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Is Your Business Protected From Cybercrime?

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Cyber Security for Businesses

How you handle IT security is more important than ever. Ransomware, a type of malicious software that blocks access to a system until money is paid, and cyberattacks are rising across all industries, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.

In 2015, the FBI reports that it received 2,453 complaints of ransomware incidents for which victims paid more than $24 million. That’s up significantly from 2014, when 1,838 victims reported that their companies paid $23.8 million between April and December.

These attacks run the gamut, and can include stealing financial details or customer information, locking up machines, launching distributed denial-of-service attacks, encrypting data or relaying spam to your customers. Ransom demands can run from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, usually paid in Bitcoins.

So what’s a CEO to do? [Read more…]

Ransomware: What It Is, What It Does, and What Can Be Done To Avoid It

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Ransomware is the Trojan Horse of data destruction. It’s a vicious type of malware that creeps into your computer system and literally paralyzes it, locking up your files, videos, business documents – everything on the hard drive, really – and then demands a monetary ransom to unlock it. It’s a serious type of cyber extortion that has been around for years but has seen a recent uptick in activity, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Most malware of this type manages to encrypt or encode all of the files on infected computers. Some of these programs often claim to be from governmental or even law enforcement agencies and use scare tactics to warn the user that illegal or compromising material has been found on the computer. [Read more…]

Cyber Security Checklist For Small and Medium Businesses

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Even with the security breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and the like, you might think that your small or medium business is safe from cyber attacks because of its size. But it’s just not true.

Even if you know you need to make your company’s data and processes more secure, where do you start? With the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we’ve compiled a list of things your business can do today to improve your cyber security. [Read more…]

How Secure Are Your Company’s Social Media Accounts?

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Your company’s social media profiles are not safe, and there are no exceptions to this rule.

This is not a scare tactic – it’s reality. Being a small business doesn’t protect you against hackers, and neither does being a large business.

Don’t believe it? Ask Fox News, PayPal UK, or Mat Honan. [Read more…]

Are Your Employees Safeguarding Company Information? Most Aren’t, Survey Says [Infographic]

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Cyber security should be a top concern for business owners. We’ve delved into why small businesses should fear data breaches as much as big companies and the top 3 reasons why a hacker would target your business website.

In the spirit of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, today we’re going to examine results of a “Bring Your Own Device” survey conducted earlier this year by IT governance, risk, and compliance firm Coalfire. [Read more…]