4 network solutions organizations can use to defend against cyber attacks

IT & SECURITY

May has seemingly stolen October’s designation as Cyber Security Awareness Month as two crippling cyberattacks have placed cybersecurity in the spotlight once again.

The first major attack happened on May 7, when a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline forced the company to shut down its operations and IT systems, creating a fuel shortage in the southeastern United States.

Only after reportedly paying nearly $5 million to the ransomware group responsible for the attack was Colonial Pipeline able to regain access to its files and systems again.

The second attack occurred a week later, on May 14, but this time on the other side of the Atlantic — the victim being Ireland’s health service operator. The reportedly “significant” ransomware attack forced the organization to shut down its IT systems, which in turn lead to disruptions in diagnostic services, COVID-19 testing and hospital systems. (https://www.reuters.com/technology/irish-health-service-hit-by-ransomware-attack-vaccine-rollout-unaffected-2021-05-14/)

According to the Reuters article, Irish officials reportedly said they will not pay any ransom and that it will likely take “some days” to gradually reopen the network and services.

Ransomware attacks: What are they?

Ransomware attacks typically occur when malicious software finds its way into an organization’s network. More often than not, a user clicking on a link or opening an attachment is the catalyst for an attack. Once on the network, the software encrypts and locks files forcing users or corporations to pay a “ransom” to unlock these files.

Not only are such attacks costly due to the ransoms, but they are exorbitant in the damage in downtime caused to affected organizations, to their clients and related systems but also in potential fines due to HIPAA regulation non-compliance — especially for organization handling medical information.

Increased cybersecurity risk in the wake of the pandemic

Sadly, these and other kinds of cyber-attacks are not only becoming more sophisticated and increasingly prevalent, thanks to COVID-19 and the rapid move by many organizations toward remote-working, cybersecurity risks have only but increased.

Why is remote working such a risk? Traditional networks typically set up their defense by limiting potential targets, typically requiring users to access work networks by either already being within the protective walls of a network or, if the worker is remote, by allowing the worker access through a VPN. Where this system fails though is it assumes the user is to be trusted where in fact, the user in many cases is the weakest link to the network security.

With this kind of traditional security, one click by a network user on a malicious link, whether from within the office or remotely, and the whole network system is compromised — especially as bad actors, once behind the defenses, will often be able to move laterally through many systems.

Further, according to one study in 2020, only 53 percent of workers reported using a VPN when accessing their employer’s systems from home, exposing these networks to even greater risk — not even mentioning the security of the remote internet access points they used or if they used ever-vulnerable personal devices for gaining network access.

What To Do: 4 Defensive solutions against cyber attacks

This is why organizations today must shift away from perimeter-based, traditional network security to employ user-specific, zero trust defense architectures coupled with a robust back-up and recovery system to ensure minimal vulnerabilities, even down to the user level — the goal being ultimately to minimize the chance for infection and to ensure minimal downtime and damage if a breach occurs.

How does one do this?

Available these days through many managed network services (MNS) providers is a suite of solutions that together provide the protection needed in the face of increasing today’s ever-increasing cyber-attacks and their sophistication.

Here are some of those solutions:

Software Defined Perimeter (SDP)
This new solution replaces VPNs to provide protected, user-specific and monitored access for network users to access cloud-based environments, applications and services, all in a way that is flexible and easily scalable.

End-point Detection Response Solutions (EDR)
EDR software replaces traditional anti-virus by monitoring and analyzing activity to assess whether it is malicious. If any activity appears suspicious and is deemed to be a threat, the EDR software identifies and removes the offending malware while notifying network administrators.
This allows network security teams to rapidly identify and respond to threats, limiting and resulting in damage and downtime.

Email Filtering
Cloud-based email systems offer filtering solutions that work off an organization’s active directory coupled with AI to monitor user’s behavior and activities to detect anomalies or anything indicative of malicious or unusual activities. — So for example, emails sent by associates at 3 a.m. requesting wire transfers would be flagged, , not sent out, quarantine and a notification sent to network administrators.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) System
The purpose of a BDR system is to automatically backup your data to an onsite appliance and to the cloud. With a properly configured BDR system in place, an organization hit by a ransomware attack is more likely to avoid downtime and costs because the BDR allows them to simply restore from a backup in a temporary virtual environment and then resume working there until the infected production environment can be scrubbed and restored. Also, some BDR systems feature a ransomware scanning option that once turned on looks suspicious activity indicating files being encrypted. This utility, once it detects such activity, alerts network administrators so they can stop the process before it gets too far. This is a handy ability as often organizations infected by ransomware don’t know until some days later.

Wrapping up

So, while cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated, so have the solutions developed to defend against them — so take heart.

For organizations seeking to avoid making the news for another cyber attack … or to simply protect themselves from costly ransom fees, fines and downtime, the solution is easy — contact a managed network services provider to see how they can help you.

Talk to us. We can help.

As an office technology provider, we are also managed network services provider able to help your organization implement the defensive measures listed above and more. Need help? Have questions? Let us know.

5 reasons businesses are replacing their VPNs with SDP

IT & SECURITY

Remote working, once thought mostly a nice idea, and perhaps largely only practiced in the tech sector, is now quite common thanks to Covid 19. In fact, according to one Forbes article, over the course of the pandemic, 45 percent of both large and small businesses in the U.S. moved part of their staff to work remotely.

While during COVID many remote workers plugged away from home, as businesses reopened, mandates eased and vaccines were administered, many workers have returned to the office while others to coffee shops, airport waiting areas, client locations and so on.

Sadly though, as worries of coronavirus infection gradually wane, the increased mobility of remote workforces has opened up many businesses for potential network intrusions and data breaches as many of these roving workers are using unsecured free Wi-Fi networks.

Remote work from unsecured, public Wi-Fi — a recipe for disaster

While convenient, these wireless “hot spots” offer little to no protection for individuals conducting confidential activity online, placing themselves, their workstations, their associates and the businesses they work for at risk.

With the right equipment, software and connections, any malicious user on the same network can capture information shared via the hotspot, much like how in legacy home phone systems, a person can simply lift a receiver to listen to another person on the same line. That means personal information, business and client data and more can easily be fair game.

The solution once was VPN, or virtual private network access, whereby users could connect to their work networks via an encrypted connection, not allowing others to use the same wireless access point to “snoop” on their activity. However, as bad actors have become more sophisticated in their schemes, technology has changed and services are increasingly cloud-based, VPN is no longer the best solution.

So what is?

Introducing SDP

The new solution is a network access that provides protected, user-specific and monitored access to cloud-based environments, applications and services called Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP).

Over the years, SDP has been replacing VPN-based access solutions as virtual private networks have been shown to be inadequate for today’s working environments.

Here are five reasons many businesses these days are replacing their VPNs with SDP.

VPNs are not tailorable to the user

Just like how your custodian may have keys to the cleaning supplies closet but not to the human resources file cabinets, your network users need access only to the aspects involved in their respective job roles. Legacy VPNs do not allow you to easily customize levels of access for different users. Essentially with VPNs, once in the network, a user has the keys to the closet, the cabinet and the company car.

SDPs, on the other hand, allow you to tailor access to the user, only handing the user the keys to the closets, cabinets or whatever they need to do their job. Not only can you configure access based the on user, but on device or service as well.

VPN traffic is not monitorable or identifiable

If a network is like a country, a VPN is like an unmonitored bridge or tunnel through your border into your homeland. You may have a border, a fence, security and all sorts of defense measures in place, but if someone finds your bridge or tunnel and gains access, none of your security measures will matter. Likewise, while VPNs do allow for access and traffic between your remote users and your network, they do not regulate the kind of traffic or the user in how that connection can be used.

Using the same analogy, SDPs are like a border crossing with border control. Yes, while access is allowed to your country, parameters you put in place regulate who goes in and out, what they transport, how much and how often. Plus, just like how there are cameras at such crossings, with SDPs, you can not only regulate traffic flowing through the access point, but you can also monitor it too.

VPNs lack onsite user security

Using the example above, with legacy VPN systems, bad actors gaining access to your network can wreak havoc on your onsite users, their systems and your data as once in, they can move about freely on your network. They are essentially like a spy or saboteur that used the unmonitored, uncontrolled bridge to come into your country and foul utility systems to cause brown and blackouts.

SDPs stop such threats at the border, if you will, never allowing them to get anywhere near your network, its users or your data, keeping you secure.SDPs stop such threats at the border — and with VPNs, the border is not around the network perimeter, it’s placed around the device and its user. While VPNs focus more on securing the network perimeter, an SDP agent essentially secures each device, user and application on your network individually, no matter the location of the user or device — whether remote or in-office — prohibiting any unauthorized agent or activity from moving laterally within the network access its users or your data.

VPNs lack Wi-Fi security

While traditional VPNs can provide a measure of protection for remote workers accessing your network through public Wi-Fi, the weakness is both in the user and in their devices. Often, users for one reason or another may fail to use a VPN, opening up your network to be compromised, or the device itself may automatically connect to an unsecured network, without a VPN, or may automatically disconnect from the VPN, putting your network at risk. While VPNs though some effort may be configured to some degree to minimize these vulnerabilities, the result will still lack traffic visibility as discussed above, or the flexibility to work with cloud-based services.

Whereas users and devices can pose risks with legacy VPN systems, SDPs are zero trust platforms. This means they don’t assume users, devices or services accessing or operating the network are to be automatically trusted and as such, analyze everything and anything requesting network access before allowing that connection.

Not only does SDP take security down to the device level, not allowing any device to connect to your network unless approved by the SDP, but this system can also be configured to automatically connect your mobile workforce devices to the SDP, regardless of location or Internet access or user intentions — eliminating the risk posed by devices or users.

VPNs are not flexible

Unless you’re talking about vending machines, but especially in business, change is inevitable, As businesses grow, new locations open, equipment burns out, workforces increase, users go mobile and so on. Traditional VPNs, being perimeter-centric, do not adjust to such changes easily and require constant resources in time, maintenance and hardware to keep up.

Again, as SDPs are user-oriented, they are flexible and easily adapt and grow to meet the needs of today’s network environments, even integrating with the ever-proliferating cloud-based applications.

Summary

To sum it up, SDPs not only better protect your network users, business assets and data, but coupled with remote desktop server technology, can give your remote force better access to business applications with faster functionality.

If you would like more information about these solutions, contact us. We’ll be happy to help.

Fishing, Phishing and Network Security: It’s all connected

IT & SECURITY

It’s been said if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

In a kind of a corollary to that, Bob Black, the founder of RK Black, is said to have told our copier technicians that fixing copiers was only doing half of the job. The other half of the job is to teach our clients on the proper use of their copiers — thereby helping clients to possibly avoid or reduce downtimes in the future.

In both of these scenarios, whether it is fishing or using a copier, the education of the user is critical to maintaining life, be that for a person or for a copier.

Fishing, Fixing and Network Security

The same is true in network security. You can implement all kinds of network security measures — firewalls, VPNs, antivirus software, email filters and so on — for your organization’s network, but if you don’t teach your users how to recognize and avoid cybersecurity threats, you’re only doing half the job. You’re only throwing your users a fish.

Many organizations daily receive hundreds of emails bearing viruses and other forms of malware, many sent directly to user inboxes and others sent to group email addresses. But no matter how small or large your organization, whether you have two users or 200, all it takes is one click on a malicious link or one opening of a virus-laden attachment, and your network is compromised.

With one push of the index finger on the mouse, your user has effectively ushered the enemy into your network bypassing all of your network security measures. For many businesses, such an intrusion could mean thousands of dollars in loss due to downtime and maybe even fines.

Teach your users to fish and not be caught

That is why it’s so important, for the sake of your organization’s network security, to teach your users how to recognize potentially dangerous links and attachments, as well as other social engineering schemes — also known as phishing — and to avoid them. This way, they can join your organization’s network defense efforts and not unknowingly compromise them.

If you don’t know where to start on educating your users, read this and share: How to spot a phishing email.

But as another option, as part of our managed network services, we offer our clients a user-friendly training tool that can drastically help to improve your network security by training your users how to recognize and avoid social engineering schemes.

The tool not only comes with engaging, short, easy-to-understand videos followed by online quizzes, it also provides you with the ability to launch fake schedulable phishing campaigns to test your users and reporting to help you determine which users may need more training.

Conclusion

Educating your users is necessary for a secure network, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. If you’re interested in using this tool for your organization, give us a call. We’ll help you teach your users to fish.

6 tips for gaining and retaining organizational data privacy

IT & SECURITY

Keeping your organization’s data secure and private should be a top priority. Why? Because data breaches are becoming increasingly common, destructive, sophisticated and expensive.

According to Inc. magazine, for U.S. companies in 2019, the average breach cost $73,000. Furthermore, 8 percent of respondents to a survey of senior executives the same year said their organization had experienced a breach within the last two years and 12 percent, within the last 5. The same article said half of the breaches were not conducted through the use of malware, but rather using existing systems and stolen credentials.

So then how does one prevent their organization from falling victim to a data breach and private information accessed?

Here are some tips:

Shred confidential records

When it comes to moves, spring cleanings, organizational downsizings and old records, it’s easy to throw away the items you don’t need. It would seem like once they are in the trash bin, they are out of sight and out of mind. The trouble is, they’re not. Not only can dumping records bearing personal or confidential information bring hefty fines, it can open your organization to identity theft, corporate espionage, data breaches and so on.

The best thing to do is with any records holding any identifying information — such as names, addresses, account numbers and other information best kept private— is to shred them. Better yet, hire a mobile shredding company to come to your location and shred those documents in front of your very eyes. That way, these records can truly be out of sight and out of mind.

Use passwords and use them responsibly

Admittedly, passwords are annoying. However, they are increasingly necessary to protect you, those you work with, your networks, connected devices and data.

Here are some tips to make your passwords easy to use, yet effective:
Keep your password private. That means don’t leave it on a sticky note and attached to your monitor and don’t share passwords. Sharing your password takes down your first line of defense. All it takes is for the wrong person to get your password, and the sky is the limit for how much damage they can do.
Use a minimum of fourteen characters — a combination of symbols, numbers and upper and lowercase letters, making the password more difficult to guess. You can change out letters with numbers and vice-versa, like substitute “s” with “5” or “$”, “e” with “3”, or “a” with “4” or “@”, as examples — but make sure it’s not 2Pr3d1ct@ble.
Don’t use personal information. You don’t want your password easily guessed, so don’t use information such as your name, your username, your company’s name or such.
Make each password unique. By only using unique passwords for each login, you effectively protect your other accounts should one become compromised.
Use an easy-to-remember phrase for your password. For example, think of a hobby, a favorite activity, maybe a favorite vacation spot or a bucket list item or such. Once you have it in mind, transform it into a series of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. For example, “I want to hang glide” becomes “IW@nt2HangGl!de”. See? It’s strong, secure and relatively easy to remember.
… Or use a password manager. There are many options out there like LastPass, 1Password or Bitwarden that will generate secure passwords, remember them and populate them for you, but for business, you need something with a bit more power and more usability.

We have just the thing a password manager that not only, well, manages your passwords, but gives your team private vaults, secure shared folders, an administrative console, role-based permissions and more.

Use two-factor authentication

With two-factor authentication, should someone have hacking “skilz” and get your password, they still will not be able to get into your account.

Under such protection, when a login is attempted, the proper user will receive a notification on their mobile device requiring either a passcode or login acceptance. This way, if someone doesn’t belong accessing your workstation or account, you’ll be able to deny them access.

Regularly update your software

Just like passwords, software updates are annoying but necessary. Many updates carry patches or security fixes for known vulnerabilities and work to plug holes where bad guys can come in. We also recommend daily restarting your computer daily as doing so allows your workstation to receive and install updates, making it less vulnerable to cyber threats.

Educate network users

It’s been said that if you don’t know what the problem is, you can’t fix it. The same is true when it comes to your network and its users. Often the greatest vulnerability in a given network is its users, especially if they don’t know what a security threat looks like.

That is why it’s important to teach your users to recognize social engineering (otherwise known as phishing) when they see it. It’s likely every day they receive emails bearing malicious links enticing them to click them, only to download a nasty virus or ransomware package — potentially costing your organization thousands of dollars in damage and potential fines. Teaching your users to identify and avoid such threats can save you lots of pain and heartache.

If you don’t know where to start on education, read this and share: How to spot a phishing email.

Utilize VPNs

Sadly, Wi-Fi networks and especially public ones can be hacked. If a user gets onto a compromised network, bad guys can capture any and all information exchanged on the network.

That is why there is such a thing as VPN — virtual private-area network.

With a VPN, you can connect to the internet via a public hotspot, but then immediately access your organization’s VPN typically via a desktop icon. This then launches an encryption program that directs your online activity under the protection of your organization’s connection, blocking bad actors from viewing and collect your data or work.

If your organization does not have a VPN, we might know a certain managed IT services team (our own, actually) that can help you out.

Hopefully, these tips help you better protect your business and keep your private data private.

If you need help on implementing any or all of these strategies, give us a call. We provide office technology solutions to businesses of all sizes and we are here to help you.

If you would like any information on how to secure your network and data as described above let us know. We’d be glad to help in any way we can.