SCW Blog

Cybercrime is often thought of as a loner’s game. There is this misconception that all hacks are carried out by hoodie-clad people in dark corners of a room. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, we will take a brief look at organized cybercrime and why its growth is an ominous sign for businesses.

We like to focus our efforts on preventing data breaches and cybersecurity attacks, but it’s important to know what you should do if you do fall victim to such an attack. Let’s go over how you should respond to a data breach and what you must consider to come out on the successful side of it.

Ransomware is perhaps one of the most difficult types of malware to handle, and it has enabled cyber-extortion to flourish over the past several years. As a business owner, you need to know what ransomware is, how it should be addressed, and how to protect against it.

Your wireless routers do a lot of heavy lifting, and give a lot of devices access to the rest of your network. Protecting your personal and business data is extremely important, and if you can secure your router it can go a long way toward tightening up your network’s security. Let’s take a look at a couple of practices that work to keep your wireless Internet secure.

Passwords have been front-and-center for data security since 1960, but even their creator–MIT researcher Fernando Corbató–doesn’t think he should take full credit passwords. In fact, if you brought this up to the researchers who did create them, they would tell you that the security concerns for their time were much more limited.

Cybersecurity is anything but a new concept, and if recent and current events are any indication, the concept isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s take a few moments to consider some of the bigger threats currently out there, and how they will influence the threats we see going forward from here.

Google Chrome is a widely used and popular web browser, and because of its popularity, it is a common target for hackers. A recent study showcases how there are more zero-day threats being discovered for Google Chrome, but don’t despair; it might not be a bad thing for your favorite web browser. Instead, it could signify exactly the opposite.

It’s often difficult to figure out who and what you should trust with your business’ cybersecurity. How can you know for sure that each individual accessing your infrastructure is secured from threats? A zero-trust model can help by providing reassurance that everyone accessing your network is who they say they are.

News flash, cybersecurity is pretty important, and the Internet is chock-full of threats that you need to take seriously. However, with today’s youth practically growing up connected to the Internet, it becomes even more important than ever to ensure that they are aware of cybersecurity best practices early in their lives. To this end, Google has created a platform called the Be Internet Awesome initiative.

Privacy for business means a lot more than protecting the data and personal information of clients. It also extends to just about all data collected by a business, including that of the employees. How can you go about protecting this data without also violating the privacy of your employees themselves?

Cybersecurity is an incredibly important part of any business, but there are slight differences in various terms that can make for huge misunderstandings. For example, the average office worker might hear of “data breaches” and imagine they are “security incidents.” They might not technically be wrong, but the two terms aren’t exactly the same, either. Let’s examine the definitions and provide some clarity on these terms.

Sometimes you might be browsing the Internet and come across an advertisement for free downloads of Windows applications. Obviously, this is too good to be true, and hackers tend to exploit advertisements to spread their influence across devices. Malvertising is used to deliver various types of threats, all of which can cause considerable harm to unprepared businesses.

Certain methods used by hackers are more effective than others, and it’s largely in part due to these methods working around and subverting popular security measures. They might take on the look of a legitimate email or web source, like social media, in an attempt to convince the user that it is indeed a message they can trust. The latest in this type of hacking attack includes Google Docs.

Ransomware is a top threat, and it’s definitely not going anywhere anytime soon. To help you best combat it, let’s take a look at what you can do to keep ransomware from disrupting your organization and its operations. We’ll provide a brief overview of what ransomware is and what you can do to take the fight to it.

Phishing attacks are nothing new in the business world, and they will almost certainly become more prevalent as time passes. Unfortunately, phishing attacks have adapted their practices to get around advancements in security technology, so businesses must work extra hard to spread awareness of phishing to their employees and train them appropriately.

Network security is a constant problem for many organizations, and it’s mostly because of the many advanced threats that make their homes on the Internet. Businesses who don’t have dedicated IT resources or security professionals do not know how to handle network security or appropriately protect their assets. Let’s examine some of the more common threats that your business should be prepared to address.

If you look at all of the security-related headlines from the past year, what do you think the biggest trend is? Perhaps it was the plethora of large-scale ransomware campaigns that struck both individuals and businesses in spades. Even now, ransomware continues to make headlines by changing its tactics, with one of the more recent ones being in regards to fake ransomware.

When it comes to software solutions, many companies don’t have as much freedom as they might like to pick and choose the highest quality solutions available. Some companies might even opt to take advantage of free, open-source software simply because it is the best option that fits their price point. While there are benefits to open-source software, we want to encourage all users to also consider the dangers involved with using it.

Despite most security professionals advocating against making ransomware payments, according to a study by Mimecast titled “The State of Ransomware Readiness,” the United States has the highest average payment for ransomware out of the entire world at more than $6 million per victim. This number is shockingly high, as is the amount of people who are still paying the ransom.

It’s easy to see the headlines and think that a major data breach cannot happen to your business, but this is a dangerous mindset to hold. If you aren’t taking cybersecurity seriously these days, then you’re making a huge mistake. You need to implement security measures now before it’s too late.