Vote for Cybersecurity
No, this is not a political post. In fact, we know that there are some topics that don’t even merit an effort to try to discuss. They’re important, but differing opinions each hold their own value. But when it comes to cybercrime, we should all be a united front. There is one choice, and that is to make it a top priority with a solid plan to defend and uphold a business’s cybersecurity and the entire network from end to end.
Smart Appliances & Cybersecurity
And so, the season starts. Which one is it that we’re referring to? Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Prime Day…all of these sales tend to lean towards exceptional deals on electronics, and today that means the “smartest” of appliances are being purchased and set up in our homes.
By getting the latest and greatest, are we inadvertently putting a spy in our home? Do smart appliances have the ability to hear and see what we are doing?
We Don’t Negotiate
The United States government has been known to take a stand of ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists’ when it comes to discussions of ransom. Whether this has 100% certainty to it can be argued in more ways than we care to discuss here.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month
October kicks off 2020’s cybersecurity awareness month, and if this year has given us any type of certainty, it’s that smart cyber practices are a necessity. The uncertain, the unexpected, and the unknown all allow for hackers to gain our trust, and eventually access, into our personal and professional records without knowledge or permission.
Home Office Security – Never Too Late to Evaluate
We are past the point of whether or not working remotely, or from home, is something we are unsure of. It is likely our permanent setup, or at the very least, a long term one that we need to move forward with and in confidence. These recommendations should be for readers who find themselves in this situation as well as any IT provider that oversees clients and their cybersecurity.
It Was to Be Expected
We knew that any type of newsworthy topic was going to give cybercriminals so much opportunity – and COVID-19 gave them so much bang for the buck. Just because this was something affecting the world in a detrimental way would never be reason enough for hackers to take a break. They were going to take full advantage of the situation regardless of how much worse it could make things for people during their time of need or vulnerability.
Tell Me About Yourself
You can’t help someone effectively if you don’t know the details of their situation. So how can you determine what your clients need if you are not aware of what they are looking to achieve, the problems that they are trying to solve, or their behavioral tendencies when it comes to decision making?
Community Effort
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) division announced a final directive this week that requires all individual federal civilian executive branch (FCEB) agencies to “develop and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy (VDP) for their internet-accessible systems and services and maintain processes to support their VDP.”
End User End Game
The conversation around selling your services can get uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. We all have our own beliefs as to how we should be doing it, and few people want to acknowledge that they might be doing it wrong.
Start with marketing. Get your name out there, have a call to action, and a reason for them to respond to you. Simply sending out a postcard with your name on it isn’t enough. Engagement is key, along with giving them a reason to know that they need you!
Impersonation Nation
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is not a new term. BEC scams have been growing in popularity for some time now. If you’re not familiar with BEC, it’s when a fraudulent email is sent to a company or individual, and the email appears to be from a legitimate business resource or person, often varying from the legitimate email address by just a letter or two. There may be instructions within the scam email for the recipient to transfer money, purchase gift cards, click on a malicious link, or perform some other activity at the behest of the sender.