What would you do if your business suffered a ransomware attack tomorrow? Do you have a contingency plan in case of a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake? The unexpected can happen anytime, and small businesses can get hit particularly hard.
Small businesses are the backbone of many economies. They are critical for job creation, innovation, and community development. But running a small business comes with significant risks. This includes financial uncertainty, market volatility, and natural disasters.
60% of small businesses fail within 6 months of falling victim to a cyber-attack.
Thus, small business owners must prepare for the unexpected. This is to ensure their longevity and success. In this article, we will discuss some tips to help small businesses get ready for anything.
One of the most critical steps in preparing for the unexpected is to create a contingency plan. A contingency plan is a set of procedures that help a business respond to unforeseen events. Such as natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, or unexpected financial setbacks.
The plan should outline the steps the business will take in the event of an emergency. Including who will be responsible for what tasks. As well as how to communicate with employees, customers, and suppliers.
Small businesses should always maintain adequate insurance coverage. This protects them from unexpected events. Insurance policies should include things like:
Business interruption coverage is particularly important. It can help cover lost income and expenses during a disruption. Such as a natural disaster or supply chain disruption.
One of the newer types of policies is cybersecurity liability insurance. In today’s threat landscape, it has become an important consideration. Cybersecurity insurance covers things like costs to remediate a breach and legal expenses.
Small businesses that rely on a single product or service are at greater risk. Unexpected events can cause them significant harm. Something like a raw material shortage could cripple an organization without alternatives.
Diversifying your revenue streams can help reduce this risk. It ensures that your business has several sources of income. For example, a restaurant can offer catering services. A clothing store can sell merchandise online as well as its physical location.
Small businesses should build strong relationships with their suppliers. This ensures that they have a reliable supply chain. This is particularly important for businesses relying on one supplier for their products.
In the event of a disruption, having strong relationships matters. It mitigates the risk of a supplier bankruptcy or supply chain issue. Having supplier options can help reduce the impact on your business.
Small businesses should keep cash reserves to help them weather unexpected events. Cash reserves can help cover unexpected expenses. Such as repairs, legal fees, or loss of income. As a general rule of thumb, businesses should keep at least six months' worth of expenses in cash reserves.
If business owners try to do everything in house, they’re at higher risk. For example, if a key IT team member quits. In this case, the company could face major security issues.
Build strong outsourcing relationships with an IT provider and other critical support services. If something happens to a company’s staff or systems, they have a safety net.
Small business owners should check their finances regularly. This is to ensure that they are on track to meet their goals and to identify any potential issues early on.
This includes:
Investing in technology can help small businesses prepare for unexpected events. For example, cloud-based software can help businesses store their data off-site. This ensures that it is safe in the event of a natural disaster or cyber-attack. Technology can also help businesses automate processes. Automation reduces the risk of errors and improves efficiency.
Small businesses should train their employees for emergencies. This helps ensure that everyone knows what to do in the event of an unexpected event.
This includes training for natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and other emergencies. Businesses should also have a plan for communicating with employees during an emergency. As well as ensure that everyone has access to the plan. Taking a look at our How Often Do You Need to Train Employees on Cybersecurity Awareness article might help you as well.
Small businesses should stay up to date on regulatory requirements. This helps ensure that they are compliant with all laws and regulations. This includes tax laws, labor laws, and industry-specific regulations. Non-compliance can result in fines, legal fees, and damage to your business's reputation.
In conclusion, small businesses face many risks. But by following these tips, they can prepare themselves for the unexpected.
Get started on a path to resilience and protect your business interests. We can help you prepare for the unexpected. Give us a call today to schedule a chat.
This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.
In today's world, technology is ubiquitous, and connectivity is a must. Securing your home network has become more critical than ever. A secure home network is essential for protecting your personal data from hackers.
From phishing to smishing (SMS phishing), it’s getting harder to avoid a breach. Individuals often have fewer safeguards in place at home than at work. Yet many are working from home, which puts both personal and company data at risk.
About 46% of businesses saw at least one cybersecurity incident within two months of moving to remote work.
The good news is that there’s no lack of materials on home network security. Many of the steps are straightforward and can help you avoid a data breach at home.
The National Security Agency (NSA) has provided some best practices. These are for securing your home network. We’ll highlight some of the most helpful tips below.
The first step to secure your home network is to change the default login. This means changing the passwords and usernames of your router and connected devices. Default passwords and usernames are often well-known to hackers. Criminals can easily use them to access your data. Changing these default credentials is an essential step in securing your home network.
Encryption is a process of encoding information. This is in such a way that only authorized parties can read it. Enabling encryption on your home network is crucial to protect your data. It keeps hackers from intercepting and reading it. Most modern routers support encryption protocols such as WPA2 or WPA3. Ensure that you use the latest encryption standard, which would be WPA3, used in Wi-Fi 6 routers.
The firmware is the software that runs on your router and other connected devices. Manufacturers release firmware updates to fix security vulnerabilities and add new features. Updating the firmware on your router is important to securing your home network. You can usually check for firmware updates from the router's web interface. You can also find updates on the manufacturer's website.
This is critical to remember because a lot of people never do this. They only see the router app during setup and rarely go back unless there is a need. Set a calendar item to check your router app at least once per month for updates.
A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls network traffic. This includes both incoming and outgoing traffic. Enabling a firewall on your router can help protect your network. It defends against malicious traffic and unauthorized access. Most modern routers have a built-in firewall. You can typically enable this through the router's web interface.
Most routers come with a range of services that manufacturers enable by default. These services can include file sharing, remote management, and media streaming. Disabling any unused services can reduce the risk of a hacker exploiting them. They often use these services to gain access to home networks. Only enable services that you need and are essential for your network.
Your Wi-Fi network is one of the most critical aspects of your home network. Securing your Wi-Fi network involves several steps. These include:
These steps can help prevent unauthorized access to your Wi-Fi network. If you need help with these steps, just let us know. We can save you some time and frustration and ensure your network is properly secured.
Passwords are a critical component of any security system. Using weak or easily guessable passwords can make your network vulnerable. Ensure that you use strong passwords for your router and other connected devices. A strong password should be at least 12 characters long. It should also include a combination of upper and lowercase letters. As well as at least one number and one symbol.
Do you have guests, such as your children’s friends, who need to access your Wi-Fi network? If so, create a separate guest network. A guest network is a separate Wi-Fi network that guests can use. This gives them access the internet without accessing your primary network. This can help protect your primary network from potential security threats.
Physical access to your router and other connected devices can be a security risk. Ensure that you place your router in a secure location, such as a locked cabinet or a room with limited access. Also, ensure that you disable physical access to the router's web interface. Especially if you have guests or children who may tamper with the settings.
Check out our Mobile Devices and Cyberattacks: The 9 Best Practices guide for more information on protecting your devices and the network they use.
Securing your home network is essential for protecting your personal data from threats. By following the best practices, you can ensure that your network is better protected.
Want to save some time and have us do the heavy lifting? Give us a call today to schedule a home cybersecurity visit.
This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.
Advanced AI is a new buzzword in cloud computing. The launch of tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard have made big waves. Developers are now racing to introduce the next level of features to apps. Features that do part of your work for you. Such as writing emails or making follow-up checklists based on contact data.
These AI-based applications do much more than automate processes. People are using them to write business correspondence, create websites, and write scripts. AI is also quickly transforming the everyday office workflow.
Microsoft is one of the biggest players in the office application field. It’s at the forefront of introducing transformative technology. The company is about to transform Microsoft 365 in a huge way with its new Copilot tool.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a new tool designed to help users get the most out of their Microsoft 365 apps. This revolutionary tool is an intelligent, personalized assistant. It's designed to help users navigate and use M365 more efficiently.
In this article, we'll take a closer look at Microsoft 365 Copilot. And tell you the key ways it's going to improve M365 apps and your business workflows.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered assistant. It helps users with their day-to-day tasks in M365 apps. It's like having a personal assistant right in your Office apps. Users can ask questions, get help with tasks, and receive personalized recommendations. Copilot responds leveraging the context of their usage patterns.
Microsoft 365 Copilot works across all M365 apps. This includes:
Whether you're doing any number of tasks, Microsoft 365 Copilot is there to assist you. This includes working on a document, meeting scheduling, or collaborating with a team.
Microsoft 365 Copilot uses AI and machine learning to understand users' needs. It provides personalized help. It uses data from users' interactions with M365 apps. It learns a user's usage patterns and offers recommendations based on their preferences.
For example, say you frequently use certain features in Excel. Microsoft 365 Copilot will learn this. It will offer suggestions when it detects that you're working on a similar task.
Say that you're working on a presentation in PowerPoint and struggling with design. Microsoft 365 Copilot can offer design suggestions based on your company's brand guidelines.
Microsoft 365 Copilot can also help users with common tasks. Tasks such as, scheduling meetings and managing emails. Users can simply ask Copilot for help. They can ask it to schedule a meeting or find an email from a specific person, and Copilot will take care of the rest.
Copilot is important because it can help users be more productive and efficient. By providing personalized support, the tool can save users time and reduce frustration.
Imagine you're working on a report in Word and you're struggling to format a table. Instead of spending time searching for a solution online. Or trying to figure it out on your own, you can simply ask Microsoft 365 Copilot for help. Copilot can offer suggestions. It can even walk you through the process, saving you time and reducing frustration.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is also important because it can help users get more out of their M365 apps. Many users may not be aware of all the features and capabilities of their M365 apps. But with Copilot, they can discover new ways to work more efficiently and effectively.
The capabilities of Copilot go even further. Say that you need to give your team an update on a marketing strategy. You won’t need to dig out emails, chat threads, or meeting notes. Instead, you can ask Copilot to “tell my team how we updated the marketing strategy.” The app will then search all those places for you and craft an update for your team.
Need a first draft of a meeting agenda or presentation? Just ask Copilot. It can access existing M365 documents and content and craft an initial draft for you.
Microsoft 365 Copilot provides personalized help based on users' usage patterns and preferences. This means that users get the help they need when they need it, without having to search for solutions on their own.
Microsoft 365 Copilot can help users save time on common tasks. Such as scheduling meetings and formatting documents. It can take on many information gathering tasks, like summarizing meeting notes. This saves users considerable time. Especially for manual tasks such as searching for information.
Knowledge workers spend an average of 2.5 hours per day searching for information.
Microsoft 365 Copilot can help reduce frustration. It provides solutions when users are stuck on a task. The tool can also help users struggling with an Excel chart or table. Instead of having to figure out how to generate it, they can simply give a command to Copilot to do it for them.
Microsoft Copilot handles tasks that go beyond what business apps have historically done. For example, you can use it in PowerPoint to create a presentation for you. Use a command such as, “Create a six-slide presentation based on (this) document.” You can also tell it to find appropriate Microsoft stock photos and insert them.
The sky is the limit right now for how much this tool is going to impact office productivity.
If you are interested in further improving productivity in your office or daily life, you may want to check out our earlier article about Enhancing Productivity with Google Chrome.
At the writing of this article, Microsoft hasn’t announced a release date yet. It is currently testing Copilot with a limited number of users. You will most likely see it coming out sometime soon.
Need help with security or setup in Microsoft 365? Give us a call today to talk to one of our cloud app experts.
This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.
You’ve completed your annual phishing training. This includes teaching employees how to spot phishing emails. You’re feeling good about it. That is until about 5-6 months later. Your company suffers a costly ransomware infection due to a click on a phishing link.
You wonder why you seem to need to train on the same information every year. But you still suffer from security incidents. The problem is that you’re not training your employees often enough.
People can’t change behaviors if training isn’t reinforced. They can also easily forget what they’ve learned after several months go by.
So, how often is often enough to improve your team’s cybersecurity awareness? It turns out that training every four months is the “sweet spot.” This is when you see more consistent results in your IT security.
So, where does this four-month recommendation come from? There was a study presented at the USENIX SOUPS security conference recently. It looked at users’ ability to detect phishing emails versus training frequency. It looked at training on phishing awareness and IT security.
Employees took phishing identification tests at several different time increments:
The study found that four months after their training scores were good. Employees were still able to accurately identify and avoid clicking on phishing emails. But after 6-months, their scores started to get worse. Scores continued to decline the more months that passed after their initial training.
To keep employees well prepared, they need training and refreshers on security awareness. This will help them to act as a positive agent in your cybersecurity strategy.
The gold standard for security awareness training is to develop a cybersecure culture. This is one where everyone is cognizant of the need to protect sensitive data. As well as avoid phishing scams, and keep passwords secured.
This is not the case in most organizations, According to the 2021 Sophos Threat Report. One of the biggest threats to network security is a lack of good security practices.
The report states the following,
“A lack of attention to one or more aspects of basic security hygiene has been found to be at the root cause of many of the most damaging attacks we've investigated.”
Well-trained employees significantly reduce a company’s risk. They reduce the chance of falling victim to any number of different online attacks. To be well-trained doesn’t mean you have to conduct a long day of cybersecurity training. It’s better to mix up the delivery methods.
Here are some examples of engaging ways to train employees on cybersecurity. You can include these in your training plan:
When conducting training, phishing is a big topic to cover, but it’s not the only one. Here are some important topics that you want to include in your mix of awareness training.
Email phishing is still the most prevalent form. But SMS phishing (“smishing”) and phishing over social media are both growing. Employees must know what these look like, so they can avoid falling for these sinister scams.
Many businesses have moved most of their data and processes to cloud-based platforms. This has led to a steep increase in credential theft because it’s the easiest way to breach SaaS cloud tools.
Credential theft is now the #1 cause of data breaches globally. This makes it a topic that is critical to address with your team. Discuss the need to keep passwords secure and the use of strong passwords. Also, help them learn tools like a business password manager.
Mobile devices are now used for a large part of the workload in a typical office. They’re handy for reading and replying to an email from anywhere. Most companies will not even consider using software these days if it doesn’t have a great mobile app.
Review security needs for employee devices that access business data and apps. Such as securing the phone with a passcode and keeping it properly updated.
Data privacy regulations are something else that has been rising over the years. Most companies have more than one data privacy regulation requiring compliance.
Train employees on proper data handling and security procedures. This reduces the risk you'll fall victim to a data leak or breach that can end up in a costly compliance penalty.
Take training off your plate and train your team with cybersecurity professionals. We can help you with an engaging training program. One that helps your team change their behaviors to improve cyber hygiene.
This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.
As we conclude the month of May, we have another zero-day vulnerability to report. This vulnerability is a zero-click remote code execution vulnerability utilizing Microsoft Diagnostic Tool and the Microsoft Office Utilities. The vulnerability is primarily exploited by Microsoft Word documents, but can be accessed by any of the Office applications. Email-based delivery will be the main attack vector used by malicious actors to deliver this cruel code execution to their victims.
It is important to mention that this was originally posted by @nao_sec on Twitter. Our partners, Huntress, have verified and replicated this exploit, which is detailed in their technical blog post.
To summarize the vulnerability, in Microsoft Word, you are asked to select "Enable Content" or "Enable Saving" when you open the document. By selecting these options, the malicious process can be spawned. Huntress has discovered that this code can be executed upon simply opening the file without any other actions, which makes this Zero-Click that much worse. Microsoft does not yet have any mitigations that have been fully tested or verified, and there is no patch available at the time of writing this (May 31, 2022 @ 11:00AM).
We strongly advise all our clients and readers to be vigilant and not open any Word documents you receive via email (or any other source) without verifying the sender first. Please ensure that even if the person is legitimate, the document you receive is an expected attachment until we have a patch in place. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
The global damage of cybercrime has risen to an average of $11 million USD per minute, which is a cost of $190,000 each second.
60% of small and mid-sized companies that have a data breach end up closing their doors within six months because they can’t afford the costs. The costs of falling victim to a cyberattack can include loss of business, downtime/productivity losses, reparation costs for customers that have had data stolen, and more.
You may think that this means investing more in cybersecurity, and it is true that you need to have appropriate IT security safeguards in place (anti-malware, firewall, etc.). However, many of the most damaging breaches are due to common cybersecurity mistakes that companies and their employees make.
The 2021 Sophos Threat Report, which looked at thousands of global data breaches, found that what it termed “everyday threats” were some of the most dangerous. The report stated, “A lack of attention to one or more aspects of basic security hygiene has been found to be at the root cause of many of the most damaging attacks we've investigated.”
Is your company making a dangerous cybersecurity mistake that is leaving you at high risk for a data breach, cloud account takeover, or ransomware infection?
Here are several of the most common missteps when it comes to basic IT security best practices.
Credential theft has become the top cause of data breaches around the world, according to IBM Security. With most company processes and data now being cloud-based, login credentials hold the key to multiple types of attacks on company networks.
Not protecting your user logins with multi-factor authentication is a common mistake and one that leaves companies at a much higher risk of falling victim to a breach.
MFA reduces fraudulent sign-in attempts by a staggering 99.9%.
Shadow IT is the use of cloud applications by employees for business data that haven’t been approved and may not even be known about by a company.
Shadow IT use leaves companies at risk for several reasons:
Employees often begin using apps on their own because they’re trying to fill a gap in their workflow and are unaware of the risks involved with using an app that hasn’t been vetted by their company’s IT team.
It’s important to have cloud use policies in place that spell out for employees the applications that can and cannot be used for work.
No matter how small your business is, a simple antivirus application is not enough to keep you protected. In fact, many of today’s threats don’t use a malicious file at all.
Phishing emails will contain commands sent to legitimate PC systems that aren’t flagged as a virus or malware. Phishing also overwhelmingly uses links these days rather than file attachments to send users to malicious sites. Those links won’t get caught by simple antivirus solutions.
You need to have a multi-layered strategy in place that includes things like:
A majority of companies around the world have had employees working remotely from home since the pandemic, and they’re planning to keep it that way. However, device management for those remote employee devices as well as smartphones used for business hasn’t always been put in place.
If you’re not managing security or data access for all the endpoints (company and employee-owned) in your business, you’re at a higher risk of a data breach.
If you don’t have one already, it’s time to put a device management application in place, like Intune in Microsoft 365.
An astonishing 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error. Too many companies don’t take the time to continually train their employees, and thus users haven’t developed the skills needed for a culture of good cybersecurity.
Employee IT security awareness training should be done throughout the year, not just annually or during an onboarding process. The more you keep IT security front and center, the better equipped your team will be to identify phishing attacks and follow proper data handling procedures.
Some ways to infuse cybersecurity training into your company culture include:
Don’t stay in the dark about your IT security vulnerabilities. Schedule a cybersecurity audit to uncover vulnerabilities so they can be fortified to reduce your risk.
This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.