IoT and Home Router Vulnerabilities Can Spell Trouble For Businesses

As kids start heading back to class, colleges begin another year, and parents work to find a new home/life balance, things have changed a bit from the usual back-to-school routine. Unlike in past years, most everyone is doing their thing by logging in from home – and that can create an unexpected danger for your business.

While we’ve been at home during the pandemic, many people realized that their homes could use a little sprucing up. Maybe they had time that they didn’t usually have to research new devices, or they decided to treat themselves at a dark time. For many folks, that translated into fun conveniences like smart plugs, a digital assistant, or a robot vacuum that can be controlled by an app. 

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have never been more popular – 5.8 billion home and auto IoT devices are expected to connect to the internet this year. While these small creature comforts may not seem like a source of harm for your business, they can be – 57% of IoT devices are vulnerable to medium or high severity attacks. 

That means that if a cybercriminal hacks into your employee’s smart plug, then uses that opening to get into their smartphone, then slips through another opening to get into their business email account – you’ve been hacked, and the resulting danger to your systems and data is no different than it would be if the same thing happened from a hacker penetrating your enterprise security directly. 

So how can companies combat this danger? The fastest way is to add a secure identity and access management solution like Passly. Multifactor Authentication (MFA) provides a crucial extra layer of security between hazards like this and your data. Adding MFA means that you can rest a little easier knowing that no matter how a cybercriminal manages to sneak past your security, they won’t be able to affect your business severely – helping alleviate one source of stress in uncertain times.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

Why should businesses be concerned with the state of cybersecurity education?

Because it brings unexpected risks to the table. 

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As the world continues to evolve in the wake of the global pandemic, every aspect of life has changed. Students are headed back to school and most will be attending virtually at least some of the time. With many parents still working from home, that means that everyone is sharing a network – and the underwhelming state of cybersecurity education for kids creates unexpected cybersecurity risks for businesses.

Cybersecurity isn’t a priority in most K – 12 curriculums. But cybercriminals have learned that kids are easy targets for social engineering attacks, and schools are generally way behind the curve in internal cybersecurity, creating openings for them to strike. 

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The Hard Facts About Cybersecurity & Education

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Very few resources are expended on cybersecurity education in US schools. Before the pandemic, most school systems had no system in place for distance learning, and cybersecurity education wasn’t a priority – even schools that had adequate funding for technology were more likely to use it for coding or robotics. 

• 70% of US K-12 students are participating in part to fulltime distance learning.
• Less than 10% of K – 12 educators surveyed in one study were well versed in cybersecurity.
• Less than 45 percent of  K – 12 students receive regular cybersecurity and security awareness education. 
• Less than 50% of all of the teachers surveyed say that their or districts offer any cybersecurity education at all. 
• About 20% of schools offer no cybersecurity education at all. 
• On average, about 40% of schools teach basic digital literacy. 
• Cyberbullying is the most frequently taught cybersecurity topic.
• Student knowledge about cybersecurity is lower in public schools, especially in economically challenged areas.
• 100% of surveyed school districts use a firewall and a web content filter but only 3% use cloud security technology to monitor and secure their G Suite and Microsoft 365 environments.
• Less than 10 percent of educators say their students have learned about systems engineering, artificial intelligence, or cyberlaw in the past year. 
• Microsoft reported that 61 percent of the nearly 7.7 million enterprise malware encounters reported in June 2020 came from sources in the education sector. 

How Can You Protect Your Business From Unanticipated Risk?

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Unfortunately the neglected state of cybersecurity education like phishing resistance and security awareness training in schools means that children aren’t likely to be as cautious about cybercrime risks as they should be – and with parents and children sharing networks and devices, that can put a company’s cybersecurity at risk too. 

What’s the fastest, easiest, and simplest way to immediately protect company systems and data from danger in this situation? Passly. Our state-of-the-art solution provides 7 essential components to immediately secure your gateways and manage identity and access like:

• Multifactor authentication, with tokens delivered through apps, messaging, text, and more.
• Single Sign-on Launchpads to allow for access to be quickly adjusted or removed in case of compromise
• Dark Web alerts if your protected credentials are exposed
• Full-featured functionality in one cost-effective solution
• Seamless integration with more than 1,000 applications
• Secure identity and access management that goes to work on Day 1
• Protection that rolls out in days, not weeks.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

Phishing resistance training for students is a business problem too – because one bad click could open a gateway for cybercriminals into business data and systems.

Phishing resistance training for students is a business problem too – because one bad click could open a gateway for cybercriminals into business data and systems.  

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It’s back to school time for students around the globe. Considering the dismal state of cybersecurity education in US schools, many students aren’t aware of the potential dangers that they face from cybercrime like phishing. With a huge increase in IoT devices adding extra cybersecurity challenges when people work from home, cybersecurity awareness like phishing resistance training for students (through their parents) isn’t just a good way to keep kids safe online – it’s also a smart idea for keeping company data and systems safe from unforeseen dangers.

Everyone with an email account is a target for this year’s biggest cybersecurity threat: phishing. As kids continue with distance learning, that means that they’ll be using email more frequently. Most schools do not have sufficient email security to repel even a clumsy cyberattack, as a school system in Australia recently discovered. Cybercriminal know this, and they’ve been taking advantage of this opportunity by making more phishing attempts against schools to launch lucrative ransomware attacks 

Teaching parents and kids about phishing dangers won’t just protect them from danger, it will also protect companies from danger.  

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Consider this scenario: 

• A parent is working from home connecting to cloud-based services every day. 
• A child is distance learning and using cloud-based tools. 
• The child opens their home network to compromise by falling for a phishing attack. 
• The cybercriminals use that opening to penetrate security on other devices connected to that network – like the parent’s laptop. 
• They’re able to breach security on the laptop, giving them access to what it’s connected to – the parent’s employer’s systems and data.  
• The employer has a data breach, and no one is clear on exactly how it happened. 

The warning goes on to detail potential mitigations against this scam, including using warning banners for all emails external to an organization, ensuring that all systems have the latest security updates, and maintaining up-to-date antivirus signatures and engines. 

BullPhish ID Boosts Phishing Resistance Fast

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By updating and upgrading phishing resistance training for your staff, you’re also raising their awareness of overall cybersecurity. While company training won’t directly help children learn to spot and avoid phishing attempts, it will create greater security awareness in adults that they’re likely to share, because everyone wants to keep their children safe.

BullPhish ID is an ideal solution for both in-office and remote training. Up-to-date information and training around the latest phishing threats is presented in bite-sized pieces with memorable animated video, to help increase retention and understanding. 

• It’s simple to set up, fast to deploy, and easy to run. 
• Training raises your staff’s overall cybersecurity awareness, making them more alert to other potential phishing threats, like SMS text and chat phishing attempts. 
• Over 80 plug-and-play phishing resistance training kits are available, with 4 new kits added each month including COVID-19 threats. 
• Engaging animated video delivers effective training in bite-sized pieces for improved retention in 8 languages.  
• Online testing quickly determines who needs more training and enabling you to adjust training groups accordingly. 

Boosting a company’s phishing resistance and security awareness training is extremely effective – cybersecurity safety training can reduce incidents by up to 70%. And it doesn’t just have benefits for staffers in the office – it also keeps companies safe when staffers are working from home. Plus, by raising overall security awareness, you’re also giving your staffers important safety information that they can share with their children to help keep everyone safe from cybercrime.  

Want to learn more about network security, call us at 877.860.5863

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

Why Phishing Resistance Training Matters: Defending Against the New SBA COVID-19 Relief Phishing Scam

Why Phishing Resistance Training Matters: Defending Against the New SBA COVID-19 Relief Phishing Scam 

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With an increase of more than 600% since the start of the global pandemic, phishing is the most common (and dangerous) threat of 2020. But not all phishing and spear phishing scams are built the same. Clever cybercriminals know they need to go the extra mile to try to pull off major scams with major paydays – and major consequences. Enter the new SBA COVID-19 relief phishing scam.  

In a Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warning that released on 8/12/20, the agency noted that it is “currently tracking an unknown malicious cyber actor who is spoofing the Small Business Administration (SBA) COVID-19 loan relief webpage via phishing emails. These emails include a malicious link to the spoofed SBA website that the cyber actor is using for malicious re-directs and credential stealing.” 

A clever and dangerous new scam preys on businesses

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So far, investigators have determined that the bad actors have kicked off their cybercrime spree by sending a phishing email to Federal Civilian Executive Branch and state, local, tribal, and territorial government recipients. 

Here’s the structure of the scam:

• A highly convincing phishing email hooks the user
• The subject line, SBA Application – Review and Proceed, looks legitimate
• The sender is marked as disastercustomerservice@sba[.]gov 
• Text inside urges the recipient to click on a hyperlink to address: 
  hxxps://leanproconsulting[.]com.br/gov/covid19relief/sba.gov 
• The domain resolves to IP address: 162.214.104[.]246 
• And that website appears to be intended for malicious re-directs and credential stealing 

The warning goes on to detail potential mitigations against this scam, including using warning banners for all emails external to an organization, ensuring that all systems have the latest security updates, and maintaining up-to-date antivirus signatures and engines. 

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

FBI Warns Against Increased Danger From Netwalker Ransomware

Ransomware attacks are the monster in the closet that keeps IT teams up at night – and they’re only getting worse. Recently, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation released a new Flash Alert warning about the danger of Netwalker ransomware to businesses and infrastructure, as attacks with this tool ramp up against US-based targets. 

Companies of all sizes are at risk for ransomware attacks of this nature, especially in the healthcare, infrastructure, defense, or technology sectors. Netwalker ransomware has also been used to disrupt production lines, as unfortunately happened to a manufacturer of respirators urgently needed in the fight against COVID-19. 

To add to your defenses quickly, upgrade the protection on the access points to your data and systems by adding a secure identity and access management solution. Passly is an affordable and effective tool that combines multifactor authentication and single sign-on to create a more secure gateway to the heart of your business. 

Adding a dynamic tool like Passly strengthens your defense against cybercrime like ransomware and password hacking fast. Passly deploys in days, not weeks – because in today’s fast-evolving threat atmosphere, no business has time to wait and see what cybercriminals are up to next.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

The Hard Facts About Cybersecurity & Education

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Very few resources are expended on cybersecurity education in US schools. Before the pandemic, most school systems had no system in place for distance learning, and cybersecurity education wasn’t a priority – even schools that had adequate funding for technology were more likely to use it for coding or robotics. 

• 70% of US K-12 students are participating in part to fulltime distance learning.
• Less than 10% of K – 12 educators surveyed in one study were well versed in cybersecurity.
• Less than 45 percent of  K – 12 students receive regular cybersecurity and security awareness education. 
• Less than 50% of all of the teachers surveyed say that their or districts offer any cybersecurity education at all. 
• About 20% of schools offer no cybersecurity education at all. 
• On average, about 40% of schools teach basic digital literacy. 
• Cyberbullying is the most frequently taught cybersecurity topic.
• Student knowledge about cybersecurity is lower in public schools, especially in economically challenged areas.
• 100% of surveyed school districts use a firewall and a web content filter but only 3% use cloud security technology to monitor and secure their G Suite and Microsoft 365 environments.
• Less than 10 percent of educators say their students have learned about systems engineering, artificial intelligence, or cyberlaw in the past year. 
• Microsoft reported that 61 percent of the nearly 7.7 million enterprise malware encounters reported in June 2020 came from sources in the education sector. 

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863

Why should businesses be concerned with the state of cybersecurity education?

Because it brings unexpected risks to the table. 

---

As the world continues to evolve in the wake of the global pandemic, every aspect of life has changed. Students are headed back to school and most will be attending virtually at least some of the time. With many parents still working from home, that means that everyone is sharing a network – and the underwhelming state of cybersecurity education for kids creates unexpected cybersecurity risks for businesses.

Cybersecurity isn’t a priority in most K – 12 curriculums. But cybercriminals have learned that kids are easy targets for social engineering attacks, and schools are generally way behind the curve in internal cybersecurity, creating openings for them to strike.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5863