Windows Virtual Desktop is a service hosted on Azure which allows clients to consolidate their workflow like a traditional RDS server, but with a Windows 10 VM instead which is more intuitive to most users. This is a powerful technology for MSP’s which can cut both you and your client’s costs, reduce technical overhead, and increase security. It works out to a large win for everyone involved for most workflows.

Azure has become one of the biggest virtualization and cloud platforms with a medley of offerings and services which meld together into a Windows administrator’s sweetest dream. Let’s see exactly what Windows Virtual Desktop is, what it does well, how to get the most out of the platform if you’re not used to the cloud, and the security and backup features you get as well.

What Is Windows Virtual Desktop?

Windows Virtual Desktop boils down to a solution which allows you to manage a cloud Windows environment without having to manage the tedious parts of infrastructure, maintenance, or the pain of licensing. It is the natural evolution of RDP. We previously wrote about the more technical aspects of what makes a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure work. Let’s look at the features Windows Virtual Desktop offers to get a taste for what it does in practice rather than theory. Microsoft lays their Windows Virtual Desktop offering out with the following features:

  • Set up a multi-session Windows 10 deployment that delivers a full Windows 10 with scalability
  • Virtualize Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and optimize it to run in multi-user virtual scenarios
  • Provide Windows 7 virtual desktops with free Extended Security Updates
  • Bring your existing Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Windows Server desktops and apps to any computer
  • Virtualize both desktops and apps
  • Manage Windows 10, Windows Server, and Windows 7 desktops and apps with a unified management experience

You get the ability to use a multi-user, multi-session version of Windows 10 which means a more simplified changeover and an easier licensing situation. You also have the option for Windows Server or an up-to-date version of Windows 7. Desktops and apps alone can be virtualized with this solution.

Windows Virtual Desktop makes it easy to get users virtualized cheaper and more efficiently than other solutions. You handle the setup, they handle the infrastructure (Azure AD) and maintenance (mostly). Microsoft also makes it easier than RDP, you don’t need a gateway server and RDP setups deployed to each desktop, your users just use a simple native app or an HTML5 webapp.

What Makes Windows Virtual Desktop Amazing?

This solution basically provides you a way to make virtual desktops for clients to work off of (which are especially important with work from home), but that isn’t all it does. It also allows support for Windows 7 which is compliant (i.e. it is patched and up to date from the vendor), and it allows porting over existing RDP setups. You get everything a traditional Windows virtualization solution could provide, plus an easier way to administer it and use it. It offers an easy line for clients to move over as well.

If you have clients with old Windows 7 desktops or Windows Server 2008 R2 boxes, you know how painful they can be to manage. The extended support on its own is far too expensive for most companies to realistically consider, so they take their chances with VM’s or trying to isolate the machine from the rest of the network. No matter how it’s done, it’s either expensive or painful for everyone involved.

The Azure setup streamlines maintaining a domain environment. Domain costs can become especially costly per user in smaller traditional setups. Ease of use is a general feature across the board for Azure. That being said, Azure can be hard to get going with since there are just so many features and options.

Augmenting Azure

We offer project services for migrations to help our partners focus on business while we focus on the boring parts. We partnered with both Crayon and Nerdio to augment our Azure offerings. Azure is complicated and can be difficult to navigate, but solutions like Crayon and Nerdio both have different offerings which fill in the gaps. They help handle translating the client’s need into something which can be cost effective with Windows Virtual Desktop (among many other Azure services).

Transitioning to Azure is easy if you’re somewhat technical and can follow directions, but you can end up with 10 different solutions which do the same thing and vary wildly in cost. The cost all depends on how well you understand the platform and what you need to satisfy the client.

Any MSP can handle the technical side, but the platform requires knowledge and experience to leverage it as efficiently as possible. It can be hard to find the time to maintain your business obligations while staying ahead of the dizzying number of XaaS platforms. Paying for a project to migrate or working with a vendor to simplify Azure and Windows Virtual Desktop setup can ensure your first migrations are a success and stay on track for cost and expectations.

It’s easy once you understand it, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get to the point it all comes together naturally. You can choose to learn on your own slowly, or you can get a jumps jump-start with expertise to immerse you in Azure and learn as you go. Neither solution is the right answer for all MSP’s or businesses, but if it gets overwhelming, there are options to get through the most mundanely challenging parts.

Azure Backup and Security

Azure offers a backup service which makes recovery and backup administration trivial if you’ve already bought into the Azure platform. Azure Backup doesn’t just work for devices hosted on Azure, you can also run it on traditional on-premise setups. It isn’t always the most cost effective solution outside of Azure however.

You also have a simplified network interface which abstracts your networking away from supporting a virtual appliance. Some providers still require you to support virtual firewalls and similar if you want the service to work and be secure. Azure makes it easy in general and keeps it easy enough that some power users can even administer it.

Azure Backups running as a cloud appliance rather than an on-premise machine or similar provides an advantage for security as well. Some crypto and ransomware variants are known to target HyperV machines or certain backup solutions to make recovery more painful. It’s a lot harder to do when it’s a one way transfer into the cloud rather than a machine sharing the same network.

I mentioned compliance earlier with Windows 7 with Windows Virtual Desktop, but this is a huge selling point to some clients. They need a legacy OS and they need to do things right or else have a hugely inconvenient network isolation project. We’ve had vendors suggest clients with applications on Windows Server 2008 R2 literally isolate and spin up a full, separate domain (intentionally using different credentials and user structuring), maintain a jumpbox (or two) which is at least partially isolated, and then suggest users transfer data by moving it from their system to the jumpbox, and then to the secure server to try and remain secure because extended support was too expensive. Or, they could just use Windows Virtual Desktop.

Conclusion

Windows Virtual Desktop won’t fit every client or every workflow, but it is a powerful offering and an efficient tool for many companies. Windows Virtual Desktop expounds on the possibilities in Azure with virtualization and creates the natural evolution to RDP and similar tools and technologies. Understand what it does and how, and you can understand when to use it, or when to not.

Services from Nerdio or Crayon can give you a shortcut to getting the most out of Windows Virtual Desktop and other Azure offerings. Windows Virtual Desktop is powerful, but it can be complicated if you are not familiar with the sheer volume of options. You can make the same basic system a dozen ways with a dozen different prices that all work the same; understanding how the options work and are billed is essential to making the right choices. It’s not hard on its own, but it can be when you’re trying to balance a business and selecting technology.

Sometimes it just works out cheaper long-term to rely on another expert to make the best choices and build the best experience the first few times. It’s important to remember how much your time or obligation is worth. We enable our partners to make use of these technologies to get the most bang for their buck.

Windows Virtual Desktop can provide an easier to manage environment which can be cheaper to operate for many clients. It abstracts away many security and infrastructure concerns, as well as unexpected costs. I’m yet to hear of a client moving to Azure or Windows Virtual Desktop and deciding to move back due to anything other than poor planning. The advantages are too great once you understand them.

Meet Joe Martinez of KITE IT Pro!

 

Tell us a little about your MSP…

KITE IT Pro’s headquarters are in Tucson, AZ.  In 2014, we started off as a consumer/business break-fix company and made the decision to primarily focus solely on managed services in 2018.

How long have you been a member of The 20?

We have been a member of The 20 for a little over 4 months.

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

The size of our company really forced us to look to partner with The 20.  Scaling our service delivery was a huge issue for us.  We were not in the position to hire technicians or take on clients over a certain size in fear of service overload.  As we added new clients, we were essentially growing ourselves out of business.

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

CONFIDENCE.  We knew that we delivered our clients great IT service, we just lacked confidence in scaling.  Partnering with The 20 has allowed us to discover the difference between scaling our service and scaling our business.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

We love the community of The 20.  The engagement between partners is priceless.  In this industry, every company holds their secret sauce under lock and key.  As members of The 20 community, we are learning from seasoned industry veterans on how to successfully grow and protect our business.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

Hard work.  The 20 is designed to alleviate growing pains.  Everything you need to grow your business is in The 20.  Hard work is not just defined on the hours you put into delivering service, hard work is also defined by the ability change who you are as an owner, partner, and as a company.  Change is the hardest work you will ever have to do.

What are your biggest business challenges?

The biggest challenge we face is lead generation. It is always the principal challenge for each IT service company.

What are your areas of focus for 2020?

Lead generation and building a sales pipeline.  Now that we can scale our service delivery, we can “get out” in front of potential clients and develop our business.  The ability to get out from “behind the console” has been invaluable.  We can make more effort towards focusing on lead generation and sales which is paramount to our success.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

If you are looking to grow your MSP, join The 20.  Stop wasting effort in hiring help desk technicians or getting yourself stuck “behind the console”.  The 20 gives your company the freedom to focus on lead generation and sales…the scaling is provided. We wish we would have done this back in 2018.

What book are you currently reading?

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen – Donald Miller

Favorite blogs / podcasts

Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence – Cyware Labs

Frankly IT (podcast)

Connecting The Channel (podcast)

 

Interested in becoming a member like KITE IT Pro? Click here for more information!

Meet Lance Keltner of UNI Computers!

 

Tell us a little about your MSP…

UNI Computers was established in 1993 as a computer repair store in Lawrence KS.  I took over ownership in 2006 after working there for 7 years.  At that point, business managed services was a very small part of the business, but I knew it would be the future and where I needed to focus growth.  I continued to put time and effort into growing the business services side of the company and today it accounts for more than half of our total revenue.

How long have you been a member of The 20?

We joined The 20 in 2018 and are a bit past 2 years of being a member.

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

The selling point for me was two fold and equal in importance:  #1 was the pre-curated stack of tools and security with the foundation already set and process in place to use, sell, and manage it.  #2 was the community.  I know enough to know what I don’t know, and having a large community of people just like me with all different experiences and skillsets is ultra-valuable.  Whenever I need an answer or solution to something, chances are someone has it and already knows it works.

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

The biggest change for us is having a solid process that I didn’t have to invent from the ground up over the course of years that’s already proven to work.  I sell with supreme confidence backed not only by me, but also vetted by scores of other businesses around the country doing it the same way as I do, every day.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

What I like most is definitely the community.  I’ve formed life-long friendships here, which is not something I always do easily.  Everyone is here to help out.  No one is afraid of someone else stealing their stuff.  That’s rare in the world where everyone generally keeps their cards close to the vest.  I also like that if I need to get top leadership of The 20 on the phone for a call, it’s easy to do, and they are ready and willing to help with anything.  Our suggestions are taken seriously and more often than not brought into practice and used.  We are part of the process that makes The 20 better today than it was yesterday.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

The biggest quality for success is the willingness to change and adapt when it’s shown that you can do something better than you were doing it previously.

What are your biggest business challenges?

My biggest challenges personally are marketing and sales, which The 20 has helped with immensely but also the community and the people I have met have helped equally as much. The collaboration I’ve been able to do with other members has been priceless.

What are your areas of focus for 2020?

My biggest areas of focus are getting in front of prospects and keeping the pipeline full.  COVID brought about a lot of instant change, but we were fortunate enough that our base of clientele was very stable and so we haven’t suffered like some MSPs have.  Reaching new customers and bringing them the security and support they need has definitely been more challenging, and is the key area I’m working on as it dictates our overall growth.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

Join The 20!  Seriously. Tim says the three most important things you can do are 1. Lead Gen, 2. Sales, 3. Scale.  That’s what The 20 is built on and what its focus is.  If joining isn’t possible, then those three things are still what you have to do, anyway you can.  They will decide how successful your MSP can be. Period.  I’ve doubled my MRR since joining The 20. This is the way.

What book are you currently reading?

I am currently in a few different books, which are all great:  The 4hr Work Week – Tim Ferris, Traffic Secrets – Russell Brunson,  Building a StoryBrand – Donald Miller.

Favorite blogs / podcasts

I haven’t been much of a podcast guy as I usually like reading more, so for blogs/sites it would be:

 1. The 20’s Teams community!

 2. Chris Wiser’s marketing program communities

 3. Cyware’s security daily email

 4. Recorded Future’s daily email

 

Interested in becoming a member like UNI Computers? Click here for more information!

Meet Chris Kimbell of WOLFGUARD IT!

 

Tell us a little about your MSP…

In 2010, my family moved from Texas to my wife’s hometown of Bozeman, Montana. I was unable to find a career in my field,  so I decided to create my own career and started the company from the basement of my in-laws home. WOLFGUARD IT has since grown considerably and now has clients over Montana, Wyoming, Texas and even Ireland and China. We push toward continued growth and this year we even made the MSP 501 list for 2020!

 

How long have you been a member of The 20?

3 years

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

We were having difficulty with scaling and needed a unique sales model that works. Some groups had their “golden goose” but didn’t help you get there. I needed a group that would help you get from point a to the end goal.

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

We dove in with the The 20 model. This changed every aspect of our business. It was a lot of work, but has paid off big time. We now have scalability, a better business model and a great sales model that easily makes sense.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

Number one would be the knowledge that The 20 provides as well as the resources and other members.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

Hard work and the right business model.

What are your biggest business challenges?

Marketing and brand awareness.

What are your areas of focus for 2020?

Marketing, marketing and marketing. We have been in business for 10-years now and we haven’t worked on our band awareness until now. More people need to know our brand and what we do.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

It is extremely difficult to scale your business while staying profitable. But that is only part of the fight. Work with a group that can handle your marketing and sales models too. All of these items make a big difference in your overall success.

What book are you currently reading?

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber.

Favorite blogs / podcasts

Neowin  fills by nerdy tech update needs.

 

Interested in becoming a member like WOLFGUARD IT? Click here for more information!

Can you believe 2020 is here? It’s a brand new decade!

It’s a great time to reflect on on the lessons learned last year, and to set intentions for what we wish to create for the rest of the year! These are the tops MSP lessons learned by our members in 2019. Check them out!

We posed the question to our members: As an MSP, what’s one lesson you learned in 2019? 

 

Plan, Execute, Review, Revise, & Repeat.

“Setting quarterly objectives and being accountable to them is critical to evolving as an organization.  I would even go so far as breaking those down monthly as well.  Big picture goals are great, but if you don’t pay attention to them often enough it is easy to lose sight of organizational priorities.  Plan, Execute, Review, Revise, & Repeat.” – Gary Blawat, Businertia Group

Track Your Progress

“Write down your yearly, three years, and five year plans. Then break the yearly plans into manageable quarterly plans. Track your progress and keep pushing, especially when behind on the plans. We came verrrry close to hitting a big goal for the year that was definitely a stretch goal.” – Kevin Peterson, Peterson Technology Group

​Always Be Looking Forward

“Growth does not come without pain and sacrifice but as long as you stay true to your goals, success will come. We have added great people and in order to keep that momentum you need to involve your team in interviewing new people. Mentor as much as you can and find your own mentor to surround yourself in growth. Always be looking forward and not backwards!” – Jeff Davis, Southern Data Solutions

​Marketing is Crucial

“Marketing can be very effective and it is necessary to grow a company.” – George Monroy, Monroy IT Services

​Security is a Necessity, not a Buzzword

“2019 reinforced security as a necessity not a buzz word.  With MSPs and their supply chain being actively targeted and compromised, our hard-work and dedication to securing our systems, our vendors (and booting those that refused to harden theirs), and our client’s networks let us stand out from some unfortunate other competitors here in our marketplace.” – Caleb Brown, JS Computek

“I’ve learned that even though security is always in the front of my mind for my customers. I also have to focus on the security of the vendors/products that an MSP uses as well.” – Brad Daugherty, Hoola Technology

 

We hope you enjoyed reading these MSP lessons learned from The 20 members. If you’re looking to take your MSP to the next level in 2020, contact us to learn more about The 20. Don’t miss The 20’s upcoming MSP Sales Academy – learn more here!

Five Concerning Breaches That Started With an Insider Threat

Five Concerning Breaches That Started With an Insider Threat

by Christine Izuakor

 

Human beings have been dubbed as one of the most significant risks when it comes to cyber security in organizations. Behind every breach is a human or entity orchestrating an attack to make it happen. Within the affected organization, there is usually a human action that leads to the success of an insider threat attack. It could be a careless employee that clicked on a phishing email, a disgruntled employee that leaked confidential information to a competitor, or someone who wrote their username and password in a notebook that they lost while traveling. The list of events goes on and on. With so many examples, we have an opportunity to learn from all prior blunders and avoid this fate. Here are five notorious breaches that started with an insider threat.

IBM employee attempted to sell company software source code to undercover FBI agents.

A Chinese National working for IBM was one of a very select group of employees who had access to propriety software code being developed for a product. The area of the network where the company stored this information was heavily guarded. While these firewall and network security protection mechanisms could help keep unauthorized individuals out, most companies don’t build these environments expecting to have to worry about the authorized employees who are actually working on the product. In this case, IBM should have been very worried.

To financially support himself and give back to his country of origin, he quit his job, took a copy of the software code with him, and offered to sell it to China. United States officials caught wind of the Insider Threat and staged a meeting with undercover FBI agents where the Insider shared the stolen source code and even offered to edit it to remove any traces of IBM. Shortly after the meeting, he was taken into custody and eventually sentenced to five years in prison.

Understanding what people are exporting and copying from your network and having visibility into employee activity is one of many ways to prevent this type of attack.

A third party employee from a Target supplier clicks on a phishing email and impacts 70 million people in the process.

Undoubtedly one of the most talked about data breaches of the century in the security community, the Target data breach started when a third-party employee clicked on a phishing link that helped attackers get into the HVAC vendors network and eventually hop over to Target’s network. This event shed light on how it’s not just our own employees that we need to worry about, but that third parties matter as well. This was also a case where while the Insider did not have malicious intentions, this mishap from a distant Insider inflicted considerable damage to the company.

There were a host of factors that contributed to the success of this attack, but the biggest one being third-party security and account monitoring. For example, Insider Threat detection technology can provide insight into abnormal administrator accounts being created and the action taken on those accounts – activities that played a role in the success of this particular attack.

Trusted security engineer from Facebook abuses his access to stalk women online.

Cyber security professionals have a duty to protect people in the virtual world. These employees often have the most elevated access and require the most significant diligence to ensure that power is not abused. In Facebook’s case, a security engineer who dubbed himself a “professional stalker” and claimed that in his line of work he tries to “find out who hackers are in real life,” also eluded to using those same behaviors to find women in real life. This lapse of moral judgment and abuse of power added to the string of unfortunate headlines regarding security for the company, further impacting the company’s reputation amongst the user community. The engineer has since been fired.

While this may be harder to detect and prevent, correlations in activity and User Behavior Analytics may have given the company a heads up on the employee’s anomalous activities.

An insider at Punjab National Bank fraudulently gets banks to cough up $1.8 billion.

An employee at Punjab National Bank made this breach possible due to a series of gaps in security. The employee was able to organize the issuance of fake letters of understanding, a type of loan request, which prompted two banks to provide loans to PNB. The primary employee behind the Insider attack admitted to having unauthorized password access to the SWIFT system to issue these fake letters. Typically, only a select group of senior leaders in the company have access to these credentials. He also admitted to sharing that password with other users within the company, as well as staff at the third-party diamond company who orchestrated the bigger plan.

The breach shed light on the importance of governance, risk management, auditing, and the ability to cross-check system information in banking and finance. Visibility into the improper access the employee had, and the activities conducted under his login could have enabled the company to detect this earlier on.

Former Coca-Cola employee makes away with company data on a personal hard drive.

Backing up data is a standard security best practice. However, what happens when employees are copying or backing up your company information on their personal devices? Once this is done, the company has minimal visibility into the use and protection of that data, if any. This was the case when a Coca-Cola employee was separated from the company and left with personal data of 8,000 people on a personal drive. Data breach notices were issued to all of them as a result. This served as yet another reminder that companies need insight into what’s being exported and better control over data leaving their networks.

Conclusion

We can learn many lessons from these events. The most important being that Insider Threats are a considerable risk to businesses and a credible threat that companies need to take seriously. Having a robust strategy to detect, prevent and respond to Insider incidents is essential. Check out our quick guide on ways to prevent, detect and respond to an insider threat.

 

Christine Izuakor is the Senior Manager of Global Security Strategy and Awareness at United Airlines. Reporting directly to the CISO, she plays a critical part in embedding security in United’s culture by training the global workforce on cybersecurity, managing the organization’s security strategy and developing the teams’ talent pipeline. Izuakor earned a Ph.D. in security engineering from University of Colorado, a master’s degree in information systems security from University of Houston, is a CISSP, and serves as a grad professor at Robert Morris University. In 2017, her rapid growth within the tech industry landed her a spot on Chicago Business Crain’s Tech 50 List. Izuakor is also Co-Founder and Vice President of Gen Trend, United’s next generation business resource group.

 

Interested in ramping up your MSP’s cybersecurity stack? Learn more about The 20 and our newly-launched ID 20/20 User Verification Tool.

One of Asia’s top airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, said a hacker accessed personal information of 9.4 million customers, becoming the target of the world’s biggest airline data breach.

Oh boy.

The airline’s shares sank dramatically, shaving $201 million off its market value, after the Hong Kong-based carrier disclosed the unauthorized access late Wednesday, 7 months after discovering the violation. While passports, addresses and emails were exposed, flight safety wasn’t compromised and there was no evidence any information has been misused, it said, without revealing details of the origin of the attack.

“This is quite shocking,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia. “It’s probably the biggest breach of information in the aviation sector.”

“We are very sorry for any concern this data security event may cause our passengers,” CEO Rupert Hogg said in a statement. The airline is in the process of contacting affected people, he added.

It’s the latest embarrassing data breach to hit a major international airline. British Airways said the hack on its system lasted for more than 2 weeks during the months of August and September, compromising credit-card data of some 380,000 customers. Delta said in April that a cyberattack on a contractor last year exposed the payment information of “several hundred thousand customers.”

The hackers who hit Cathay gained access to 27 credit card numbers but without the cards’ security codes, and another 403 expired credit card numbers. They also accessed names, nationalities, dates of birth, telephone numbers, emails, physical addresses, numbers for passports (roughly 860,000), identity cards and frequent-flier programs, and historical travel information according to the airline.

“Upon discovery, we acted immediately to contain the event and to thoroughly investigate,” Hogg said. “We engaged one of the world’s leading cybersecurity firms to assist us, and we further strengthened our IT security systems, too.”

Hong Kong’s privacy commissioner expressed serious concern over the leak and said the office will initiate a compliance check with the airline. A dedicated website provides information about the event and what affected passengers should do next.

Some local lawmakers criticized Cathay for taking so long to reveal the breach. Lam Cheuk-ting, a member of the Legislative Council’s security committee, told reporters that many people in Hong Kong are angry and the airline should’ve taken the initiative the very first day it found out. Cathay’s Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Paul Loo, said the airline wanted to have accurate grasp on the situation and didn’t wish to “create unnecessary panic.”

Cathay is in the midst of a 3-year transformation program, as part of which Hogg has reduced jobs starting with the carrier’s head office in Hong Kong to cut costs and introduced better business-class services on long-haul flights to help lure premium passengers.

Cathay was ranked as the 6th best airline in the world this year by Skytrax, a London-based firm that provides advisory services for carriers and airports.

As I wrote earlier this month, IT problems in the airline industry seem to be growing. And while the causes are complex, when an airline cancels your flight and blames technology, you can’t accept it with a shrug. It sounds like they need to be introduced to an unbeatable IT service with decades of experience and demonstrated expertise to solve their problems…

Contact us.

I read a great article in the other day that posed that very thought, and so I felt I should share a bit of it with you. It serves as a nice follow up to the blog I wrote a couple of weeks ago, “Should I Be Concerned About Cybersecurity?”

First of all, did you know that cyberattacks jumped 32% between the first quarters of 2017 and 2018, according to a recent report? And yet many businesses assume their IT infrastructure is still secure.

Some entrepreneurs realize their security measures aren’t top-notch, but they don’t consider their companies targets because they don’t move billions of dollars each year. However, hackers aren’t just after money —  63% of those attacks specifically targeted data and credentials.

These numbers highlight why companies need up-to-date cybersecurity measures to effectively prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks.

Their cyberthreat report goes on to explain why you may want to think twice — even if you believe your company’s cybersecurity is taken care of.

Here are excerpts of their reasons:

  1. Financial institutions aren’t as secure as you think.

The range of cyberattacks in 2017 was more varied than ever before, but banking and financial institutions still bore the brunt of the attacks. These attacks included infecting ATMs with malware that could be easily bought on the darknet and stealing funds straight out of victims’ accounts in more than 10 international financial organizations.

When these organizations’ cybersecurity measures failed, the situation was often made worse by insurance companies refusing to reimburse the losses incurred.

  1. Every piece of data is valuable to hackers.

Almost every attack at banking and financial institutions is aimed at financial gain, but a recent report also showed that malware attacks increased by 75% during the last year, collecting information such as account logins, answers to security questions, Social Security numbers, and more.

Companies outside the financial sector don’t usually house customer financial data in their systems, but if you utilize a web application, your customers have to build profiles with personal data.

  1. Even smart employees get phished.

Phishing attacks have proven to be one of the most prolific ways for hackers to get malware into companies’ systems. A cybersecurity report by Barracuda noted more than 10,000 unique phishing attacks in June 2018 alone, and the most successful ones were impersonating well-known companies such as Netflix and Citibank. Even smart employees need to remain diligent for things — like minor spelling errors in unsolicited emails — that could give away the scam.

  1. Cybersecurity is an approach, not a single solution.

In response to these threats, Gartner predicts that companies worldwide will spend up to $96 billion on cybersecurity this year. Yet much of that spending will be in reaction to specific breaches rather than focused on implementing holistic, prevention-focused cybersecurity measures. This means many of those measures will still leave entrepreneurs’ organizations vulnerable, especially ones that work with smaller, less secure companies.

It’s common for companies to believe they’re safe from cyberattacks, but it isn’t always true. In 2017, the Online Trust Alliance tracked more than 159,000 cyber incidents. Those breaches cost companies up to $608 billion total, according to McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This year, industries have the opportunity to stem the flood of attacks — which begins with acknowledging they may not be as secure as they thought.

Want to learn more about the IT services we deliver, and how we can implement holistic, prevention-focused cybersecurity measures? Contact us today!