Stop Ransomware Attacks With Network Segregation, Segmentation

There has been lots of ransomware attacks against organizations in the healthcare industry over the past years. In some cases, there have been devastating consequences. Fortunately, network segmentation and segregation can help.

From patient data that have been compromised to EHR downtime, such cyberattacks could disrupt the facility’s operation significantly. Network segmentation and network segregation are measures that can assist in mitigating the risks from such typical attacks. The separation of important networks from internal network, less sensitive networks, or from the internet is referred to as network segregation. Meanwhile, network segmentation, involves dividing the bigger network to smaller ones. This can be achieved through virtual local area networks, firewalls, as well as other separation methods.

Both of these approaches can stop ransomware attacks that will encrypt files on your network, restrict access to those files, and bring the victim to a web page and given instructions on how they can pay a ransom using bitcoin so they can unlock their files. How can healthcare firms and organizations create and implement such measures to protect their data and infrastructure from such attacks?

Network Segregation and Network Segregation

One effective way of prevent ransomware attacks is air gapping, which involves separating the network from internal networks that may be unsecured and from the internet. This measure could create usability problems within the firm.

Network segmentation is another solution that is network based. It involves dividing bigger networks into smaller segments using separation techniques such as VLANs or virtual local area networks. Function can be used as a basis when segmenting networks like splitting human resources from finance. It can also be done by data like separating non regulated data from PHI. Segmentation will lay down the ground work for controls that offer protection from lateral movement on the network by hackers or ransomware, thus preventing compromise or infection from being spread across your organization’s network.

Organizations have to make sure that they perform patches to lessen their vulnerability, install antivirus software, and follow only the best practices when it comes to cybersecurity hygiene. They should also train their workforce, use email protection, and updated antivirus software. Ransomware will continue to be a threat to the healthcare industry into the near future. There are things organizations can take to prevent ransomware from infecting their network and decrease the damage in case a ransomware attack succeeds at first. Network segmentation and network segregation are two methods that healthcare organizations can take to mitigate the risk of encountering ransomware. They may be costly or complex but they can save organizations from the damage in their system, finances, and reputation as well as patient risk that a ransomware attack will result in.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you need help in making sure that your organization and network is safe against ransomware attacks.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

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

Tips To Avoid The Most Common Computer Security Threats

Computer security threats constantly evolve. These threats are masters of manipulation and disguise will always try to find brand new methods not just to annoy online users but also to steal and even harm them. You should arm yourself with resources and information for protection against the growing and complex computer security threats and improve your computer security as well as information security.

Common Cybersecurity Threats

Computer Viruses

Maybe the most popular computer security threat is a computer virus. It is a program that is written to change how a computer works, without the knowledge or permission of the user. A virus will replicate and execute itself, which leads to computer damage during the process. Be sure to evaluate free software carefully, download that come from peer to peer file sharing websites, as well as emails from unknown sources. All these re crucial in avoiding computer viruses. The majority of web browsers these days have security settings that can be improved for the best defence against various online threats. However, the single most efficient method of avoiding viruses is to install and keep your anti-virus software updated.

Spyware Threats

Another serious security threat is spyware. It is a program that will monitor your online activities. It can also install programs without your permission either to get personal information or for profit. Today, there are several ways to help you fight spyware threats and stay safe online. Although several users don’t want to hear about it, reading terms and conditions is important and a good practice as it will give you the knowledge you need to understand how your online activities are being tracked. Of course, when a firm that you don’t recognize is advertising a deal that is too good to be true then it probably is. You need to have an internet security solution set up right away and be careful when go online.

Hackers and Predators

People create these malware and computer threats. Predators and hackers are programmers who victimize others for their personal interest by breaking into computers to change, steal, or destroy pertinent details as a kind of cyber terrorism. These online predators will compromise your credit cart information, steal your identity, and won’t let you use your data. As you may have known, online security tools that comes with identity theft protection are among the best methods to protect yourself from this kind of cybercriminal.

Phishing

Phishers pretend as trustworthy business or person so they can steal personal or sensitive details through instant messages or fraudulent emails. Phishing attacks are among the most successful ways for cybercriminals to conduct a data breach Anti-virus programs with identity theft protection could be taught to identify phishing threats.

Do you want to know if your computer or network is at risk? Call SpartanTec, Inc. 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

Undelivered Mail Notification Could Be A Phishing Scam

Hackers are always on the lookout for new ways to freshen up time-tested techniques. Where time-tested techniques are concerned, few are older than the humble phishing email.

In one form or another, it seeks to trick an unsuspecting user to innocently hand over sensitive information, like usernames and passwords that the hacker can then use later for any purpose.

The latest variant on this old chestnut is to send what appears to be a legitimate email, politely informing the user that they've received a number of confidential emails that are currently being held for them on a server.  They're given the choice to either refuse these messages, accept them, or delete them.

This is a case, however, of all roads leading to the same destination.  Whichever linked option is chosen, the user will be routed to a mock-up of a Microsoft Outlook login screen where the user will be prompted to enter his or her credentials.  As you might suspect, there are no actual emails, and the only purpose this box serves is to capture the information for later use.

If there's a silver lining to this attack, it is that all of the samples that have been collected so far have the faux login box hosted on a hacked domain.  Careful users will quickly note that they haven't been taken to Microsoft's domain and the game will be up.

Unfortunately, 'careful' does not describe the vast majority of internet users, and this ploy has already taken in its fair share of victims.

Make sure your IT staff is aware of this latest iteration in the ongoing evolution of the phishing email. It wouldn't hurt to send a company-wide communication to all employees so that it's at the forefront of everyone's minds.  It only takes one person to slip up and a hacker could gain access to your company's network. That's never a good thing.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. for professional assistance in making sure that your emails are protected from online threats. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

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

Survey Shows Employees Would Compromise Company Data

A recent report published by nCipher confirms what many business owners have known for a long time.  Their employees are the weakest link when it comes to data security.

The nCipher report, however, adds a disturbing exclamation point to the data with a few details you're likely to find shocking.

First, fully 71 percent of C-Suite employees surveyed in the UK would knowingly and willingly cover up a data breach if doing so meant escaping the fines associated with it.  This, contrasted with just 57 percent of managers and directions.  The latter number is still distressingly high, but nothing compared with the C-suite.

Second, don't make the mistake of thinking that it's just the people you have installed in the corner office that are willing to put your business at risk. A disappointing 25 percent of office employees indicated that they'd be willing to sell corporate information for as little as £1000, with 5 percent of office employees saying that they'd simply give it away for free.  10 percent said they'd need at least £250 to make it worth their while.

Dan Turner, the CEO of Deep Secure, had this to say on reading the report:

"The cost of employee loyalty is staggeringly low.  With nearly half of all office workers admitting they would sell their company's and clients' most sensitive and valuable information, the business risk is not only undisputable, but immense in the age of GDPR and where customers no longer tolerate data breaches.

Given the prevalent use of digital and cyber tactics to exfiltrate this information, it's critical that businesses invest in a security posture that will help them both detect and prevent company information from leaving the network."

Wise words indeed. Unfortunately, given the realities above, that means keeping a closer eye on your own people.

You may be thinking this could never happen at your company. However, many times employees unintentionally compromise company data. Phishing attacks are buried in emails that “look” official.  An inexperienced employee is ask for information that opens the door to your data. SpartanTec, Inc. can train your employees on what to look for and how to avoid data breaches. Call us today to schedule a consult. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

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

What You Need To Know About Managed IT Services

The term used to relate to IT support is referred to as managed IT services and every day, an increasing number of businesses are using it. However, what does it really mean and how can you tell if an IT support company isn’t only using the word as a tool for marketing, but is really providing flat rate services that are presented as managed services.

Managed IT servicesGreenville lets businesses to offload IT tasks to a service provider, referred to as managed services provider, which takes on the responsibility to monitor, manage, and solve problems related to the IT systems of a business round the clock.

History of Managed IT Services

Managed services started with break fix services. The firms that helped service small networks before have been hamstrung by the insufficiency of tools to fix the problem. The networks they service developed as basic systems, typically made by a self-taught network amateur turned professional. The maintenance was break fix only, which means if something is broken, the company calls and they come running to repair it, hopefully.

As time went by, the people who provided this support came up with programs and procedures to visit the site regularly to perform a system review of the user information and logs searching for indications of issues well before they turn into big problems. In some instances, a complex checklist was utilized to monitor processor usage, disk usage, and more.

The issue was that the support people can only see what was taking place on that specific day. In case something happened later on, they will never know about it unless the customer calls and informs them about it.

Backup Issues and other Errors Continue To Happen

The professional test of the back up unit was on the visit, which often resulted in at least a few days of missed backups. The unit was prone to other human mistakes when the on site tech support, trying to be as accommodating as possible, would handle the end user symptoms and won’t have time to deal with the real issues. This resulted to a constant battle for the support people as they tried to persuade customers that they were just causing themselves more dangerous issues later on by not being proactive.

It Paved The Way For Fortune 500 Companies As Well As Their Huge Networks

Meanwhile, the software and hardware vendors have added new and better methods for the systems to signal issues as soon as possible. Simple Network Management Protocol had started to be developed since the 1990s and was being integrated to personal computers. The first systems that can watch these tools and convert all of the data into usable details were complex to manage, were geared only to huge networks, and were prohibitively costly for small firms. In 2005, systems began to mature that led smaller firms to make the most out of the same features and advantages just like the large companies. This triggered the Managed Services movement.

Managed Services Were Finally Made Available For Small and Medium Sized Companies

Today’s managed services software lets provides work towards two primary goals"

1.     All the things on the network that will lead to a user symptom or risk will trigger an alert before or when it occurs, and the managed service provider will be informed about it.

2.     Every alert they obtain is something crucial and requires to be dealt with.

3

      The more closely a managed services provider can get these two objectives, the more perfectly they could accomplish a truly managed service and the more they could get away from “everything becoming an emergency” situation.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

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

Malware Focused On Mobile Banking Greatly Increased In 2019

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have been tracking a disturbing new trend.

In the first quarter of 2019, the company has noted a massive 58 percent increase in modifications of various banking Trojan families that have been used in attacks against more than a quarter of a million users around the world.

This increase is troubling in that it paints a picture of hackers taking much more interest in and developing tools that are specifically designed to target users who access banking services from mobile devices, which is a target rich environment indeed.

The company had this to say about their findings:

"As is customary, first place in the Top 20 for Q1 went to the DangerousObject.Multi.Generic verdict (54.26 percent) which we use for malware detected using cloud technologies.

Cloud technologies are deployed when the antivirus databases lack data for detecting a piece of malware, but the company's cloud already contains information about the object.  This is basically how the latest malicious programs are detected.

The rapid rise of mobile financial malware is a troubling sign, especially since we see how criminals are perfecting their distribution mechanisms.  For example, a recent tendency is to hide the banking Trojan in a dropper - the shell that is supposed to fly to the device under the security radar, releasing the malicious part only upon arrival."

The bottom line is that if you use your mobile device to access banking services of any kind, be aware that you are increasingly seen as a target.  In fact, given the latest findings, you're rapidly becoming the preferred target of a growing body of hackers.

As ever, your best defense is vigilance.  Don't install apps from untrustworthy sources. Before adding any new app to your phone, do some due diligence to minimize your risk of inadvertently installing something not just unwanted, but incredibly dangerous.

SpartanTec, Inc. provides services to protect your company’s data from inadvertent attack caused by employee negligence or lack of understanding on how to handle email and phishing attacks. Call us today for an in-depth analysis of your systems and to assist with training you and your employees on how to be safe in today’s internet world.

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 Security Vulnerabilities Found In Intel Processors

Remember the Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities discovered early last year?  Well, hold onto your hat, because they've got company.

Recently, researchers discovered a new class of side-channel vulnerabilities in Intel processors that impact every modern chipset the company makes, including those used in Apple devices.

The new vulnerabilities exploit weaknesses in something called 'speculative execution' which is a core design feature of modern processors. This feature allows them to speculatively execute instructions based on conditions the system has 'learned' are likely to be true.  If those assumptions are proved to be valid, then the execution continues.  If not, it is discarded. The net effect of this design is to increase overall system performance speed, but it also opens up the door for additional risk.

The researchers had this to say about their latest discoveries:

"The new vulnerabilities can be used by motivated hackers to lead privileged information data from an area of the memory that hardware safeguards deem off-limits.  It can be weaponized in highly targeted attacks that would normally require system-wide privileges or deep subversion of the operating system."

Collectively, these new vulnerabilities are being referred to as 'MDS speculative execution' flaws, and have been identified as follows:

• CVE-2019-11091 - Microarchitectural Data Sampling Uncacheable Memory (MDSUM), part of the RIDL class of attacks.
• CVE-2018-12127 - Microarchitectural Load Port Data Sampling (MLPDS), also part of the RIDL class of attacks.
• CVE-2018-12130 - Microarchitectural Fill Buffer Data Sampling (MFBDS), also called 'Zombieload' or RIDL (Rogue In-Flight Data Load).
• CVE-2018-12126 - Microarchitectural Store Buffer Data Sampling (MSBDS), also known as a Fallout

Of these, the ZombieLoad attacks seem to be the most worrisome of the lot.  They impact the largest number of chips, encompassing everything Intel has produced from 2011 onwards, but all of these are considered serious security flaws.  Worse, there are no fixes yet, and no word yet on when a fix might be forthcoming.

Safeguard your network and information by working only with the best IT consultants. Call SpartanTec, Inc. 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