Have you ever ignored emails from potential leads because you were nervous that they could be fake or malicious? In today’s world, we are taught to be skeptical of what crosses our inbox. Cyberthreats come masked in the form of trusted brands and lure users into sharing otherwise secure data. And while being crucial for business operations, email provides attackers with an opportunity to infiltrate your system. So, what can a business do to conduct business efficiently and safely? Here are four phishing prevention tactics you can utilize to stop hackers in their tracks.
1. Install Security Software on Your Computer
Hackers attack every 39 seconds – University of Maryland
As long as your computers have an internet connection, they’re set up for an attack. In UMD’s study, they found computers were targeted for attack more than 2,000 times a day. In the IT world, Secure Email Gateway (SEG) is one common path to phishing prevention. SEG is a device or software that scans employee computers for malicious content. An SEG blocks the delivery of the bad emails while allowing the delivery of good ones. And an SEG stops an email before it ever reaches its intended recipient.
2. Computer Updates
74% of attacks targeting U.S. businesses are successful – Expert Insights
Phishing sites are found 75 times more often on the Internet than malware sites. And more than one in five data breaches involved phishing. Hackers are not only increasing their activities; they’ve got a good likelihood of success. But if you’ve kept your data backed up, you’ll increase your recovery time and decrease downtime in case of a data breach. By maintaining backups in several locations and testing often, you’ll mitigate your recovery time — and save the reputation of your brand — in case of a data breach.
3. Train Your Employees to Defend Your Business
Half of data breaches are caused by machine and human error – IBM
When employees complete security-awareness training, they’re more likely to report a suspicious email. Requiring mandatory security awareness training for your staff will go a long way toward identifying malware the second it hits their inbox. Instead of acting as cybercriminals’ main targets, your employees can become your biggest defenders of business data after completing phishing security training.
4. Hire an IT Partner
60% of companies fold within six months of a cyberattack – Inc.
By far, small to midsize organizations take the brunt from a larger share of cyberattacks. But you don’t have to fight this David and Goliath battle alone. Your MSP can prevent the effects of cyberattacks on your business by enabling your computers with SEG, installing PDP, and training your team. Services provided by an MSP means you’ve got a partner in protecting your important data from phishing attacks. Outsourcing your IT security needs with an IT partner means you can let your MSP determine the best strategy for phishing prevention and protection, now and onward.
These threats are only the tip of the iceberg. Your MSP is your best guard against the threats posed by cybercriminals. Quit worrying about what emails your employees are being bombarded with and let NetAssurity be your 24/7 guard. Contact us for your security assessment today.
To be sure that your business is productive, efficient and capable of growth, it’s important to prioritize the health and functionality of your IT infrastructure. This will allow you to keep your critical data safe and your business operations up and running. Even in the event of disaster, IT consulting increases the productivity and value of your business. That being said, it’s not always easy to prioritize your technology obligations in addition to managing the other day-to-day demands of regular business operations.
That’s why you need to invest in IT consulting services with NetAssurity, which has a strong and reliable IT support team that can empower your business with the ability to thrive and sustain future growth. This blog highlights the three ways to benefit from professional IT support services.
1. Recognize Shortcomings
While your organization may be the best in your line of business, your in-house IT staff may be shortchanging your efforts. The IT staff may not have the professional expertise needed to advise you on how to implement the best IT solutions for your business. An IT consultant on the other hand will have the industry-specific knowledge plus years of experience to make sure your company is optimizing its usage of IT technologies. The goal is to continually streamline the procurement and integration of IT solutions to ensure any issues with your technology can be alleviated quickly and efficiently.
Recognizing bottlenecks is the first step to determine if you need expert IT consulting. An expert helps your business spot potential IT-related issues before they get the chance to greatly affect your workflow. This proves invaluable if your current IT department is only capable of patching up IT problems, instead of preventing or mitigating them. Recognizing bottlenecks is the first step to determine if you need expert IT consulting.
2. Avoid Wasted Money
While buying new software, hardware and equipment can save you money, purchasing unnecessary upgrades or updates can easily waste it. For example, some companies may choose to buy multiple moderately priced servers to run web services instead of incorporating one or two powerful machines with virtualization technologies. Other companies may make the mistake of purchasing expensive equipment for a project that requires intensive computing resources for a limited amount of time rather than using scalable, cloud-based services and paying only for the resources they actually use.
When you partner with NetAssurity, we’ll set you up with an affordable technology solution that covers all your current support needs. This way, you can seamlessly scale up or down depending on the evolving needs of your business. This is often the best service model for businesses looking to accommodate periodic, seasonal or other unexpected fluctuations in their workload without paying for underutilized capability year-round.
3. Protect Your Business
If left unaddressed, technology issues can become more than a severe bottleneck in your business’s day-to-day operations. They can also lead to serious problems, such as cyberattacks and lost revenue. If you rely on backup drives to save your files, you may be exposing sensitive information to potential hackers and leaving your business open to serious losses in the event of a data breach. Do you have a plan in place to detect and halt an attempted breach before it occurs? How about a backend disaster recovery plan in the event your sensitive data does get leaked?
If not, it’s time to patch up the security vulnerabilities of your company and hire an IT consultant. Not only will they be able to identify any areas that put your business at risk, but also provide the best mixture of IT support solutions for your unique needs. A managed service partner can help prevent extended downtime that could result in your company losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue.
It’s Time to Make a Change
If your business is suffering from any of the problems described above or any other IT concerns, it’s time to partner with a professional in IT consulting that can provide your business with tools, resources and expertise your business needs to succeed. Don’t wait until the problems are overwhelming to bring in the support you need.
Moving forward, we can expect to see a wide variety of sophisticated and complex cyberattacks, including social engineering, ransomware, DDoS attacks, third-party exposures and exploitation of cloud computing vulnerabilities. As suspected, many of these attacks and their devastating impacts can be linked backto when there were unsecured gaps that developed when companies and their employees were thrust from their secure on-premise IT infrastructures to remote networking capabilities.
The key here is that, at a time when organizations are at their most vulnerable and trying to take their first steps back to their office environment, malicious actors are continuing to ramp up their efforts. To combat an ever-evolving range of cybersecurity threats and compliance requirements, it’s time to invest in a plan of attack that combines new technology and integrations with tried-and-true best practices.In this article, the experts at NetAssurity will cover several best security practices to protect your network today and into the future.
Step 1: Determine Where Your Vulnerabilities Lie
Do you ever wish you had a way of identifying potential threats and how they could impact your organization before theyoccur? With a comprehensive security risk assessment, not only can you identify and mitigate potential threats, but you can pinpoint the source of the threat, understand that the threat will likely materialize, and recognize ways you can remediate vulnerabilities in your organization. Common tasks performed in a risk assessment include the following:
Review the adequacy of your organization’s existing security policies and procedures
Analyze threat and vulnerabilities, including likelihood and impact
Review agreements involving products or services from vendors
Review logical access and other methods of authentication
Check the configuration, usage and maintenance of firewalls, servers, and remote access systems
Create a report that documents the assets at risk, their corresponding threats, likelihood of occurrence and potential impact for future decision-making
Develop an assessment policy that defines what your organization must do to address and mitigate the identified risks
Step 2: Adopt Proactive Cybersecurity Solutions
Once you’ve identified the current and emerging threats posed to your organization, it’s time to invest in a cybersecurity strategy that covers all of your bases, including cloud security, network security, VPNs, firewalls, data backup and mobile device protection. This typically involves gaining an in-depth understanding of the assets your organization is expected to protect. Then, you need to determine the appropriate level of risk exposure for your organization andget to know the threat landscape. Lastly, you will need to create a multi-layered strategy that addresses the vulnerabilities of your current security measures.
Step 3: Turn to Your Employees
When it comes to mitigating cybersecurity threats, your enterprise and all of its stakeholders need to be savvy. The basis for preventing a cyberattack of any kind starts with knowledge of cybersecuritybest practices and the role you play in defending the organization from risks. When employers prioritize cybersecurity awareness training to address constantly evolving threats, it helps mitigate one of the most prevalent risk factors: human error. Some of the largest data breaches have occurred as a result of one employee falling prey to a phishing scheme that popped up in their inbox. Whether your method of prioritizing cybersecurity awareness involves creating a bulletin of cybersecurity news or routine sessions on secure browsing practices, it’s important to keep new and emerging cyberthreats in your line of vision at all times.
Step 4: Partner with a Dedicated Technology Partner
Last but certainly not least, you’ll want to work with a dedicated technology partner that can help ensure you accomplish all ofyour IT and cybersecurity business goals with ease. No matter whether you’re looking to ramp up your cloud security or double down on ransomware prevention and response, NetAssurity is here to provide you with a strategy customized specifically for the technology needs and compliance requirements of your business. No stress, no hassle, and no strings attached. Contact our team of security experts today.
Over a full year after a monumental shift to work-from-home, a number of companies are heading toward a hybrid workplace where employees have the flexibility to rotate in and out of the office and access what they need through cloud services. One potential roadblock to a successful hybrid workplace model is the upfront investment in tools and systems that can support a blended workforce. In this blog, we’ll discuss a few of these investments in greater detail and why it’s so important to implement them as soon as possible.
For more ways technology can change your workplace for the better, reach out to the experts at NetAssurity.
1. Enable a Digital Workplace with Tools to Conduct Business Anywhere
If you want to harness the power of mobile collaboration, it’s important to make sure that your team has the right tools to sustain a successful mobile experience. Are your workers able to do the same work from their laptop or cellphone as they can from their desktop computers? If not, invest in technology that can make key applications accessible.
To boost collaboration, you’ll want to set your team up with a digital toolset that can bring your entire staff together through email, video calling, group chat and synchronized calendars.
2. Take Your Collaboration Tools to the Next Level with the Cloud
In past years, enabling your business with advanced collaboration technology required complex, time-consuming and expensive infrastructure. But now, with the rise of cloud technologies and cloud-hosted applications, advanced collaboration is well within reach. Whether you’re looking to collaborate in real-time through virtual meetings or asynchronously through shared workplaces and files, innovative cloud services are sure to take your collaboration tools to the next level.
Cloud-based business applications are easy to deploy, maintain and access. Even better, your critical data and files are automatically synced and accessible from any of your internet-ready devices. No more confusion over which file version is the most recent or frustration over who can’t access a file off site. Some common cloud-delivered collaboration services worth looking into include Dropbox, OneDrive and M-Files.
3. Integrate VoIP with Your Existing Tools and Applications
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that converts voice into a digital signal, allowing you to make phone calls over a broadband internet connection as opposed to a traditional landline. And VoIP technology can integrate different multimedia so you can turn an instant messaging thread into an impromptu virtual meeting. Better yet, there’s no need to purchase extra hardware or software from yet another vendor. With VoIP, you have more options than ever for real-time collaboration, all with your existing equipment.
Are You Ready to Grow Your Business?
If you’re ready to deploy a forward-thinking technology plan that integrates tools essential to real-time collaboration, such as cloud services and VOIP, it’s time to partner with the technology experts at NetAssurity. You’ll receive ongoing support, up-to-date insights and all the tools you need to set your business up for success.
Remote work is a way of life for many businesses across the globe. The opportunity to see productivity and workforce satisfaction increase encouraged many employers to keep either partial or fully remote workforces. However, the drastic shift towards remote work left many companies with IT infrastructures that weren’t built to handle work from home security and business data privacy. According to the FBI, cybercrimes have increased by 300 percent since the beginning of the pandemic! This article will explore the most common cybercrimes businesses encounter due to remote workforces and how to properly implement data security protocols to ward of cyberattacks.
#1 Social Engineering:
A study by the Ponemon Institute concluded that cybersecurity prevention measures can save businesses up to $1.4 million per attack! But what exactly is social engineering and how does it affect your remote workforce?
Social engineering is tricky because it can be performed both in person and via digital strategies. This form of cyberthreat is the extraction of critical information or breach of security through psychological manipulation. This threat could appear as harmless as a conversation at a coffee shop or a hacker posing as a potential client.
The Defense:
Just like a conversation with an employee can compromise your data security, it can also protect it. By hosting workforce training, you can reduce the likelihood of human error and help your employees spot warning signs of potential social engineering attempts. As an extra layer of protection, you should also establish the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to act as a gateway extending your private network across a public one. This keeps malicious activity that could threaten private information security isolated at the source.
#2 Cloud-Based Vulnerabilities:
In Q2 2020 alone, McAfee reported seeing a steep 7.5 million external attacks on cloud accounts, a growth of over 250 percent from 2019. These attacks especially targeted cloud servers that weren’t password protected. While motivations once the cloud security was breached vary between ransomware, brute-force entry, DDoS attacks and more, the results are all ones to avoid! With businesses utilizing cloud-based systems more with remote workforces, this is an area of work from home security that oftentimes needs attention.
The Defense:
As the vulnerability above illustrated, simply adding a unique, random character password that changes regularly can be enough to halt many attacks on data security. Finding cloud-based systems that provide extra layers of data security can also protect your data privacy. An additional measure you can take with remote employees is requesting cloud collaboration tools only be accessed on secure, company-based devices and that all files are securely stored in the cloud system. You should also work with an IT expert to ensure regular updates are being maintained on all software and technology, as unpatched technology leaves a door open for hackers to enter otherwise secure systems. By taking these steps, your cloud system’s security will be far more reliable.
#3 Ransomware and Malware:
For 2021, Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that businesses will be attacked with ransomware every 11 seconds. Even worse, a study by the Ponemon Institute calculated out that the average cost for a business to clean up the aftermath of a cybersecurity breach to be approximate $690,000 per small business, and over $1 million for middle-market companies! With your private information security and ROI on the line, it’s critical to bolster work from home security to prevent these costly attacks to your profit, brand reputation and data privacy.
The Defense:
There are a few strategies you can implement in unison to provide your business with 360-degree protection from ransomware and malware threats. The first strategy is the provision of company-owned devices rather than allowing employees to use personal devices. This allows you to control the security measures in place and monitor access points from potential hackers. Another strategy is the use of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) plans. When an IT expert is consulted, a DLP is a robust defensive plan that can tighten preventative security measures, backup valuable data, isolate potential attacks from the main network and react swiftly to active threats and data breaches. These plans should be disseminated to all employees so that everyone is on the same page regarding appropriate digital behavior, potential risks and how to react if they see something suspicious occurs or arises.
#4 Password Attacks
This is a simple vulnerability that many businesses can potentially overlook. If you reflect on your own password usage, odds are you use a specific set of passwords that you’ll remember across many of your digital accounts. This could be your social media passwords, subscriptions, billing accounts and workplace device passwords. However, this is a worst-case scenario for businesses if an employee’s personal account information becomes compromised. This can create an entryway into your business’s secure network, servers and data that can wreak havoc before anyone realizes it’s happening.
The Defense:
Luckily, as easy as it is to overlook, it’s a quick fix. Establish security protocols surrounding passwords, like random character strings, the use of varied symbols, letters and numbers, a set timeframe that all passwords are required to be updated and the prevention of using old passwords for account access. If you want to take your security to the next level, you can also require things like multi-factor authentication and session locking mechanisms. These will aid in detecting suspicious traffic and activity within your network and deter hackers from infiltrating your system.
Coupled with a vigilant team, data loss prevention (DLP) strategies are measures that can be set in place to preserve your data in the event of a natural or manmade disaster striking. These plans work to prioritize data, learn risks, closely monitor data movement and ensure that backups are regularly implemented to swiftly restore order back to your business.
#5 Business Email Compromise:
Business Email Compromise (BEC) comes cloaked in various forms. BEC could be executed through phishing attempts, spoof domains, malware or many other hacker strategies, all with the intent to obtain entry into secure networks, money or private data. And with remote employees, they can be targeted in calculated ways that many aren’t expecting. In fact, IBM noted across their studies that human error is the leading cause of 95 percent of cybersecurity breaches and the average time businesses took to identify data breaches was 207 days! Once the hacker enters a secure network, they can do anything from establishing wire fraud, SQL injection, DDoS attacks, session hijacking and more! This information should be startling, considering Cisco predicts that DDoS attacks alone are estimated to reach 15.4 million by 2023!
The Defense:
External network security with remote access to secure, cloud-based tools and VPNs should be staples in a business’s work from home security strategy. Also, employees should be instructed on vigilance and precautionary measures when using public networks, such as coffee shops or co-workspaces. The ability to isolate a hacker’s breach to a single device allows your business to respond quicker to the threat! Another action step you can take to improve data security, especially if your employees are required to travel, is mobile device protection. This, again, can be done either by the provision of the device or by crafting a mobile device management solution that can take control of any lost or stolen devices.
Preventative Measure for Work From Home Security Success
While this information seems straightforward, it can be challenging to implement and maintain for businesses. Bringing on a team of technology experts whose sole focus is to provide exceptional managed IT services, 24/7/365 support and innovative thought leadership can remove the stress and worry from your digital security implementation. Many of our clients enjoy the luxury of being able to focus on the success and growth of their businesses, knowing that we are standing behind them as their partner against cyberthreats. If you’re interested in learning how your current cybersecurity measures stack up, potential vulnerabilities and ways you can effectively implement advanced technology solutions that won’t break your budget, give us a call or contact us for a free assessment today!
Old habits die hard, and with nearly 73 percent of teams anticipating remote workers by 2028, odds are your team collaboration strategies will need to evolve to support that. Remote collaboration tools will help your employees facilitate teamwork and collaboration, regardless of physical location, ultimately increasing productivity, ROI and workplace satisfaction. We’ll share our top recommendations on how to build out a complete digital workspace designed with success and growth in mind.
Tools You Need to Collaborate Remotely with Ease
Just like you wouldn’t have an office without desks, computers or phones, you want to ensure your team’s digital workspace is fully equipped to handle remote work collaboration. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so be sure to explore your options, discover what features fit your team’s needs, and build your custom solution for team collaboration. Here’s a glance at what you need to drive your business forward with minimal roadblocks:
– Customizable Tools
– Video Conferencing
– Instant Messaging
– Project Management Software
– Word Processing
– File Sharing
1) Customizable, Multi-Purpose Tools
The key to any successful group collaboration involves easy communication, streamlined processes and greater accessibility. When brought together, these elements create the perfect storm of form and function to catalyze growth. Examples of customizable digital tools include:
– Microsoft Teams
– Google Workspaces
– Miro
With these platforms, you can tweak the employee and manager interfaces to provide varying tools that make sense for your company’s particular needs. This also allows for flexibility in terms of the number of users, the size of the plan and the breadth of available features.
2) Video Conferencing Software
While there are many brands geared towards video conferencing, having a designated interface that allows for scalable user plans, call recording, and screen sharing are options that will help your team dramatically improve work from home collaboration. A lot of software can be integrated within multi-purpose tools, including:
– Zoom
– WebEx
– Microsoft Teams
– Google Hangouts
3) Instant Messaging Applications
Nothing will slow down productivity more than having to scroll through endless threads of communication to find the one piece of information you need. That’s why setting aside a designated space for your team to exchange less pertinent information and questions can clean up group collaboration threads. These apps also provide a look and feel similar to social media, which allows employees to express themselves creatively and improve connectivity all while minimizing crosstalk on important documents and threads. Examples include:
– Slack
– Microsoft Teams
– Facebook Workplace
4) Project Management Software
If you don’t utilize a centralized hub for remote collaboration, many projects can find themselves delayed or even worse — falling through the cracks. Even the most organized of employees could face productivity challenges if not given the right level of visibility on tasks and deliverables. Remote collaboration tools for project management include:
– Wrike
– JIRA
– Asana
– Trello
– Monday
These tools range from highly lightweight to robust options, so assess the number of users you’ll be adding into the platform and the metrics that can be tracked to stay on target. Additionally, note the options available for application integration to help streamline your internal software one step further.
5) Word Processing
Cloud-based word processors allow for all activity to easily remain on hand from any location. Not only do they allow for greater accessibility for your company, but they also provide an extra layer of real-time protection through the cloud’s storage and autosaving options. Some options for cloud-based word processors include:
– Google Docs
– Quip
– SharePoint
– OneDrive
6) File Sharing for Teamwork and Collaboration
Cloud storage can also come in handy with file sharing. Have you ever waited for your file to upload into an email for what feels like ages, only to be let down by an error message stating, “file exceeds maximum capacity”? Cloud-based file sharing eliminates the pesky file size limitations, while also enhancing data and collateral accessibility. If you’re interested in capitalizing on the cloud as a remote collaboration tool, check out:
– Dropbox
– Google Drive
– WeTransfer
– SharePoint
Explore Your Potential with Expert Support
Now that the physical limitations of your workplace are no longer in play, it’s time to expand your digital footprint along with it. However, you don’t have to fear this technological shift. We are here to provide expert IT support when you need it, how you need it. Let us remove the burden of the ever-changing technology updates, troubleshooting and support so you can focus on what matters most – scaling your business! If you want to learn more about the benefits of remote work collaboration tools, download the Ultimate Guide to Empowering Your Remote Workforce today.
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