4 Common Myths Involving Data Security

4 Common Myths Involving Data Security

 

Keeping your data secure is always a full-time job for businesses. Staying proactive against data breaches is essential to IT security due to the wide range of cyber threats. Unfortunately, a few simple mistakes can lead to devastating losses and ruin the reputation of your company. Learning tips on how to protect your data is key to avoiding common errors that can result in severe consequences.

 

Here are the four most common myths involving data security. 

 

1) Meeting Industry Regulations is Enough

Staying in compliance with the different regulations in your industry is a necessity for data security. A lack of compliance can often lead to substantial fines. Unfortunately, many companies feel that meeting these standards is enough for cybersecurity. However, many of these guidelines only meet the bare minimum for IT security, as it's critical for your business to put in additional safeguards to limit the chance of a data breach. Continuing to look at ways to secure your data is necessary due to the ever-changing nature of cyber attacks.

 

2) Cybercriminals Only Attack Large Businesses

One of the biggest myths about data security is that cybercriminals only focus on large corporations. However, a small to mid-size business is often more likely to be a target due to a lack of robust IT security measures compared to large companies. Investing in cybersecurity protection is a necessity in keeping your information safe. Working with managed IT services is especially beneficial for small businesses that don't have the budget to operate an in-house IT department.

 

3) IT Department is Solely Responsible for Security

Another common myth involving data security is that it's the sole responsibility of your IT team. While IT workers play a vital role in data security, they can't always protect your business against cybersecurity incidents. Educating and training your in-house employees on how to avoid making common data security mistakes is essential. An IT service provider can offer frequent training sessions for your employees to help them stay up to date on the latest cybersecurity tips.

 

4) Cybersecurity Only Involves External Threats

Sometimes a data breach can happen due to an insider threat. A disgruntled employee may leak confidential data to a competitor or even sell this data on the dark web. One way to limit the chance of this happening is to use a monitoring system to identify any suspicious actions. A managed service provider can use these tools to monitor your data around the clock to help prevent any potential issues before they result in a much bigger incident.

 

Closing Thoughts

Data security will remain a top concern in the workplace. Cybercriminals are always developing innovative ways to target confidential information, as partnering with an IT service provider is a great investment for small businesses. Educating your team about the dangers of data breaches is also a key aspect to staying proactive against these dangers. IT security measures will only continue to evolve, as learning how to avoid these common data security myths is essential for companies of any size.

 

By Robert Blake – Bit by Bit Computer Consulting

817.505.1257

721 N Fielder Road #B

Arlington TX 76012

 

www.Bitxbit.com

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

How Managed IT Services Can Benefit Law Firms

How Managed IT Services Can Benefit Law Firms

By Robert Blake – Bit by Bit Texas

Keeping personal information safe is a top priority for law firms. One data breach can ruin your reputation and trust with clients. Choosing to work with an IT service provider is a great option that offers legal firms a wide range of benefits. These IT professionals are available around the clock while also giving you access to the latest tech to help you further streamline your operations.

Here are a few of the main reasons law firms can benefit from managed IT services. 

Improve IT Security

Finding time to manage IT security is nearly impossible for law firms. For example, keeping software up to date and monitoring network activity requires a lot of time and effort. A managed service provider can handle all of these tasks to ensure your law firm is always well-protected. An IT service provider can even educate your team about cybersecurity topics to limit the chance of data falling into the wrong hands.

Boost Productivity

Another advantage of outsourcing IT services is that it allows your legal team to focus on their core duties without extra distractions. You can always contact an IT service provider if you ever need assistance, which helps to limit downtime. A managed service provider will ensure everything is working at an optimal level, making everyone's job a lot easier and less stressful.

Meet Compliance Standards

Keeping confidential information secure is critical for law firms. A data breach doesn't only damage your relations with clients, but it can also lead to substantial fines. An IT service provider will ensure you comply with data security regulations in your industry at all times. You'll feel much better knowing that a managed IT service company is working with you to ensure you stay in compliance.

Decrease Operational Costs

Hiring additional employees to manage your IT needs is often costly. New employees’ hiring and training processes take time and effort. One way to avoid these challenges is to work with an IT service company specializing in the legal industry. Paying a fixed amount with a managed service provider makes it simpler to budget than the variable costs of working with in-house employees.

Scalability Options

The needs of a law firm are constantly evolving. However, a managed service provider gives your legal term additional scalability, such as making software upgrades, adding new computers, or giving you more storage space in the cloud. The ability to add or decrease different services gives your law firm much-needed scalability in today's ever-changing work environment.

Closing Thoughts

Technology plays a significant role in helping law firms meet the different needs of each client. Partnering with an IT service provider is an excellent investment that offers a wide variety of benefits. These advantages include improving IT security, boosting employee productivity, meeting compliance regulations, and decreasing costs. Managed IT services also provide you with additional scalability options. Working in the legal industry is highly competitive, as a managed IT service provider is an excellent choice for law firms.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Why syncing data is not enough... You still need backup!

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Can You Afford to Pay a Ransom?

 

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Ransomware is the star of the show in today’s cybersecurity landscape. Messy, ever-evolving and seemingly everywhere, ransomware attack numbers just keep climbing, and so is the price of failure when it comes to repelling a ransomware attack.  

In the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC)’s 2021 Annual Review, analysts noted that they handled the same number of ransomware incidents in just the first four months of 2021 as it did in the entire year of 2020 – and the number of threats that it handled in 2020 was more than three times greater than in 2019.   

Those attacks included higher ransom demands and incident recovery costs than ever before. An estimated 46% of companies that fell prey to ransomware last year faced ransom demands of $2 – 10 million, and that cost is expected to rise by 20% per year over the next 10 years. 

You can’t afford to become the victim of a ransomware attack. One way to prevent that is through increased security awareness training, as recommended by IBM researchers. An automated security awareness training solution like BullPhish ID makes it easy for you to take that advice, lowering your risk of having an expensive and damaging cybersecurity incident. 

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Security is a Top Priority for Businesses of Every Size

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Did you know that a cyberattack is attempted every 39 seconds? The constant barrage of cyberattacks and never-ending escalation in cybersecurity risk ahs brough home an importantfact for businesses of every size: cybersecurity has to be a top priority in 2022. 

All companies, regardless of size or region have a 1 in 4 chance of being hit by a ransomware attack today. We’ve all seen theimpact that one ransomware attac can have in the last two years. Evn one vent is expensive, s=disruptive and potentially ruinous for businesses. 60% of businesses that are hit by a successful cyberattack shutter wuthin 6 months.

That’s why it is essential to take the tme to review your orb=ganization’s cyber defenses and cybersecurity policies to ensure that you’re taking every possible precautin against ending up on a cybercrminal’s hit list. No business is too small for trouble. More than 50% of ransomware attacks last year struck SMBs with less than 100 employees.  

Set up a meeting now to talk to the experts you trust with your company’s IT to make sure that your company’s cybersecurity solutions are really meeting your needs and look at ways to boost your cyber resilence before you have to navigate a new round of cyberattack threats in 2022.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Why You Should Build Your Cyber Resilience

 

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Cyberattack threats are headed for your business. In the recent IBM Cyber Resilient Organizations Study 2021, researchers reported that 67% of respondents said that the volume and severity of cybersecurity incidents that they’re facing has increased in the past 12 months. With the pace so high, you can’t afford to put your business operations on hold while you pivot to incident response. That’s why you need to make sure that you’re building a cyber resilient organization that can keep on chugging in adverse conditions.  

One of the most impactful ways that you can build your cyber resilience is by choosing a zero-trust approach to your company’s security. When researchers asked the leading businesses in the survey about the benefits of zero-trust security, 65% said that zero-trust security has fundamentally strengthened their cyber resilience.  

Zero-trust security architecture is also the model that the US federal government is moving toward, and elements of that strategy will be required for federal contractors in the near future. Start your journey to a cyber-resilient zero-trust security model by implementing identity and access management (IAM) with s a solution like Passly. Multifactor authentication, a feature of IAM solutions, is a foundational element of zero-trust security as well as a smart choice to immediately improve your company’s cyber resilience.  

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Adopting Zero-Trust Security

Adopting Zero-Trust Security 

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Zero-trust security has been a hot topic, especially in light of rulemaking by the US federal government to move agencies and government contractors into a zero-trust framework in response to a spate of damaging high-profile infrastructure and supply chain attacks that sometimes included nation-state threat actors in 2021. The Colonial Pipeline incident and the subsequent outcry was a major catalyst for action at both the federal and state level. Cybersecurity legislation is on the agenda in every state legislature and congress, and many of those proposals include zero-trust elements. 

The Cyber Resilient Organizations Study has previously reported on the benefits of zero-trust security. This year, researchers took another look at how using a zero-trust approach to security benefits businesses and reduces risk, specifically by boosting their cyber resilience. Those findings showed that 35% of respondent organizations said that they have already adopted a zero-trust security strategy. Of that group, 65% agreed that zero-trust security fundamentally strengthens cyber resilience. That’s a great idicator that increased cyber resilience is a useful goal when looking ant big-piture ways to avoid a costly data breach. 

Why Are Companies Adopting Zero-Trust? 

• 66% said to improve operational efficiency
• 63% to reduce security risks
• 38% said for better IT team support
• 34% said to reduce costs
• 23% said for a competitive advantage
• 4% cited other reasons like regulation

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What Leaders Are Doing & How to Follow Them 

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Taking a look at what the leading organizations in the survey are doing to achieve high cyber resilience is important to determine exactly what benefits businesses get from building their cyber resilience. It also opens a window into the security mindset of leading organizations. There have been a few changes from 2020’s results that are evident in the 2021 survey as businesses have grappled with the volatility of today’s threat landscape.  

What Are Leaders Considering? 

• 66% of 2021 leaders say that security automation and AI are important, up slightly from 63% in 2020 
• 60% recognize that cyber resilience impacts a company’s revenue, up from 56% in 2020 
• 41% say that cyber resilience impacts brand value and reputation, down from 46% in 2020 
• And new this year, 41% of leaders are regularly assessing third-party risk 

IBM also lays out a series of recommendations to improve cyber resilience: 

• Create and test incident response plans: comparison research shows that regularly updating and reviewing incident response plans was a key reason why cyber resilience improved for 47% of high performers. IBM recommends developing both enterprise-wide CSIRPs and threat-specific incident response plans as well as drilling them regularly. 
• Protect your critical databases: 52% of the survey respondents ranked leakage of high-value information assets as a key measure of severity in data breach incidents.  Developing a comprehensive data security strategy is suggested to help organizations reduce risk. 
• Keep systems running with advanced protection from cyberthreats: 47% of the companies surveyed ranked data center downtime as a key measure of severity. The report points to proactive threat management with a zero-trust approach as a good way to avoid system downtime. 
• Speed up analysis with AI and threat intelligence: 47% of respondents cited diminished productivity of employees as a measure of severity in security incidents. More advanced analytics and automated workflows are pointed out as processes that can give teams time back for threat investigation. 
• Break down silos and increase visibility: High-performing organizations said that the inability to reduce silos(87%) and lack of visibility into applications and data assets (74%) were their top two blockers when it comes to improving their cyber resilience. Researchers say that an open platform that fosters integrations between technology can help unite disjointed processes and data and provide broad visibility. 
• Implement a patch management strategy: Delay in patching vulnerabilities is always a security bugbear, and 59% of average respondents cited it as a major reason why their organization’s cyber resilience didn’t improve. IBM suggests a formal vulnerability management program to help cybersecurity teams proactively identify, prioritize and remediate the vulnerabilities that threaten critical assets. 

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831