Six Ways we Shield your Business from Ransomware

Posted on by rhadmin

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology | blog |@RabbitHoleIT

INTRODUCTION

As your business becomes increasingly more digital, you’re using more systems and running more applications to manage day-to-day operations, share critical information and complete vital tasks. All of these different devices, back-end systems and applications generate and exchange an overwhelming amount of data and this will only continue to increase.

A multitude of different data sources presents risk: they have potential vulnerabilities that make your business an easy target for cybercriminals and ransomware.

Your proprietary data, as well as financial information, may be exposed and, therefore, vulnerable to an attack.

And the increasing number of employees working remotely and on-the-go has created more risk, too. With the BYOD (bring-your-own-device) movement on the rise, it’s not getting anymore difficult for hackers. 74% of organizations either already support or are planning to support workers using their own devices to get the job done.

Sixty million computers will fail in the next 12 months, and only 1 in 4 laptops are backed up regularly.

When your employees exchange critical business data using smartphones, tablets and personal laptops they are especially vulnerable to cybercriminals. They can easily download malicious applications that will infect their devices and hold data hostage.

That’s why we believe in the power of a sustainable and repeatable six-layer process to protect your business from ransomware.

NEW CYBER THREATS POSE NEW SECURITY REALITIES

When thinking about cybersecurity, it’s not just about “if” your business will be attacked; it’s about “when” it will be attacked. Infection methods are more sophisticated and phishing scams look more realistic. Two of the more recent ransomware attacks serve as valuable evidence.

In May 2017, a phishing scam posed as a Google Docs request. When people clicked a link within the email, the hacker was able to access all their emails and contacts, as well as send and delete emails within accounts.

The attack compromised more than 1 million Gmail accounts.

PayPal accounts were also targeted with a highly sophisticated phishing scam that asked people to take a selfie while holding credit cards and a form of identification.

Why were these attacks so successful? Because people immediately trusted the emails they received. By leveraging the logos and powerful brand recognition that Google and PayPal have, the creators of these attacks were able to catch people off guard and, in turn, infect more devices.

But perhaps the most destructive ransomware thus far is WannaCry, which also has worm-like capabilities. While most ransomware typically limits infection to the device that clicked and installed it, malware like WannaCry can spread across a network and replicate itself onto other devices.

Once WannaCry infects a device, it finds and encrypts files, displays a “ransom note” and demands bitcoin payment from infected users.

Reports indicate that the ransomware strain has spread to 150 countries, impacting 10,000 organizations, 200,000 individuals and 400,000 machines.

Recently, a new variant of WannaCry has emerged, infecting 3,600 computers per hour.

These occurrences reaffirm that cybercriminals are more clever, their targets are larger and their attack methods are more aggressive. We want to help you be prepared in the event ransomware infects your devices and, most importantly, minimize or prevent critical business data from being stolen.

OUR SIX-STEP APPROACH TO KEEPING YOUR DATA SAFE

Much like biological viruses, there are many ransomware threats circulating the web. Some are well known, while some are new and others are not yet known or developed. With every occurrence, the sophistication of these viruses is increasing in a multitude of ways, including how they spread and how they encrypt data.

As your IT service provider, we know that protecting your business from ransomware is not a single-prong approach. Being able to mitigate or prevent attacks is our top priority. We have put in place an agile, multi-layered approach that can adapt as new and increasingly hostile threats emerge. Our best-in-class approach consists of six layers:

1. PATCHING

The most basic layer of protection is to monitor and patch all computers and applications. With the latest patches, we can address all known OS Security vulnerabilities. Patching provides the most basic layer of protection to operating systems, especially once a security flaw is uncovered. We provide the latest patches to ensure your operating systems are running at peak performance and that all system vulnerabilities are addressed.

2. ANTI-VIRUS AND NETWORK MONITORING

People are being targeted through more sources than ever — email, ad networks, mobile applications and devices. Anti-virus and network monitoring examines all files and traffic, and filters them against all known threats. We keep virus definition files updated to protect these systems.

3. BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY

There is sometimes a gap between when a threat is first introduced and when we receive notification and can develop a remedy. We do a full-system backup to protect your back-office systems. This enables us to stay on top of things when an attack occurs and provide a recovery option for unknown threats and even the most catastrophic failures.

4. ENDPOINT BACKUP

Although there’s a layer of protection on your back-office systems, you still need to have backup and recovery of data for devices. These devices create, share and store business data, and if a cybercriminal captures this proprietary and sensitive information, it can have a significant impact on business productivity and profitability. We do real-time data backup on these endpoints to prevent business critical information from being compromised.

5. SECURE FILE SYNC AND SHARE

We want to allow your employees to collaborate securely from any location and using any device — even their smartphones and tablets. Using our enterprise-grade, secure file sync and share solution, you can grant access and editing controls for specific documents, such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, and we can help employees to recover documents that are maliciously or accidentally deleted.

6. EDUCATION AND AWARENESS

The most important step in our process is to create awareness about these threats. We offer training and educational materials to help you educate your employees about cybersecurity risks, new ransomware strains and best practices for spotting phishing attempts, suspicious emails and other security risks. Empowering them to be proactive and encouraging them to report questionable content using rewards
and incentives will help increase awareness and decrease overall risk.

WE PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS WITH
A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION

New ransomware threats are constantly emerging and evolving. To learn how we can protect your business and provide a secure and collaborative environment for all your employees, contact us today.

Alisanne Steele, TheSoftwareConsultant, and Rabbit Hole Technology partner with datto, sophos, and KnowBe4 to provide services and training to protect you and your business form various threats.

SOURCES
1 http://www.zdnet.com/article/research-74-percent-using-or-adopting-byod/
2 BusinessWire, press release: “IDC Forecasts U.S. Mobile Worker Population to Surpass 105 Million by 2020,” June 23, 2015.
3 World Backup Day.
4 Recode, “More than a million people were affected by the Google Docs phishing attack,” May 4, 2017.
5 International Business Times, “PayPal Phishing Scam: Victims Asked To Take Selfie With Credit Card, ID,” June 6, 2017.
6 Autotask, “Expert FAQ: What you need to know about WannaCry,” May 18, 2017.
7 The Verge, “The WannaCry ransomware attack has spread to 150 countries,” May 14, 2017.
8 Barkly, “WannaCry Ransomware Statistics: The Numbers Behind the Outbreak,” May 2017.
9 ZeroHedge, “New Variant Of ‘WannaCry’ Virus Emerges Infecting 3,600 Computers Per Hour,” May 15, 2017.

Simple Two-Factor Security That Can Protect Your Data From Compromise

Posted on by rhadmin

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology | Thursday, July 26, 2018 |  blog

Target, Twitter, Time-hop (the list goes on and on) have had data breaches exposing multi-millions of user’s personal and financial information to bad actors.  However, this personal data is just one part of the puzzle if your accounts are protected by additional layers of security.  Two-Factor Authentication could protect you from exposure after an almost certain data breach, if all your accounts are gated by this additional layer of security.

According to Digicert, “Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of protection that could prevent scammers, even if they were able to steal valid user credentials,” from accessing your personal and financial data.

Two-Factor Authentication (a.k.a. Two-Step Authentication), by definition, adds a second authentication step to the login process for any solution or account (On-Premise or On-line) that supports it.

Nearly all banks (Check your bank or other accounts here), investment companies, and other financial institutions that do business online either require or offer Two-Factor Authentication.  It would not be surprising to see it mandated in the future for any accounts accessing private or financial information.

The traditional (single-factor) method of authentication into an online account requires you to verify your identity by proving that you know something that (hopefully) is only known by you. That piece of information being a password or passphrase.

If you can provide the password for an account, the program assumes that it’s really you who’s trying to log in and grants access to the solution.

The problem with passwords is anyone who manages to either steal it or guess it can log in to your account.  Passwords are bits of information that can be easily discovered.

Hackers and scammers are quite good these days at both guessing passwords using brute-force password guessing tools and tricking folks into simply handing them over via phishing scams. That means relying on passwords alone to prove an account owner’s identity is no longer a very secure gateway to your protected data.

Two-Factor Authentication verifies a combination of two of the following things before granting access to your account:

Something you are (Fingerprint, retina, or facial scan)

Something you have (your mobile phone or encryption key)

Something you know (your password)

Proving that you have something (physical possession of your phone or encryption key) is accomplished by the software or website sending a text message, call, temporary code, or other one-time data to your mobile phone device or encryption key which includes that changes every time you try to access to your account. That data is then verified by the solution prior to granting access.

If you fail to enter the correct code you’ll be blocked from logging into the account, even if you entered the right password!

Proving that you are something includes the use of a biometric scanner in addition to entering your user name and password.  These “scanners” included fingerprint imaging on cellphones and laptops as well as cameras in these same devices used for facial scans.

Some solutions also use an authenticator app to provide the second factor of authentication for their particular software or solution.  Some of these solutions have their own branded apps, and others use third party apps like Google Authenticator.

At the end of the day, Two-Factor Authentication can protect your sensitive data because it enables an additional layer security that is difficult to mimic by increasing the security that guards your personal, financial, or other protected information.

As always, we are here to get you on the right path!

~Sanne

Phishing | Fixing Your Weakest Link: Employees

Posted on by rhadmin

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology | Saturday, July 1, 2018 | blog

You can have every piece of security hardware in the books: firewall, backup disaster recovery device, anti-virus; but your employees will still be the biggest vulnerability in your organization when it comes to phishing attacks. How do you mitigate as much risk as possible?

  1. Create and Strictly Enforce a Password Policy: Passwords should be complex, randomly generated, and replaced regularly. In order to test the strength of your password go to this site. (This is a perfectly safe service sponsored by a password protection platform that tells you how long it would take a hacker to decode your password.) When creating a password policy, bear in mind that the most prevalent attacks are Dictionary attacks. Most people utilize real words for their passwords. Hackers will typically try all words before trying a brute force attack. Instead of words, use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. The longer the password, the stronger it is. While it’s difficult to remember passwords across different platforms, try not to repeat passwords. This will protect all other accounts in the event of a breach on one of your accounts.
  2. Train and Test Your Employees Regularly: Educate your employees on how they can spot a phishing attack [insert link to blog 2]. Then, utilize penetration testing (a safe phishing attack orchestrated by your IT company to see how employees respond) to see how well they do. If employees fall for phishing attempts, send them through training again. We recommend doing this on a quarterly basis to ensure that your employees stay on their toes, and you always provide education on the latest attacks.
  3. Create a Bring Your Own Device Policy and Protect all Mobile Phones: You can safeguard as much as humanly possible on your network, but your employees are all walking in with a cell phone. Are they allowed to get emails on these phones? What about gaining access to the network remotely? Cell phones create a big black hole in security without proper mobile device management and mobile security.
  4. Perform Software Updates Regularly: Make sure that your software is up-to-date with all the latest security patches. Holding off on updates means that you’re leaving yourself open to vulnerabilities that have been discovered and addressed.
  5. Invest in Security: Security is not something for cost savings. Home-based hardware is not sufficient, and you at the very least need a quality firewall and backup device. Invest in your employee’s training, ongoing security updates, and maintaining a full crisis/breach plan.

 

There are two things that aren’t going away in any business, employees and security threats. Make sure that you’ve taken care of everything you can to avoid falling victim.

 

As always, we are here to help!

Breaking Down Phishing

Posted on by rhadmin

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology | Friday, June 29, 2018 | blog

While the number of people falling for sending personal information to the crown prince of Nigeria in hopes of receiving his promised wealth and riches seems to be dropping, phishing remains a major issue. In fact, the number of phishing campaigns pursued by hackers around the world increased 65% in the last year.

What exactly is phishing? Hackers mimic the emails, forms, and websites of legitimate companies in an effort to lure people into providing their private, personal information, like credit cards numbers, social security information, account logins, and personal identifiers. The victim typically doesn’t realize they’ve been compromised until long after the event, and oftentimes only after their identify or finances are affected. In the past, an attack was carried out relatively quickly. As soon as the victim gave up their information, the hacker moved in and stole money from the compromised bank account. Today, it’s often more lucrative for hackers to sell that information on the Dark Web, resulting in longer-lasting, even more devastating attacks.

Have you ever gotten an email from your bank or medical office asking you to update your information online or confirm your username and password? Maybe a suspicious email from your boss asking you to execute some wire transfer. That is most likely a phishing attempt, and you’re among the 76% of businesses that were victims of a phishing attack in the last year.

Phishing is the most widely used method for spreading ransomware, and has increased significantly since the birth of major ransomware viruses like Petya and Wannacry. Anyone can become a victim of phishing, and, in turn, ransomware attacks; however, hackers have begun targeting organizations that are more likely to pay the ransoms. Small businesses, education, government, and healthcare often, unfortunately, don’t have valid data backups, so they are unable to roll back to a pre-ransomed version of their data. Instead, they have to pay their way out or cease to exist. Outside of ransom costs, victims of phishing campaigns are often branded as untrustworthy, and many of their customers turn to their competitors, resulting in even greater financial loss.

Why are effective phishing campaigns so rampant despite public awareness from media coverage?

  1. Volume: There are nearly 5 million new phishing sitescreated every month, according to Webroot Threat Report. There are now even Phishing as a Service companies, offering phishing attacks in exchange for payment. One Russian website, “Fake Game,” claims over 61,000 subscribers and 680,000 credentials stolen.
  2. They Work: Over 30% of phishing messages get opened, and 12% of targets click on the embedded attachments or links, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. In short, these hackers have gotten really good at looking really legitimate.
  3. They’re simple to Execute: New phishing campaigns and sites can be built by sophisticated hackers in a matter of minutes. While we think there are far more legitimate ways to be earning money, these individuals
  4. have made a living out of duplicating their successful campaigns.

As always, we are here to help!

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology

https://www.facebook.com/RabbitHoleTechnology
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbitholeit/

How to protect yourself from Phishing!

Posted on by rhadmin

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology | Saturday, April 7, 2018 | blog

Phishing:

  • Phishing is the act of sending out malicious emails and has caused over $1.2 billion in loss.
  • These malicious emails can be highly targeted and involve an extensive amount of planning.
  • A successful phishing campaign can create a depressing ripple effect.
  • Phishing often targets small professional firms relying on susceptible staff .
  • Suspicion is your greatest ally when it comes to online email scams.

Due to its simplicity and high rates of success, phishing attempts have become pervasive amongst low-level criminals and high-tech hackers alike. Overall, experts estimate that phishing and ransomware attacks generate over $1 billion annually from direct ransom payments and corporate loss.

In fact, Facebook and Google were recently the victims of a phishing scam resulting in significant losses. Staff members at both companies were tricked into sending money to a hacker impersonating an electronics company. The attack lasted over a span of two years before he was caught.

If tech savvy people, like those at Facebook and Google can become victims of phishing, what do you think are the odds of your staff falling victim?

Education is the first step.

Is it urgent?

  • Phishing emails are typically urgent
    • Do this immediately, respond within the next few hours, don’t wait any longer
  • This type of language should be a red flag

Is it grammatically correct?

  • Phishing attacks may come from another country
  • If this is the case, the phrases may look weird and the grammar might not be 100% correct.

Is the sender’s email address correct?

  • If it’s a spear phishing attack – which is more targeted – the email might come from a source you know. Or it could come from a company you do business with.
  • Because of this, it’s important to pay attention to the email address – to review it carefully and ensure its accuracy.
    • Is the name spelled wrong?
    • Does it come from a weird domain?
    • Are there numbers that aren’t normally there?

Is the call to action normal?

  • Most phishing emails will ask you to do something – download an attachment, give up login information, provide personal or financial information
  • If this is the case, ask yourself if it’s normal. Is it traditionally the way this type of thing is handled?
  • If not, you should think twice about carrying out any call to action.

How do you protect yourself from Phishing?

Your greatest defense against phishing emails and social engineering, in general, is your suspicion.  You should always remain 100% suspicious of every request for information, money, and data that you receive – even if it comes from your CEO.  Here are a few tips to help you and your fellow team members protect your business and yourselves from everyday phishing scams:

  • Create strong internal processes that encourage requests to be double-checked and sometimes triple-checked.
  • Review all contents of the email to ensure that the proper grammar, contact information, and email address is used.
  • Consider the request carefully, and don’t always respond immediately. Ask yourself why someone would need this information, if this is typically how things are handled, and if this is coming from and going to the appropriate source.
  • Use strong anti-phishing software that protects your inbox and your internet browsing.
  • Regularly train and educate your staff members on how to effectively detect and avoid phishing emails.

A few key rules and strategies can protect your data, identity, and assets.

As always, we are here to get you on the right path!

 

 

As always, we are here to help!

 

Alisanne Steele | Rabbit Hole Technology

https://www.facebook.com/RabbitHoleTechnology
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbitholeit/