Breach Accountability
This week I saw a story link come across my newsfeed to “make sure you get your money from Experian” – it was referring to the compensation being offered as a result of their breach. You could either opt-in for credit monitoring or take the $125 payout.
Regardless of what choice you made if you were affected, what I found interesting was that this was now coming across in the newsfeed of my “friend” group, not my professional feed where I would expect it.
These Numbers Don’t Add Up
If you are management, and your employee came to you with a proposal, you’d likely (hopefully) listen.
What if that employee proposed to you that by keeping business as is, you’d likely lose millions of dollars – and possibly go under? But if you made one small change, you’d increase your odds of staying in business and actually thriving throughout the years – would you listen? I bet you would. I know I would.
Make Time for Cybersecurity
This isn’t something you can pencil in and get to when you have time, cyber maintenance has to be something you commit to. We all have those moments when we realize that we had the best intentions to stick with something, but its priority fell by the wayside. We start off strong, then taper off until we forget completely.
Here’s a Tip: Get a Head Start Before the Competition
Tip-Off
You know how certain people seemed to have a way of predicting the future? They were ahead of the curve if you want to call it that… those who “got in on a good thing” before anyone else seemed to be aware?
Consider this your lucky day, because we’re going to let you in on a secret.
Hackers Using Social Profiles
Facebook Status: Away on Vacation
Social media is great for a lot of things. Sharing photos, reconnecting with old friends, finding like-minded people and groups to share ideas and hobbies. But when does sharing become oversharing?
Hackers gain access to your personal data via your profile and the information you share there – and you don’t even realize it’s happening. Photos with your children and pets with identifying names on them, locations of where you’ve been, or where you are currently on vacation.
Think Global, Act Local
When Global News Hits Home
When you hear and watch news headlines, you can often tune out. It’s not happening here; it’s not affecting you directly. It’s a global issue right now. You’ll worry about it when things are closer to home.
The problem is, by the time it hits home, we may have forgotten about “the headline” and let our guard down.
The Future Is Here
Sunday funnies
Remember the Jetsons? Robots that cleaned, food choices you tapped into a computer for preparation…moving sidewalks? Flying cars aside, we aren’t too far off from the technology that seemed so unlikely and impossible. The future – it’s here.
Casting a Wide Net
In business, if you can cast a bigger net to reach a larger audience, it’s considered a good idea – a win. Unfortunately, hackers are now taking the same approach.
With c-level executives offering a higher payoff when compromised, sending out phishing emails to the general population at a company will likely increase your odds of ANY level of success. While the data acquired in an executive breach will provide access to data that may do extreme damage, your odds increase when you hit up people who are “less on guard” of their access.
Addressing the Vertical – Cybersecurity in All Directions
And So, It Grows
First, it was a widespread, if not generic, notion – you need to protect your personal information. Then we began to call it cybersecurity, and it was applicable to your business as well. It was still a concept that blanketed data generically – the overall message was that you need to protect all of the data. Change passwords, use firewalls. Do you have an anti-virus installed?
Ransomware Attacks up 105% in Q1 of 2019
Ransomware Is Not Randomware
Gone are the days where you “might know” someone who has, or will, come under attack to a ransomware attack. The skyrocket in cases has come in at a 105% increase according to Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services team which compared numbers against their 2018 data.