The University of California at San Francisco announced recently that it paid a $1.14 million ransom to regain access to medical school data that was encrypted during a ransomware attack. The incident illustrates a disturbing trend — ransomware attacks are steadily increasing, as are the ransom amounts being demanded. The average ransom demanded in attacks [...]
The sudden shift to remote work has led many small businesses to adopt practices that may be creating considerable cybersecurity threats. For example, several surveys find that as many as half of remote workers are potentially exposing sensitive company information by using unsecured applications and endpoint devices. The Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division has [...]
Firewalls have been an essential first line of defense in network security for decades, serving as the gatekeeper between internal network resources and the outside world. However, mismanaged or misconfigured firewalls are barely better than having no firewall at all. The massive Capital One breach last year illustrates the danger. A misconfigured firewall rule enabled [...]
Improving network security is a top budget priority for 2020 in most organizations, and with good reason — cybercrime is growing at an astonishing rate. Data breaches hit an all-time high in 2019, and analysts say 175 million individuals become victims of cybercrime each year. Increased spending won’t necessarily address the problem, however. In fact, [...]
Even with advanced technologies available to hackers, what technique do they use most often to gain access to sensitive data or spread malware? Phishing attacks. Hackers know it’s much easier to trick a human with a deceptive email than it is to trick or circumvent security software. Instead of trying to pick a lock, they [...]
Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game, with malicious actors and security professionals continually refining their tactics to stay one step ahead of the other. Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the game. While IT organizations are using AI to augment security, cybercriminals are also leveraging the technology to find new ways around defense mechanisms. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
