On Friday, July 18th, a global update—codenamed “Falcon”—to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike’s software triggered events that brought major infrastructures and societal needs to their knees… despite affecting less than one percent of all Windows systems.
Now that about one and a half weeks have passed, let’s check in and see what happened, both leading up to this event and in the days since.
When it comes to network security, there are many common suggestions from IT professionals, like utilizing robust firewalls and antivirus measures. However, it’s easy to overlook some of these practices, especially if you are not necessarily a trained IT technician. We’re here to provide a short guide to three of the most common security pitfalls organizations like yours will likely face during normal everyday operations.
Ransomware is a real problem; I mean, a real problem. Not only does it create serious problems for any organization that is victimized by it, it is about to be a completely pervasive problem for everyone. It is extremely important for your organization to take the threat of ransomware seriously by implementing a strategy to keep it from being an issue. Today, we offer a three-pronged approach to doing just that.
It’s easy to think of email as something that just works. You open up Outlook or log into Gmail and your mail is there. Most people aren’t even aware of the vast, complex set of systems required for email to even work—and we don’t blame you. It’s extremely complicated.
That being said, if nobody is actively managing your email, providing protection for the underlying technology, and making sure that it was and remains configured properly, it’s possible that your email could be working fine while opening you up for unseen threats.
Cybercriminals aren’t looking to play fair against businesses. They don’t care how big or small you are, they don’t care about what services you provide, or what good you offer for the community. You could be a children’s hospital or a single mother selling homemade mittens out of your dining room, you could be a school, an assisted living facility, or a Fortune 500. Either way, your organization is an equally viable target for cybercriminals.
With Cybersecurity Awareness Month just around the corner, now seems to be the appropriate time to consider your own business’ cybersecurity. While there are many, many factors that contribute to how protected your business is against threats, one of the most impactful and insidious is how receptive your employees are (or aren’t) to security-centric behaviors.