October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Is Your Organization Prepared?

MEDINA, OH (Oct. 4, 2017) – October , right NOW, is the perfect time for you to personally reflect on what you and your organization are doing in regard to Cybersecurity to find the holes or gaps in your system — because EVERY organization is a potential target.

Why is every organization vulnerable? For the sheer fact that you have an IP address (ie. are connected to the internet). It’s the only thing attackers need.

Here are just some of today’s Top Cybersecurity concerns:

• Cyber crime syndicates – large groups of professional criminals aimed at cyber crime specifically; small pros that can include rogue or unhappy internal employees, also called the ‘insider threat’ or ‘inner circle’ with the blatant goal of fleecing companies and people out of the money, intellectual property and personal data.
• Small-time con artists and their money mules and laundering supporters
• Professional Hackers, also called ‘hactivists’ who are politically motivated with the intent of causing undo strife, embarrassment and negative attention to their targets.
• Intellectual Property (IP) Theft and Corporate Espionage, aka white-collar crimes
• Malware, Botnets,Trojans
• Ransomeware holding access to your system for ransom can paralyze an operation
• Web Litter with malicious JavaScript redirection links
• Cyber Warfare performed by nation-states, think Russia and China
• Unpatched Software, lack of keeping your software up-to-date
• Social Media Threats by accepting rogue friend/application install requests
• Advanced Persistant Threats via Advanced Password Phishing Requests or Software downloads that one person accepts can compromise an entire organization’s system

Here are Vestige’s Top 3 Breach Defying Tips to get started:

1. Understand all of your weaknesses in your control environment.  If you have a firewall, malware protection and meet regulatory requirements (credit card, HIPAA, SOX/GLBA) and feel confident I.T. has your bases covered — that’s a good start, but it’s not enough. In fact, you are most certainly mistaken and are far from secure with only those controls in place. You’re just the type who are considered the low-hanging fruit — or ‘easy picking’ by cyber criminals.

We recommend starting with a comprehensive System I.T. Assessment performed by Cybersecurity Experts to look for and help close the gaps in your system.

2. Regular User Security and Awareness Training. Cybersecurity in the workplace is everyone in the organizations responsibility. Not just the I.T. staff. Creating a culture of cybersecurity is critical for all organizations – large and small businesses, academic institutions, non-profits, and government agencies alike. Simple steps include enabling stronger authentication of online accounts, being thoughtful about what emails to open and what links to click (Not sure? Ask IT before clicking), and setting strong passwords can help employees better protect themselves and your organization.

3. Have a Formal Incident Response Plan in Place and Update Regularly, because when you realize you’ve been compromised or breached – it’s already too late. A great model to follow is the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.

Don’t wait another day.  If you want to get started or have questions, CONTACT VESTIGE today and take the steps toward advancing your organization’s Cybersecurity.