Data Net Blog

The most sophisticated firewall in the world cannot stop a human being from making a split-second mistake. Cybercriminals are not just hacking code; they are hacking your employees. By exploiting high-stress environments and the natural desire to be helpful, hackers create click-first, ask-later scenarios that can bypass your entire security stack in an instant.

To defend your business, you do not necessarily need a bigger budget, while that would be nice. You need a better habit. Enter the 3-Second Rule.

IT support is one of those necessary parts of running a business, whether it’s to handle the small issues or the larger problems. The worst of us, however, take advantage of people’s need for IT support and leverage it in targeted attacks to exploit others. We’re talking, of course, about cybercriminals, and if you’re not careful, you might find yourself the target of a fake IT support attack.

If you are like me, you’re constantly juggling a dozen different things. You spend your days building client relationships, refining your product, and handling situations you never could have dreamed up. The last thing you need is to lose sleep worrying about whether or not your data is safe.

The truth is, cyberattacks are a very real risk for everyone. Ransomware, phishing scams, and other cyberattacks can cripple your business’ ability to thrive. Here are some smart, proactive steps you can take to build a strong security posture that will go a long way toward protecting your digital assets.

Most, if not all, of us have heard the most famous phishing story of them all: how the ancient city of Troy, after ten years of war, finally fell after a raiding party was allowed into the gates by hiding in the belly of a constructed wooden horse. It’s true… the legend of the Trojan horse, already associated by name with a nasty cyberattack, is arguably also a cautionary tale about how effective phishing can be.

Let’s go over how you can help protect your business from falling for this truly classic ruse.

Security threats might be sensationalized on the Internet, but the fact remains that they are serious problems for any business, big or small. Is your company ready to take on today’s increasingly sophisticated security threats? Here are three of them that could cause significant damage to your business… In more ways than one.

While we may be IT professionals and—as such—take security extremely seriously, it can occasionally help to discuss business cybersecurity with a different approach… such as a daytime soap opera. What follows is one of these occasions.

Welcome to Oak Falls, a cozy little coastal hamlet shielded by the trees that give it its name. Unfortunately, these trees do little to protect the residents from the cyberthreats that loom over us all. Like bytes through the Internet, these are the Zero-Days of Our Lives.

Phishing attacks are the most common security risk your business faces, and if you’re not careful, you (or your employees) could fall victim to them with ease. All it takes is clicking on the wrong link or downloading the wrong file, and boom, your business is dealing with a full-blown security breach. To prevent this, we want to cover some of the major signs you’re dealing with a phishing message and what you can do about it.

Imagine one of your employees receiving a phishing message in their email inbox. Would they fall for it or report it to the appropriate individuals within your business? With phishing training, you can take the guesswork out of this scenario and know—for sure—that your team knows how to respond to a potential phishing scheme.

While now may not be the most dangerous time to run a business, it is arguably a contender. Businesses are more reliant on digital technology than ever, meaning that these businesses also have to deal with more threats than ever. One such threat: the phishing scam.

You have client or customer data in your possession. It is part of running your business in a digital marketplace. If that data is breached, it could permanently damage your reputation. We talked in an earlier blog about types of malware. There are many steps that you can take to protect your systems and data. Here are a few suggestions to protect your business from malware.

Who doesn’t like online shopping? Online shopping has opened up a whole new world to us. Get whatever you want, whenever you want, without wandering from store to store. It doesn’t matter if it is too hot to venture outside or if there’s a blizzard out there, you do your shopping from the comfort of your couch and the stuff at your doorstep. You get great deals, some are better than in-store specials. But, did you know cybercriminals love the concept of online shopping as much as you do. Cybercriminals are exploiting the growing popularity of online shopping to cheat unsuspecting buyers through techniques such as phishing, malware injection, etc. Here are a few tips that may work to keep you safe from being a target of cybercriminals as you shop online.

In one of the most common poisoning attacks, the attacker poisons the DNS Cache with the aim of leading visitors to a fake website. In a DNS cache poisoning case, the attacker gains control of the DNS server and then manipulates cache data such that anyone typing the URL of the actual website is redirected to the fake one. This could be a phishing site where the attacker would have carefully laid out a trap to capture the unsuspecting victim’s personal data or secure information. For example, the visitor thinks they are logging into their bank’s website online, but are actually on the attacker’s phishing site, where they enter the login credentials.

Data poisoning by way of logic corruption, data manipulation and data injection happen when the attacker finds a way to access your data set. The kind of poison attack varies depending on the level of access the attacker is able to achieve Here’s what you can do to ensure such access is prevented.

It’s hard to tell people that “we are under attack” all the time and actually mean it. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the more you tell people they are under threats that don’t actually affect them, the more distrust or even disdain develops for the issuer of these revelations. Second, people will never actually understand that they are under threat until something happens that proves to them that they need to be more careful. 

Concerns over operational expenses, particularly regarding technology, weigh heavily on many business owners. For some, these expenses can spiral out of control, leading to financial problems in vital areas of the organization. Every business needs to ask how it can rectify its IT spending to bring on a culture of overall improvement.

One of the most dangerous types of threats is the many phishing scams you and your employees could fall victim to. While it might be tempting to poke fun at the people who succumb to seemingly obvious phishing attacks, the reality of the matter is that some phishing attacks are anything but, and they are only growing more sophisticated over time.

With so many new and emerging threats to worry about in today’s cybersecurity landscape, it’s no wonder that some businesses and employees might be operating from a knowledge deficit regarding network security. We’re here to change that with a quick overview of the three biggest overarching threats your business must face and prepare for.

Not-for-profits have an unusual issue regarding security. Firms that have trained, paid full-time employees have a strong level of control over the actions of their workers. NPOs, however, may rely heavily on volunteers whose time in the office may be minimal and sporadic. You may feel grateful for their dedication and be less likely to subject them to rigid security training. Also, a threat of punishment for those who make inadvertent errors that create security risks isn't going to be acceptable in the “volunteer” environment.

We know that living in a constant state of fear of being scammed is not ideal, but it’s the unfortunate reality of living in today’s technologically advanced world. The good news is that it’s never too late to learn how to avoid them! Let’s discuss how you can be more aware of the challenges of scams not only in a business setting, but in everyday life.

We’re always telling people to avoid clicking on suspicious links, but the bad guys are making it harder to tell the difference between a legitimate URL and a suspicious one. We’re going to try to simplify it for you, and have you focus on the placement of a single punctuation mark in a link to tell if it might be safe or dangerous.