data back, if they aren’t just mindless cyber worms bent on causing as much utter chaos and destruction and your security policies will allow.
The hacker is phishing for information. Like login information to your network or bank. They send emails that often look like are from someone legitimate such as your bank or some service you subscribe to like Netflix. They redirect you to a fake site where you unwittingly enter your information.
To combat this threat, you must have an outsourced IT company, such as ThrottleNet, crafting a strategy to combat all cyber security threats that will come your way. Even if you have an internal IT department, ThrottleNet will aid and validate your security plan by applying our years of best practices, including the sage advice of our resident certified Ethical Hacker.
NOW LET’S BREAK DOWN THE THREATS THAT ALL SMALL BUSINESSES FACE.
PART 1: “THE ROGUES’ GALLERY”
Ransomware is exactly what it says it is; software that holds a single computer or your entire business for ransom by encrypting all your data behind an encrypted lock and key with only 48 hours to pay up or lose the data forever. There is no cure, but there are many preventative solutions.
▶▶ MALWARE ◀◀
Junk software created to hide itself and its true purpose. Sometimes it waits. Biding its time until the command comes from whomever has infected you to perform its true purpose, such as grabbing all your keystrokes and your passwords. Which allows the bad actors to move on to the next step such as deploying a ransomware attack at your most vulnerable points.
▶▶ VIRUSES AND WORMS ◀◀
Viruses and Worms are mostly superseded by Malware but work in a similar fashion. These programs or code snippets target a known or zero-day vulnerability and attack your PCs (Macs and Linux Devices are not attacked because they are a smaller attack vector). They may hard lock your PC, steal your keystrokes, format your hard drive, delete your files, or replace their contents with junk, or any other anarchy these hackers dream up. You are especially vulnerable to these attacks if you don’t have a strong AV software and/or you have not upgraded your network to Windows 10.
▶▶ PHISHING ATTACKS ◀◀
The hacker is phishing for information. Like login information to your network or bank. They send emails that often look like are from someone legitimate such as your bank or some service you subscribe to like Netflix. They redirect you to a fake site where you unwittingly enter your information.
▶▶ BRUTE FORCE ATTACKS ◀◀
Sometimes hackers just take a sledgehammer to your network security and see if they can find or make a crack. They setup automatic attack programs that repeatedly try different combinations of random characters until they find a combination that will let them access one of your users’ logons. Once this happens, they will begin using various exploits to gain higher access eventually gaining administrative access. At this point, congratulations you are hacked.
PART 2: DEFEND YOUR BUSINESS
Be proactive, with a cyber solid defense plan the hacker can be kept out, and you can work in peace. A solid cyber security defense plan consists of several components:
BEST PRACTICE TRAINING FOR YOUR TEAM
▶▶ We train your team when we onboard your business as a client and continually produce videos that highlight emerging cyber security threats and end user security best practices.
▶▶ Using software to send period phishing tests to your team by sending emails that looklike real emails and training on how to avoid clicking those emails in the future.
▶▶ PATCH MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND ENFORCEMENT
- Proper patches are essential because much of the time the specific exploit the bad guys are using to wreck your network have been reported and fixed by your software manufacturer for some time. If you have patches deployed, you greatly lower the number of attack surfaces available to hackers.
▶▶ SECURITY PROCEDURES FOR PASSWORDS AND SENSITIVE DATA
- Your organization must have proper polices for passwords, remote network access, and file handling. Extremely strong passwords are must and easy to implement. We recommend sentences of at least 16 characters. An easy to remember phrase will make for a fine password.
▶▶ MALWARE/ADWARE DETECTION AND REMOVAL
- Your business must have the very best threat detection software available. Many attacks start as a malware and open doors wider and wider as the malware continues to install and undermine your cyber security.
▶▶ HEURISTIC THREAT DETECTING CYBER DEFENSE SOFTWARE
- Heuristic or learning software that compares a baseline of your network and can detect when someone is trying to brute force attack your password or strange activity such as unsanctioned encryption is taking place on your network.
▶▶ A STRONG FIREWALL WITH THREAT MONITORING
- A business class firewall that has an active threat detection software subscription is a must. Your firewall is the gateway to your business, so it is a prime location to detect hacking attacks and brute force attempts
▶▶ OFFSITE BACKUP WITH CLOUD REPLICATION
- You should have an image-based cloud backup. A device that takes snap shots of your network every 15 minutes and stores these snap shots in the cloud. While not inexpensive these devices are literally the last line of defense before the destruction of your businesses’ wellbeing. Cloud based backup if properly implanted will allow you to restore to 15 minutes Prior to the attack. If your backup is stored locally, if its part of the attack then it could be deleted or could backup the infected files or in the case of ransomware useless because the backup of the data it was meant to protect is now encrypted. Cloud based backup also has the added benefit of protecting you from other horrible disasters such as flood, fire, and theft of your physical devices.
While this list seems perhaps overwhelming it is by no means exhaustive and
continued study and research is needed to stay ahead of the hackers. That’s where an outsourced IT security and management firm like ThrottleNet can help. Contact us today to create your cyber security defense plan.
Click here for more information on our cyber security defense plans.
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BETTER?
Let’s schedule a FREE on-site consultation to see if ThrottleNet is the best choice for your business.
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