It’s the most wonderful time of the year — for cybercriminals. We’ve entered the peak season for cybercrime, with various studies indicating that cyberattacks increase by up to 60 percent during the holidays. The Department of Homeland Security recently warned of an expected spike in a range of malicious activity, including unsolicited emails that contain [...]
Many organizations rely upon their employees prevent cybersecurity breaches. Employees are advised not to click on unknown links and attachments, share their user credentials, or use unapproved applications and services. And for the most part this strategy works — in a recent study conducted by Sapio Research, 79 percent of information security leaders said that [...]
In our last post, we discussed ways to improve the IT budgeting process in 2020 and beyond. Rather than simply allocating a percentage of revenue to IT, organizations should consider ways that IT can add value to the business. The right IT investments can increase profitability, improve productivity, reduce risk, and enable innovative solutions and [...]
Data breaches are on pace to reach an all-time this year, and the rising frequency of these incidents is driving organizations to increase spending on IT security measures. Gartner analysts predict worldwide spending on IT security will reach $124 billion this year. Network access control (NAC) technologies rank among the top spending priorities. NAC technologies [...]
Personally identifiable information (PII) is the holy grail when it comes to cybercrime. Hackers know PII can be sold easily on the dark web or used to commit identity theft. Healthcare and tax-related information is particularly valuable as it enables criminals to commit fraud over a long period of time without getting caught. While more [...]
In a recent study conducted by MSI-ACI Europe, 61 percent of IT professionals said senior executives expect more lenient security policies for themselves than everyone else. For 65 percent of study participants, that leniency resulted in more data breaches. The obvious question is, shouldn’t it be the other way around? Given the increasingly perilous threat [...]
When you’re constantly scrambling to keep the lights on and serve customers, it can seem expedient to make a user happy by changing a configuration, installing a new application, or adding a new device or service that the user requested. This may put out the fire of the moment, but it can also make your [...]
Windows Server 2008 has enjoyed a 12-year run, but after multiple extensions, Microsoft will officially cut off support on January 14, 2020. Windows Server 2008 R2, which is just one year younger, will also reach end of support on that date. It should be quite the retirement party with the Windows 7 desktop operating system reaching [...]
In January, an image-based malware threat that targets Mac users was discovered. The malware campaign, called VeryMal, uses malicious payloads embedded in ad images, which are delivered through an ad-serving domain. The URL added to the image attempts to trick Mac users into installing a fake Adobe Flash update. When installed, the user contributes to [...]
According to the 2018 BSA Global Software Survey, unlicensed software accounts for 37 percent of all software installed on personal computers, down slightly from 39 percent in 2016. However, the majority of countries in the survey still have software piracy rates of at least 50 percent, and unlicensed software still creates significant risk. More specifically, [...]
