Phishing Emails Are Becoming Even Harder To Identify

According to data collected by Microsoft, phishing emails accounted for 0.62 percent of all inbox receipts in September 2019.

That's up from 0.31 percent just one year prior to that. The increase is alarming of course, but at first glance, these look like fairly harmless numbers.

Unfortunately, last year, phishing emails targeting business owners (BEC, or Business Email Compromise) cost companies around the world more than a billion dollars last year.  That fact makes the year over year increase terrifying.

The reason BEC campaigns are so successful and so expensive for businesses is that the scammers tend to impersonate CEOs and other high-ranking corporate officials.  When you get an email that by all outward appearances comes from your boss, and it's marked urgent, you tend to respond right away.  That's exactly what the scammers are counting on.

Even worse, scammers have gotten increasingly good at crafting their emails.  It has reached the point that even IT professionals have been taken in by them in some cases. They've been unable to spot the subtle differences between a scammer's email impersonating a CEO and an email from the CEO himself.  If an IT professional gets taken in, what hope is there for a busy HR employee or someone from the accounting office who doesn't face those types of threats on a daily basis?

Given the rapid increase in the number of well-crafted phishing emails, this is a serious, legitimate concern. Unfortunately, bolstered by their own success, you can bet the scammers will be even more prolific.

If there's a silver lining here it is this:  Microsoft reports that taking the simple step of enabling two-factor authentication across the board is an effective countermeasure.  Phishing attacks tend to be automated, and 2FA blocks 99.9 percent of automated attacks. If you're not currently using it everywhere, you're putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville for expert assistance in making sure that your network is protected against phishing emails. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Benefits Of Outsourcing Cybersecurity

Among the most important services that firms benefit from is the protection as well as the monitoring of servers and networks by cybersecurity firms. If a company chooses to outsource any work, they will have the chance to get the best work quality from other industry professionals. If it comes to outsourcing cybersecurity, there must be no hesitation.

Reasons To Outsource Cybersecurity

Cost Efficiency

You may believe that outsourcing work would cost you more than looking for a way to doing it in house, when it involves protecting crucial information within your network of devices, the way to go is to outsource it to a cybersecurity firm. In case you are thinking of building your very own SOC in house, you must know that it could be very costly. Rather than hiring a team of security analysts, training them, having to go through the turnover, and even with the installation of different security solutions, you could turn to a dependable cybersecurity company for a few thousand dollars every month.

The Work Of Professionals

Not only is depending on the service of a cybersecurity firm cost efficient it is also much more effective once it comes to reading as well as creating IT security solutions. A few companies depend on software to safeguard their information, however, that is not enough because you should have a group of human analysists who work alongside the software. Cyberthreats are always evolving and security analysts are equipped with deep knowledge to fight off such attacks. .They are always reading complex reports, looking for problems and finding the right solutions. In case that doesn’t sound all that difficult, just consider the fact that individuals can now earn their college degrees in cybersecurity.

Instant Analysis and Real Time Monitoring

With the work of real security analysts and top rated software that you receive from a cybersecurity company, you will have the chance to detect possible network breaches as soon as they take place rather than days, weeks, or even months later on.

Advanced Monitoring

You also have to know what the different software can do of you and your company when managed correctly. There are software that let you customize your security defence to search for specific threats that are very common in the line of work that you are in. With regular updates in the services, devices, computers, as well as other electronics, you could have a team of professionals manage your SOC and prepare you network for newer threats. They will also be able to determine possible issues and threats once they become dangerous.

Time Efficiency

Just like with other service that you outsource, if you get rid of one task or line of work, you just free up time so you can be able to focus on more crucial matters. The company that you work with is most probably not a cybersecurity company and most likely have other things the need to worry about.

Outsourcing your cybersecurity will make sure that you adhere to the compliance guidelines and receive the protection you require. These five benefits will make a huge difference for your company.

In case you are looking for a dependable cybersecurity company, look to us at SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville. We can offer you all the benefits that are listed on this post.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

New T-Mobile Data Breach Compromised Customer Info

Recently the US branch of the global telecom company T-Mobile disclosed a security breach that impacted a small percentage of its customer base.

Specifically, the security breach revealed certain information belonging to a small number of the company's prepaid cellphone users.

The exposed data included customer names, billing addresses, account numbers, rate plans, plan features and user phone numbers. The company stressed that no payment card information or passwords were compromised.

T-Mobile has contacted and has begun working with law enforcement agencies to further investigate the matter. If you were among the impacted users, you should have already received an SMS today from the company.  If you haven't received a notification and you're concerned that you may have been impacted, you can get a definitive answer from T-Mobile by contacting them at privacy@t-mobile.com.

This has been a fairly good year for Telecoms in general.  Other than Sprint's data breach earlier in the year, this is only the second data breach in 2019 involving a major Telecom company.

As breaches go, this one is quite minor, and odds are quite small that you have been impacted by it.  Again though, if it's something you're worried about, the company has made it easy to get peace of mind.  Overall, T-Mobile's handling of the incident has been better than average. In the weeks ahead as the investigation draws to a close, if there are new details to be learned, the company will no doubt disclose them when and as they are able.

With 2019 rapidly drawing to a close, it seems unlikely that we'll see a spate of Telecomm data breaches. 2019 is likely to be remembered as a year where the Telecomm companies dodged a bullet. Overall, the total number of data breaches continues to surge higher, a trend which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Protect your company from data breaches by setting up safety and protective measures with the help of professional IT experts. Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville now. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer