POSTS TAGGED : cybersecurity

Cyberattacks Now Cost Companies $200k on Average

Small businesses frequently find themselves in precarious situations, particularly when it comes to money. A recent survey from G2 showed that almost a quarter of SMEs struggle with “access to capital”, with only 15% declaring themselves “financially stable.”

Cyber attack on small businesses

That goes to show that even the smallest knock to a company’s bottom line can have potentially ruinous consequences, and although small businesses may consider themselves immune from cyberattacks, the reality—and financial toll—of the situation may be far worse than many small business CEOs predict.

The impact of cyberattacks on SMEs

In recent years, financial instability has increasingly come as a result of online attacks.…

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How to Address Cybersecurity Challenges Using the NIST Framework

People are doing a lot of prognosticating about what will happen in 2020, but one thing is certain: Cyberattacks will get worse.

Cybersecurity using NIST framework

For small businesses, this is cause for alarm. Lacking the time, IT expertise, and deep pockets of major companies, the small businesses that make up the foundation of the economy are sitting ducks — especially considering that 43% of all cyberattacks target small businesses specifically.

In order to help small and midsize businesses get ahead of this issue, Congress passed the Small Business Cybersecurity Act in 2018. In essence, the act required the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to make small business cybersecurity a bigger priority, offering free and accessible resources appropriate for companies of all sizes.…

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3 Tips For Better Security On Your Business Website

When running your business online, it’s crucial that you’re able to protect both your business information and any information from your customers or clients that you collect for business purposes. To best do this, you’ve got to know how to beef up your online security in order to make your business website as secure as possible.

Improving website security

To show you how this can be done, here are three tips for better security on your business website.

Start With The Right Security Basics

To make your website secure, you have to start with the right security basics.

According to Lars Lofgren, a contributor to QuickSprout.com,…

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Understanding Maritime and offshore Cyber Risks

As the technology is developing, its inclusion in various spheres of the world is inevitable. So does the risks associated with it. One such sphere where the concern of cybersecurity is growing day by day is – Maritime or Offshore Industry.

Maritime cyber risks

As the maritime industry is more and more expanding its dependence upon cyber technologies and computer systems, the matter of cybersecurity is also evolving as a major issue for the offshore industries.

First of all, we need to understand how maritime industries are connected with computer-based systems, and what are the major risks regarding the referred field?

The Relation Between Maritime Industries and Cybersecurity

Today, as the global maritime sector is expanding and developing, it is getting more and more dependent upon digitalization that constitutes steps like the integration of operations and automation.…

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Security Risk Management For Enhanced Cybersecurity In SMBs

Risk is inherent to all businesses, whether large or small. Unfortunately, there seems to be a greater focus on high-impact criminal activities within large corporations. Since the media focus on large businesses, it is easy to think that your small business is not at risk. However, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are at a higher risk since they do not have the resources to handle data breaches. More importantly, 60% of SMBs go out of business after a cybersecurity breach.

Risk management tips

The 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 58% of cyberattacks target small to medium-sized enterprises. Ultimately, SMEs or SMBs are more accessible for penetration than large corporations.…

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Don’t Let the Facebook Phishing Lawsuit Offer False Sense of Security

Every Internet user must be aware of the dangers of phishing attacks. These types of scams are escalating.

Phishing

Facebook has recently taken action to help combat the growing problem of phishing. They filed a $2 million lawsuit against a number of fraudulent websites, as well as some domain hosts that gave them the opportunity to exploit their victims.

The lawsuit alleges that the domain hosts were either intentionally or unintentionally complicit in the scams. They are suing for a trademark infringement, because some of the fraudulent domains used terms including the word “Facebook.” These websites claimed to part of the Facebook brand and were asking users to update or download Facebook apps in an attempt to steal their information.…

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Mirai: Now with TOR

Botnets, a collection of Internet-connected devices compromised by malware and under the control of a botnet “herder”, pose a significant threat to the cybersecurity of both the owners of the devices and the rest of the Internet at large.

Mirai botnet MUD

photo credit: Obsydistone / Wikia

The security impacts of botnets for the Internet arise from the fact that they are designed to be used to amplify the botnet herder’s ability to perform large-scale cyberattacks. A common example of this is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, where many devices work together to overwhelm and take down an organization’s website. As botnets grow larger and easier to create, organizations increasingly need to deploy robust DDoS protection solutions to help protect their Internet presence.…

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4 Ways to Effectively Address the Cyber Skills Education Gap

America has more than 30 million small businesses with fewer than 500 employees apiece. These companies pay almost half the wages in the country and are huge engines for job creation. For too many of them, however, cybersecurity isn’t a pressing priority.

Businesswoman learning about cybersecurity

We learned this in the Q1 AppRiver Cyberthreat Index for Business, which surveyed more than 1,000 small to midsize businesses. The results reveal that 58% of respondents consider the importance of cybersecurity to be “high” or “very high.” Another 78% say that cyberthreats are on their mind some of the time. These are positive signs, but they’re not the most revealing takeaways.…

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Smart Doesn’t Equal Secure: The Orvibo Leak and Security in IoT Devices

By 2025, the amount of IoT devices is expected to expand to a whopping 21.5 billion. 21.5 billion devices that are constantly connected to the Internet while containing information that you may deem personal. It’s scary, but kind of cool. My fridge can know my name! Completely useless but awesome at the same time!

Orvibo AllOne

photo credit: YouTube

 

However, the carrying of your personal information should ring some alarms in your head. How much do you actually know when it comes to how your Alexa or smart toaster works? Do you know what information it’s collecting? How it’s collecting the information?…

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4 Cybersecurity Due Diligence Questionnaire Tips

Process and operations within many financial firms are becoming more reliant on digital solutions. As technology continues to evolve, it’s essential to realize that the potential for efficiency gains and improvements are becoming larger. However, more powerful technology also paves the way for more sophisticated ways for hackers to get access to sensitive company information.

Cybersecurity DDQ

One way to both measure potential opportunities and cybersecurity risks lies with a process called the due diligence questionnaire (DDQ). At the core, due diligence questionnaires can be powerful tools to dive deep into nitty gritty processes within a firm so that any potential attack vectors, inefficiencies, or vulnerabilities can be exposed.…

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