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Ransomware: Why Are Small to Medium Businesses Targeted Most Often?

According to a survey of managed service providers for SMEs, only 30 percent felt that ransomware was a critical threat, perhaps indicating an attitude that it only affects larger corporations. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, a single ransomware “gang” took on 63 companies in 2021 so far, including schools, local government agencies and healthcare services. Smaller businesses may, in fact, be more at risk because of several factors. Lack of Cybersecurity Training Any company that connects to the internet and holds data of any kind is at risk from threat actors. This means every organization is at

GoCD Vulnerability Allows Potential for Supply Chain Attacks

GoCD has released a security update to their critical authentication vulnerability discovered by SonarSource, a Swiss security firm. The popular (and free) open-source, Java-run Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery System (CI/CD) is a broadly used piece of infrastructure, and its misuse has the potential for massive disruptions. Unauthorized attackers could use this vulnerability to extract encrypted data, create backdoors in internal or external software, or impersonate a GoCD Agent. Attackers could also obtain control over both software delivery pipelines and GoCD servers and execute arbitrary code on them. Ultimately, this weakness has the potential for massive supply chain attacks. The

Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021 Recap

The month of October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Threat actors never rest, and it is always important to do your part to keep you and your company’s information as safe as possible. In October, we accumulated a wide assortment of cybersecurity tips and tricks covering topics like phishing, working in a hybrid workplace, and general cybersecurity, as well as why you should consider a cybersecurity career. The following graphic contains an overview of this information.

Prioritizing Cybersecurity in a Hybrid Workplace

In this day and age, employees are more connected than ever. The hybrid workplace is here to stay, and for employees, this means relying on connected devices from their home office setups. According to recent data, smart home systems are set to rise to a market value of $157 billion by 2023, and the number of installed connected devices in the home is expected to rise by a staggering 70% by 2025. In this new normal where smart devices and consequently online safety are a must, here are some tips for securing those devices. Remember smart devices need smart security

3 Reasons to Consider a Career in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is one of the hottest industries today, with new threats and challenges emerging constantly. This means there is a huge push by both business and education sectors to attract individuals toward a degree and career in cybersecurity. Are you interested in joining this exciting workforce? Here are a few reasons why pursuing a career in cybersecurity might be right for you. Growing Job Market The cybersecurity job market is growing at an incredibly fast rate, due to the rising number of cyber challenges and threats. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market for information security

3 Tips to help deal with phishing threats

Three Tips to Help Deal with Phishing Threats

Although new threats that are cropping up in the cybersecurity space – phishing — one of the oldest pain points in cybersecurity — is continuing to wreak havoc. Phishing is one of the most dangerous “action varieties” to an organization’s cybersecurity health. Phishing has been a mainstay in the cybersecurity threat landscape for decades, even though its not talked about much in the media. Because it continues to work, phishing is still a common tactic used by threat actors. In 2021, more than 80 percent of US organizations experienced at least one successful phishing attack, a year-over-year increase of more

Five Simple Tips to Mitigate Cyber Risk

Being cyber smart is the best way to protect yourself and others from cyber attacks. In honor of Cyber Security Awareness Month, Blue Team Alpha has compiled 5 simple tips to mitigate your cyber risk. Following these tips is easy, and free. Using all of these tips together can make a real difference for taking control of your online presence. But it’s important to keep in mind that no single tip is full proof on it’s own. Read on to learn 5 simple tips to mitigate your cyber risk that you can implement today. 1) Use strong passphrases/password manager While

Microsoft Exchange Proxyshell Vulnerability

Microsoft Exchange Proxyshell Vulnerability What is the September 2021 Microsoft Exchange Proxyshell Vulnerability? Exchange servers are under attack, again. These are not the Hafnium Webshells, these are Proxyshells that are being used to compromise onsite Exchange environments. Microsofts latest patch may not be effective in keeping your Exchange environment safe. Indicators of compromise: One indicator of compromise is draft emails that were not created by the mailbox owner. Associated CVE’s: CVE-2021-31207 CVE-2021-34473 CVE-2021-34523 Is there a patch available? There was a patch made available by Microsoft on August 24th 2021. These patches and vulnerabilities are now under review by Microsoft,

The Kaseya Ransomware Attack and What You Can Do About It

On July 2nd, 2021, Kaseya, an IT solutions developer for MSPs and enterprise clients, announced that it had become victim to a cyberattack. Kaseya immediately encouraged its customers to shut down VSA (Virtual System/Server Administrator) servers in order to prevent further access to attackers.

5 dos and don'ts of a ransomware attack, ransomware removal, and how to remove ransomware

5 Ransomware Do’s and Don’ts

Walking in to a ransomware splash screen on your organizations’ computers can be terrifying; and trust us, ransomware was designed to terrify. Often times untraceable bitcoin payments are involved (and sometimes even extortion demands) in order to gain access to your computer, encrypted files, or network. Ransomware is currently considered by many reports as one of the top cybersecurity threats, and for good reason. Not only is data theft a profitable industry, costing companies on average $761,106 per payout, but attackers have taken things a step further by publicly disclosing sensitive data on leak sites. If you discover ransomware in your system, the most important thing to do first is not to panic.

What is the Microsoft Exchange Attack?

By now you’ve probably heard about the Microsoft Exchange hack, or the Hafnium attack—a cybersecurity cautionary tale circulating the news. But for many businesses around the globe, the attack is more than a story: it’s at their back door.

Top 4 Cybersecurity Protections for Small Businesses on a Budget

With cyberattacks on the rise, it’s important for small and medium-sized business owners to look at their cybersecurity plans. Sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start, but even on a budget there are a few basic hygiene measures (like a password manager) you can implement to keep your company and systems secure.

Anatomy of a Cyber Attack: How One Innocent Email Led to a Full-Scale Incident Response

All you have to do is scan the latest headlines, and it becomes painfully obvious that cyber attacks are on the rise. In fact, 80 percent of businesses have seen an increase in attacks this year, due in large part to the pandemic.

Holiday Hacking: Why cyber attacks increase during the holidays and what you can do about it

We all know that cyber attacks in 2020 have gone through the roof due to COVID, in part due to the massive shift of more people working from home. This shift from more secure office-centric networks to home-based workers has given hackers new avenues for attacks.

Cybersecurity and COVID-19: Why You Can’t Afford To Be Complacent

If you’re like the average person, you’re probably getting tired of hearing about COVID-19. We all want it to go away, and while we probably understand the need for mask wearing and social distancing, we just wish we didn’t have to deal with it anymore. This overwhelming sense of fatigue is carrying over to many businesses when it comes to cybersecurity and COVID-19.

Cybersecurity Awareness Training: Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore It

The average company devotes 16 percent of its IT budget to cybersecurity, mostly consisting of technologies and tools such as firewalls, antivirus software, and other programs designed to repel attackers

How To Spend Your Cybersecurity Budget in 2021

The projected cost of cybercrime is $6 trillion annually by 2021, making cybersecurity a critical issue for every organization. Just how much do companies spend on cybersecurity? According to the 2020 State of the CIO survey, the average company devotes 16 percent of its IT budget to cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Compliance Checklist

If you do any work with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), then you have surely heard about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). With requirements beginning to show up in projects as early as September, you may have questions about compliance and requirements so you don’t lose out on future contracts with the DoD.

FAQ: What Is a Cybersecurity Framework?

Recent cybersecurity facts are alarming. Globally, attacks on IoT devices tripled in 2019, and more than $17,000 is lost every minute due to phishing attacks. What’s even more disturbing is that 60 percent of breaches involved security vulnerabilities that had a patch available. Unfortunately, the available patches were not installed. This is why a cybersecurity program is essential to every organization, regardless of size or industry.

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