Many business executives view cybersecurity as a technical problem to be handled by the geeks in the IT department. However, cybersecurity is very much a business problem that demands thoughtful investment and a strategic approach. Generally speaking, cybersecurity can be broken down into four major categories: prevention, education, detection and response. Prevention encompasses many of [...]
According to the Breach Level Index, nearly 5 million data records are stolen each day, which equates to 58 records every second. Of course, these figures only account for known and reported breaches. While high-profile incidents involving household names like Equifax and Yahoo make headlines, smaller data breaches are often kept under wraps. Also, the [...]
When the notorious thief Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he reportedly replied: “That’s where the money is.” Hackers have a similarly simple motivation for targeting senior executives and other key managers. They have the best data. Law enforcement officials and information security experts have noted a significant rise in the number of [...]
In one of his more popular compositions, the legendary jazz pianist Fats Waller advised: “Find out what they like, and how they like it, and let ‘em have it just that way.” The song is nearly 100 years old by now, but the message applies to the software needs of today’s workforce. When employees can’t [...]
In our last post, we explained why small to midsize businesses (SMBs) need to have a cybersecurity plan. Cyberattacks targeting SMBs are becoming more frequent and more expensive to remediate. Having a plan in place and following best practices goes a long way toward protecting systems and data. One of the biggest challenges organizations face [...]
Many small to midsize businesses (SMBs) operate under the assumption that hackers only target large enterprises. These SMBs believe they have nothing of value for cybercriminals to steal, or that they’re too small or obscure to be noticed. That’s a very dangerous assumption. In a recent survey of 1,069 owners of U.S. businesses with fewer [...]
Google has announced that non-HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) websites will have a security warning in all future editions of its Chrome web browser. In other words, HTTP websites will be labeled as “not secure.” In an age of high-profile data breaches, ransomware and seemingly endless security threats, what do you suppose a “not [...]
Historians debate whether P.T. Barnum ever actually claimed that there’s a sucker born every minute. Regardless of the attribution, the message seems accurate enough — people continually get duped into making very bad decisions with costly consequences. The technology age has enabled a whole new class of hucksters and swindlers. Preying on people’s trust, lack [...]
People tend to think of identity theft as a consumer problem. However, businesses suffer identity theft, too, and the consequences can be devastating. Criminals obtain business credentials such as employer identification numbers (EiNs), bank account numbers and credit card numbers, and use them to steal money, falsify records and defraud creditors. Victim businesses may find [...]
The massive Equifax data breach is a harsh reminder that organizations of all sizes should have an effective patch management strategy. Equifax officials recently confirmed that their failure to patch a known web server vulnerability opened the door for the breach that exposed sensitive financial information for nearly half the U.S. population. The credit reporting [...]
