Directive Blogs

Did you know that the United States is the leader in ransomware payments? According to a survey from Mimecast titled “The State of Ransomware Readiness,” the U.S. has the highest average payment for ransomware out of the entire world at more than $6 million per victim. These shocking numbers likely stem from high-profile ransomware attacks, but they are also indicative of a larger problem, that being people who still pay the ransom.

While cybersecurity is far from the most exciting thing a business can invest in, it’s certainly one of the most important parts of running any successful venture. Without cybersecurity, the endless number of threats on the Internet could infiltrate your network and create problems for your company.

Artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, is used in several different ways in various industries, but one of the most impactful has been with cybersecurity and its automation. On the other hand, however, are the hackers who use AI in ways that fly in the face of the efforts of these cybersecurity professionals and use AI for cybercrime. What are some ways that AI is used in cybercrime, and why is it so scary for businesses to handle?

Small businesses often struggle with technology, primarily because they either lack strong IT leadership or they lack the resources to ensure IT maintenance and management happens without a hitch. There are several mistakes that a small business can make when it comes to technology management. Here are four of the biggest and most common that you absolutely cannot afford to make.

It’s not unheard of for some threats to remain undiscovered for months or even years, as is the case with a particularly nasty one in the Microsoft Azure database system. This exploit, discovered by cloud security provider Wiz, is built into Cosmos DB, Microsoft Azure’s managed database service. Let’s take a look at the exploit and see what we can learn from it.

What happens when your company configures something on its infrastructure incorrectly? It turns out, according to a recent data leak, that a lot can go wrong, especially in regards to cybersecurity and the privacy of sensitive records. The affected software was not an unknown third-party application, but was actually Microsoft! How did one of the world’s largest software developers put out software that potentially exposed millions of records? Let’s dig into the details.

We’ve spoken in the past about security issues surrounding credit cards, but considering the many advancements and adaptations that have been made to the way businesses can accept payments, it seemed to be a good time to revisit this matter.

Let’s review some of the changes that have been made in the time since, as well as the ways that you can keep your payment cards more secure.

Another ransomware threat is out and about, this time targeting unpatched and end-of-life products in SonicWall’s Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series and Secure Remote Access (SRA) products. To make things worse, the threat is currently being used, so businesses utilizing these devices must take action now to limit how much damage this ransomware can do.

To say someone is adept at a task is to say that they are a professional, or someone with a considerable amount of knowledge that contributes to their ability to complete a particular task. In cybersecurity, this is extremely important, as the entire concept of cybersecurity is complex by nature. Your business too can improve its cybersecurity practices and shift focus to a more mindful approach to network security.

Security can be tough for small businesses to optimize, but that does not make it any less important. One such way that security can work against you is actually your employees’ predispositions toward it; the cognitive biases that your employees have regarding security can put your company at risk, even if that is the last thing on their minds.

Ransomware, ransomware, ransomware. Every day the news reports of a company, a hospital, or even a city getting hit with a cyberattack. It is to the point where it is becoming “background noise”. Unfortunately, many business owners have reached the point where they have begun to tune out the warnings and are lowering their defenses, exposing themselves to risk. Here are 5 misconceptions local businesses have regarding ransomware.

Cybersecurity is one of those components to an IT strategy that is absolutely critical; you cannot ignore it in today’s age of ransomware and other high-profile hacks. In order to make sure that you are prepared to handle anything that comes your way, you must periodically test your security practices and assess how well your team can prepare for attacks. The question remains as to how often you should do this.

Data breaches have become all too common for small businesses over the past several years and when it seems like there is a solution to one problem, something even worse pops up. Part of a comprehensive risk management strategy is identifying problems and doing what you can to keep them from affecting your business. Let’s take a look at the major cybersecurity threats small businesses are facing in 2021 and what you can do to keep them from hurting your business.

Does your business depend on technology from different eras? Are you spending more time trouble-shooting compatibility issues than chasing leads? Managed IT can bring your tech together and keep your team focused on their jobs and not the IT.

Almost daily there is another data breach reported that exposes data for hundreds of thousands or millions of people. This is a troubling trend. One of the most troubling events happened recently as 700 million profiles from the social media network LinkedIn were found for sale on a popular hackers forum. What’s worse is that the company isn’t admitting that it had been breached recently. Let’s take a brief look at this situation and try to unpack what is going on with LinkedIn.

Few things are scarier for a modern business to consider than the idea that they will be hacked, regardless of that business’ size or industry. After all, hacking can, will, and does cause significant damage across basically all aspects of your organization. This is precisely why it is so important that—should a business be hacked—the proper steps are taken in response.

With so many companies having to deal with security problems coming in from the Internet, they may think that securing against an attack coming in from the outside is where all their attention should go. This can be an oversight that could have dire consequences for your business. This month, we tell you why you need a security strategy that protects your data and infrastructure from all manners of threats—inside or outside your network.

For all the attention that we (and many others) give to cybercrime, people are still falling victim to hacks and scams every day. With most businesses operating more in the digital sphere than ever before, it stands to reason that they need to do more to keep from being a victim of a data breach or worse. Here are six things your business should do to keep from being a victim of a cyberattack.

Over a quarter of all data breaches happen to small businesses. The cost of a data breach is really prohibitive to your business’ operational and financial health. To keep your business’ data and infrastructure free of threats and relatively secure, small businesses will need a combination of useful technology tools and well-designed strategies. Let’s take a look at several steps your small business can take to secure itself from digital theft.

Over the past year, entrepreneurs have focused on how to do business during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The public health crisis has been an opportunity for fraudsters and hackers, and the result has been an increase in losses (compared to the second-worst period on record) by over 50 percent. Let’s consider the situation, and how it is—unfortunately—getting worse.