Antivirus software and a firewall are not enough protection these days. Here are areas to consider when you evaluate the
security of you information:
Physical Security
You used to be able to purchase a regular firewall and your network was protected from the outside. Due to increased threats, firewall manufactures have added features like Intrusion Detection and Content Filtering. It is just as important to check the traffic coming through your network and proactively protect instead of reacting to an event.
Social Hacking
It is a proven fact that the weakest security link in your business is people. Many businesses choose convenience over security. The
more convenient the process, the less secure it is likely to be. This is why items like password policies where you have
requirements for length, lockout, and frequency of change, are more important today than ever. You must also educate your users to
the risk and have them take the common sense approach. If your user is not sure, err on the side of caution. Treat the security of
your information like you would treat your home. Locking your door is more secure than just keeping it closed, and you never open
the door without checking to see who it is.
Ransomware
Ransomware has become the fastest growing segment of information security risk. Ransomware takes a legit security function of windows
and enables a malicious payload to encrypt your data. To retrieve your data, you are asked to pay a ransom. The premise is that when
you pay the ransom, you receive the key to unlock the encryption of your files. Your files are not stolen, they are locked from you
being able to access them. Once encrypted, you can pay the ransom, or restore from backup. This is why it is so important to ensure
you backup your data to a threshold of how much data you can lose before it has too large of a financial impact. Once your network is
compromised with Ransomware, your IP address information is sold for other hackers to try to exploit your network.
Updates, Updates, Updates
Many security events are due to software not being updated and/or patched. If you do not have the latest security patches or are running
on an unsupported software solution, you are at a very high level of risk of your information becoming compromised. Hackers look for
exploits in unpatched systems. Just visiting a website or opening an email attachment can compromise your system. You can have all the
latest antivirus and antimalware software, but if you don’t have the latest security updates on your operating system, you are running
like those software solutions are not installed. Even Mac devices require security updates to remain secure. Don’t leave your security
up to your users. Ask us about automating this task and allowing you to worry about one less headache.