The number and severity of cyber attacks continue to accelerate, making it critically important that your business is protected from these attacks. This is particularly true of organizations that store a great deal of personal and financial information such as finance and healthcare institutions. The attacks on your data are continually evolving, and it can be a real challenge for your IT department to stay on top of the latest software patches and hardware updates that need to be in place to ensure a heightened level of security for your business. Here are 5 ways that proactive cyber security impacts your business.
1. Reduce the Possibility of Intrusions
There are a variety of ways that proactive cyber security helps reduce intrusions. Ongoing staff training and the introduction of security best practices as well as blocking malware, spam, phishing and other bots are all tactics that will help keep your organization’s vital information safe from harm and authorized access.
2. Improve the Speed of Remediation
Even with the best cyber security tools available, it’s possible that your organization could be infiltrated. In the event of an intrusion, you need to know that your technology support partner is on the job and will quickly remediate the issues and get your business back online quickly. Active monitoring from a centralized location helps reduce the threat of vulnerabilities by making response and remediation a core part of your cybersecurity stance.
3. Enhance Overall Network Security
No business is immune from penetration, and some of the simplest or most innocent deviations from your security strategy can cause a negative impact on your business. For instance, did you know that nearly 60% of threats to financial institutions originated inside the business? This statistic is especially frightening when you consider that financial institutions are one of the top three industries that are being targeted by cybercriminals.
4. Increase Consumer Confidence
The vast majority of business technology leaders believe that enhanced security protocols aid in earning consumer confidence and trust in your brand. This is one of the key reasons that consumers check the Better Business Bureau rating of an organization before they make a decision to work with them. You also see many websites that have “Trusted” or “Approved” badges from various organizations posted. Consumers like to know that others have had a positive experience with your brand, and having solid network security procedures helps protect their faith.
5. Curtail Compliance Issues
When you work with cybersecurity professionals, everything from behavioral monitoring to compliance reporting is proactively managed. Standards for compliance with PII (Personally Identifiable Information) continue to morph and become more stringent, making it crucial to stay on top of the latest advances or risk costly government fines. Log management, access control and more are all a part of maintaining active intrusion prevention.
Maintaining an active security posture is essential, especially for financial and healthcare institutions. At Coretelligent, our security professionals have a depth of knowledge around cybersecurity that helps them make the right recommendations to protect your business. Learn more about CoreArmor, our premier cyber security solution, and see how implementing this next-generation tool will help provide a holistic level of protection to your organization. Contact us today at 1-855-841-5888 or download our complimentary whitepaper on the State of Cyber Security today.
5 Ways Proactive Cyber Security Impacts Your Businesses
InsightsThe number and severity of cyber attacks continue to accelerate, making it critically important that your business is protected from these attacks. This is particularly true of organizations that store a great deal of personal and financial information such as finance and healthcare institutions. The attacks on your data are continually evolving, and it can be a real challenge for your IT department to stay on top of the latest software patches and hardware updates that need to be in place to ensure a heightened level of security for your business. Here are 5 ways that proactive cyber security impacts your business.
1. Reduce the Possibility of Intrusions
There are a variety of ways that proactive cyber security helps reduce intrusions. Ongoing staff training and the introduction of security best practices as well as blocking malware, spam, phishing and other bots are all tactics that will help keep your organization’s vital information safe from harm and authorized access.
2. Improve the Speed of Remediation
Even with the best cyber security tools available, it’s possible that your organization could be infiltrated. In the event of an intrusion, you need to know that your technology support partner is on the job and will quickly remediate the issues and get your business back online quickly. Active monitoring from a centralized location helps reduce the threat of vulnerabilities by making response and remediation a core part of your cybersecurity stance.
3. Enhance Overall Network Security
No business is immune from penetration, and some of the simplest or most innocent deviations from your security strategy can cause a negative impact on your business. For instance, did you know that nearly 60% of threats to financial institutions originated inside the business? This statistic is especially frightening when you consider that financial institutions are one of the top three industries that are being targeted by cybercriminals.
4. Increase Consumer Confidence
The vast majority of business technology leaders believe that enhanced security protocols aid in earning consumer confidence and trust in your brand. This is one of the key reasons that consumers check the Better Business Bureau rating of an organization before they make a decision to work with them. You also see many websites that have “Trusted” or “Approved” badges from various organizations posted. Consumers like to know that others have had a positive experience with your brand, and having solid network security procedures helps protect their faith.
5. Curtail Compliance Issues
When you work with cybersecurity professionals, everything from behavioral monitoring to compliance reporting is proactively managed. Standards for compliance with PII (Personally Identifiable Information) continue to morph and become more stringent, making it crucial to stay on top of the latest advances or risk costly government fines. Log management, access control and more are all a part of maintaining active intrusion prevention.
Maintaining an active security posture is essential, especially for financial and healthcare institutions. At Coretelligent, our security professionals have a depth of knowledge around cybersecurity that helps them make the right recommendations to protect your business. Learn more about CoreArmor, our premier cyber security solution, and see how implementing this next-generation tool will help provide a holistic level of protection to your organization. Contact us today at 1-855-841-5888 or download our complimentary whitepaper on the State of Cyber Security today.
The Complex Cyber Security Threats Faced by the Financial Services Sector
InsightsThe financial services sector is suffering from a wave of attacks from cybercriminals who view these organizations as a target-rich environment. The high potential for gain overcomes the difficulty of hacking through the additional security measures, leaving financial firms vulnerable to attack from all sides. CFOs in the financial services sector need a solid understanding of the various threats that are facing their organization and how they can mitigate the risk.
Dangerous Times for Financial Firms
Cyber security threats are increasingly complex and nuanced, leaving some financial services firms only finding out that they have been infiltrated long after the fact. The lag time between a security breach and remediation can cause customers to lose trust in your organization. Hackers have more tools at their disposal than ever before, and the problems are exacerbated by organizations who are utilizing varied technology platforms to perform day-to-day activities. Integrating these solutions in a way that is fully secure can be a challenge for even the most dedicated security officers and technology staff members.
A Customized Approach
Unfortunately, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach that will work for any type of financial services firm. Instead, each organization needs to be assessed individually for strengths and weaknesses before putting comprehensive security and recovery procedures in place. It can be challenging to measure what a “good” security profile looks like, as there are major differences to be found in centralized and decentralized business models, risk appetite, employee behaviors and portfolio size. There are also significant differences by organization when you consider the overall maturity level of the business.
Organization and Governance are Critical to Success
The role of the CFO has morphed over time with the expansion of technology into every facet of the business. If your organization does not have a Chief Information Security Officer, many of these duties are likely to fall to the CFO. Having the right information to make decisions for your business is critical to ensuring that you not only remain compliant at all times but also are able to ward off cyber attacks as efficiently as possible. Having the right organizational support and governance models in place will help protect your organization as you manage through the complexities of today’s financial services organizations.
Comprehensive Security Strategies
Adopting comprehensive security strategies for your business is the first step in creating a walled garden around your customer data and other important information. Regardless of whether you have your primary data storage in the cloud or on-premises, it is crucial that you are considering each facet of your business as you develop your security posture. At Coretelligent, our security professionals have worked extensively in the financial services vertical, and are able to leverage our CoreArmor solution to create a cohesive view of your organization’s digital assets. Our protection includes:
Our 360 protection offers you Defense-in-Depth, a strategy that places multiple levels of security controls throughout your information technology systems.
Protecting Innovation
Your ability to innovate rests on having a dependable technology stack that allows you to focus on creating new solutions before your competitors. The financial services community is extremely competitive in nature, and when you are allocating most or all of your internal technology resources to cyber security, innovation can fall by the wayside. Alternatively, a focus on innovation can mean that your security could potentially slip — a possibility that cybercriminals will be quick to take advantage of.
When you work with Coretelligent, you are gaining the valuable support of an organization who truly understands the security needs of the financial services sector. The complexity level involved with securing your customer data will expand as customers demand more information online and via their mobile devices. Free your team to innovate at scale when you partner with Coretelligent to provide your financial services organization with the White Glove Support that you require. Contact us today at 855-841-5888 or fill out our online form to receive a quick return call.
4 Things Small Businesses Should Know about Data Backup
Insights4 Things Small Businesses Should Know about Data Backup
Sure, you’ve got data backups in place — but are you confident that your data is completely safe and secure? Without the highest level of security possible, personally identifiable information (PII) is at risk to today’s talented and motivated cyber criminals. Creating a solid data protection and backup policy is crucial, especially for businesses in the health and financial sectors. Here are 4 things that all small businesses should know about backing up your data.
1. Human Errors Happen
Even with the best training and the most proactive staff members, human error is always a possibility. Problems caused by humans can happen in a variety of ways, such as poor password selection, clicking a link that turns out to be malware, or sharing passwords with others. Even the most innocent mistake can cause a catastrophic data loss — an error that can cost thousands of dollars to resolve and can result in reduced client confidence. Leaving a desk unattended or a computer unlocked overnight are two of the key ways that data loss occurs.
2. Protect Your Endpoints
Do you offer WiFi for your staff or clients? Each device that connects to your network is a potential inlet to your sensitive data. With today’s philosophy of remote workers and distance communications, it’s all too easy to allow cyber criminals to infiltrate your protected network. Your cyber security should provide a robust back and recovery solution that allows you easy access to your data in a short period of time. Restoring traditional virtual machines takes a fair bit of time, so you should look for a solution that is robust enough to restore both the data and the virtual machines on which the data is stored. This is especially important in the case of a catastrophic data loss or failure such as a natural disaster as it will help bring your business back online quickly.
3. The Real Cost of Downtime
When your systems are down not only does productivity grind to a halt, but you’re also frustrating customers and vendors by your inability to process orders or payments. Think about it: the data on your computer systems likely runs your entire business. Without access to inventory levels or financial data on your customers, there’s not a lot that your high-paid staff members can do other than manually write change orders. Experts estimate that IT downtime costs small businesses upwards of $1.55 million per year — an astronomical figure for a technology fail that could have been prevented or quickly remediated.
4. Live Monitoring is Important
The cost of downtime should convince you that getting back online quickly after a breach or data loss is crucial to your business success. Quick access to your data requires immediate notification and quick resolution of the problem, something that can be difficult if not impossible if your system is not being monitored in real-time. Even waiting 6-8 hours until an operations team comes in for the day shift can cost you and your business thousands of dollars of profit and an untold number of lost customers. Active monitoring often allows your security partner to pinpoint the problem and stop it before it spreads to disrupt more of your business. Remediation can begin immediately, instead of hours after the problem occurred.
At Coretelligent, our business security professionals are always looking for ways to ensure that your business systems and data stay secure. Our CoreBDR solution is a state-of-the-art data backup and restore process that enables us to restore both your virtual machines and data at the same time — saving you time and money. Learn more about this offering as well as our complementary 360Support offering today by contacting us at 855-841-5888.
5 Ways You Can Prevent a Data Breach at Your Organization
InsightsAccording to the 2017 study by the Ponemon Institute, it takes businesses an average of 191 days to identify that there’s been a data breach. That means that your sensitive customer data and systems have been compromised for more than six months before you realize that something is happening and begin remediation activities. That’s a staggering amount of time, especially when you consider that many businesses are storing confidential financial and health information for thousands of individuals. This slow response to cyber attacks can put your business in a difficult situation where you’re apologizing to customers about the lack of security around their data. Here are 5 steps that you can take to reduce the possibility your organization will experience a major data breach.
1. Ongoing Training
Any technology professional can tell you that the majority of the breaches they see are caused by a well-meaning individual who shares their password, or someone who takes a step they didn’t realize would be compromising security. This could be anything from clicking a questionable link within their email to forgetting to losing their smartphone or laptop. Ongoing training and awareness for all of your business and technology users can help reduce the possibility of data theft from employees.
2. Active Password Management
Are you confident that all of your users have secure passwords? If you don’t have structures in place to prevent it, you might find that users — even on the technology team — have utilized passwords that are too easily guessed. Having server passwords or logins that still contain “admin” or “administrator” is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to data breaches. This reduces the work that hackers have to do to gain access to your information.
3. Access Reviews
Have you revoked access to all individuals who have left the organization, or who no longer need to see confidential data? Regular access reviews are crucial to maintaining a high level of security. Anytime employees move between teams, it’s a good idea to review their access levels to ensure they can’t accidentally share sensitive information.
4. Intrusion Detection
You don’t want your organization to become a statistic — one of the thousands of companies who took months to determine that your data security had been breached. Implementing regular vulnerability assessments and active intrusion detection ensure that you’re notified quickly of any unauthorized access to information systems so remediation can begin immediately.
5. Behavioral Monitoring
Unauthorized activity from external sources isn’t the only thing you should be monitoring within your cyber security profile. Your team also needs to implement behavioral monitoring, so you can see when even authorized users are taking steps that are unusual or unexpected. This type of monitoring notifies you proactively whenever your network or server access is at an unexpected or unusual level based on past usage.
You can see how each of these various stages of security work together and build upon one another to help reduce the possibility of a data breach within your organization. As a bonus, here’s a sixth way you can ensure your business stays protected: through compliance reporting and accessible analytics. Each level of security integration adds a layer of armor to protect the security of your business and customer data. Ready to boost your cybersecurity protection with our revolutionary CoreArmor cyber security solutions? Contact the professionals at Coretelligent today at 855-841-5888 to find the office nearest you. You can also download our complimentary whitepaper entitled “What You Need to Know About the State of Cybersecurity” today to dig deep into the challenges facing today’s businesses.
Whats Considered a Data Breach
InsightsThe words “data breach” are enough to throw fear into the hearts of IT security professionals and business people across alike. There are so many potential repercussions when something happens to your sensitive data. Customers leaving. The cost of notification. News stories that share your predicament with the world. Time spent away from other projects on cleanup and remediation of any holes. It can be almost paralyzing to think about the long-term negative effects on your business, but are you truly clear on what is considered a data breach?
Data Breach or a Hack?
While mainstream media may use the words “hack” and “data breach” interchangeably, these are two distinct cybersecurity events. The word hack brings to mind a shadowy figure in a dark room with plenty of computer monitors scattered in an array — just looking for a vulnerability in a particular system. The reality is that the setting may be different, but the malicious actor or actors is real. Someone, somewhere is actively attempting to break down the cyber defenses of your business in an attempt to hold your system for ransom or steal lucrative private information. While knowing that your system has been infiltrated, or hacked, is bad news it isn’t necessarily the worst news. Your private data may still be safe if it’s held within a more secure subsystem.
A data breach is somewhat different, and occurs when data that is unintentionally left vulnerable through human error or negligence is viewed by someone who is not authorized to view it. This covers a wide range of behavior from someone in the wrong department viewing personal data and jotting down a credit card number for later use to the massive data loss that Equifax experienced where the personal information of 143 million Americans was exposed to attackers.
What Gets Stolen in a Data Breach?
While financial information such as bank and credit card information is of prime interest to cyber criminals, personally identifiable information (PII) is also a big target. This could be anything from Social Security number, birth dates, family names and more — anything that could be used to impersonate an individual and steal their identity. Names and email addresses, physical addresses are all of interest to individuals, too. Email addresses are a hot commodity simply because hackers are then able to target people with phishing attacks that share enough personal information that they seem to be from a legitimate business. Clicking on the links within the emails can expose additional personal information or provide access to your computer through malware.
Data Breach Statistics
Sure, this all sounds bad, but it won’t happen to your business. Maybe, maybe not — but you’re definitely better safe than sorry in this case! More than 12 million credit card numbers were exposed in 2017 alone, a number that skyrocketed 88% over 2016. There are no organizations that are immune, especially businesses such as dental or health practices or law offices. Even small offices are vulnerable to this type of criminal activity or employee negligence such as weak or insecure passwords. What’s worse is that it takes up to 191 days on average for an organization to realize that their data has been compromised.
Active monitoring is one of the best ways to ensure that your business systems and stored personal information stays secure. With CoreArmore from Coretelligent, you can be confident that your business is secure and that our dedicated, holistic approach will help protect the digital assets of your business. Our cyber security professionals will work closely with you to analyze your needs and deploy the most relevant solutions to maintain a high level of security. Contact us today at 855-841-5888 or via email to sales@coretelligent.com to get started protecting your business.
How to Become a Cyber Security Expert
InsightsBecoming a cyber security expert starts with a thorough understanding of the various systems that can interconnect within any business. This isn’t information that you can gather overnight, or by simply studying a few books — it takes time and experience to see how everything works together. There are thousands of computer systems and literally millions of ways that systems and software can be configured together. The change in the cyber security industry on an annual basis is staggering, so it’s imperative to be a lifelong learner if you’re interested in becoming a cyber security expert. Here are some ways to become a cyber security expert.
Cyber Security Skills
There are severe shortages of cyber security professionals, meaning that people are jumping from finance or audit backgrounds into this in-demand direction. The Information Systems Auditing and Control Association estimates that there will be a shortage of 2 million skilled professionals by the end of 2019, so it’s no surprise that people are interested in helping fill the gap. Along with strong technical skills, individuals who are successful in cyber security have a range of skills:
While all of these skillsets aren’t required, they provide the backbone of a truly three-dimensional cyber security expert.
Cyber Security Career Paths
Cyber security professionals have multiple career paths available to them, starting as IT technicians or web developers and leading up through the ranks to system administrator or network administrator. With more than one-third of all cyber security jobs in the U.S. requiring specific or advanced certifications, it’s no surprise that continuing education is recommended for these professionals. Advanced management-level cyber security positions are often highly specialized, too. Here are a few of the most common cyber security career paths.
The path to becoming a cyber security expert is varied, but the one thing that these individuals have in common is their dedication to protecting the businesses that they serve. At Coretelligent, we have a talented staff of professionals who devote a great deal of time to their ongoing education — ensuring that they have the tools and knowledge needed to protect your organization through a combination of active monitoring with 360 Support and powerful software tools such as CoreArmor and CoreBDR. Contact us today to see how we can support your organization’s cyber security needs.
Is Your Law Firm Doing Everything Possible to Protect Client Data?
InsightsWorking with client information can be a challenge, especially when your staff needs immediate access to sensitive data. Law firm technology professionals have been wrestling with the thorny problem of balancing information access with security and compliance for many years, but is your law firm taking all possible steps to protect personal and confidential client data? Here are a few of the ways that law firms are protecting their clients — and their infrastructure — from cybercrime.
Making Cybersecurity a Priority
Law firms are an attractive target for hackers due to the high probability of finding confidential client and case information. Legal institutions are likely to store a range of information from employment contracts to patent disputes, all of which can be leveraged to steal corporate intelligence as well as personally identifiable information (PII). Law firms are faced with the reality that it may be only a matter of time before their cybersecurity defenses are breached, potentially leading to massive liabilities and expenses. This has led to an increased effort to protect the software platforms and infrastructure that make up the digital assets of a law firm.
Identifying Risk Factors
It is not uncommon for it to take organizations upwards of six months to determine that a data breach has occurred, especially if there are not aggressive cybersecurity procedures in place that include active notifications. Protecting your client’s sensitive information begins with a full audit of the types of data and individual access levels. Law firms may find that employees are sharing passwords, old accounts have not been fully deactivated and that employees have access to more information than is strictly necessary for them to perform the functions of their job. A full audit of your current solutions and access levels will help identify any areas for improvement.
Deploying Advanced Security Measures
Spear phishing and whaling are two of the many techniques that hackers may employ in an attempt to gain access to the valuable information that is stored within your law firm. Cybercriminals often rely on these relatively simplistic tools to infiltrate a weak system, where they are able to spend time determining the type of confidential and personal information is available before extracting the data that they need. When you work with a partner to put advanced security measures in place, you not only lessen your overall vulnerability to cyberattacks but also increase the chances that any hacking or data breach will be noticed — and quickly halted.
Single Source of Protection
A comprehensive cybersecurity solution allows you to simplify management and tighten security overall by reducing the possibility that crucial systems will be overlooked. Security threats continue to evolve, and it is time-consuming and expensive to maintain the knowledge and tools internally that you would need to effectively combat these threats. A single source of protection such as Coretelligent’s CoreArmor provides you with the threat protection that you need to rapidly identify and remediate network or data attacks. When paired with an advanced backup and data recovery solution, your law firm gains the progressive security posture that is imperative to your long-term success.
If there are steps that you are missing in the quest to protect your confidential client data, contact the professionals at Coretelligent today at 855-841-5888 for a complimentary initial consultation. We specialize in cybersecurity for law firms and other organizations with unique compliance needs and complex data structures. Our full suite of security, backup, data recovery and cloud storage software is fully backed by our award-winning 360 Support and our white glove service guarantee.