XFER Blog

Cybersecurity is a major part of business computing today, mainly because there are so many threats. Cybersecurity professionals and network administrators must innovate to confront these threats. This month, we thought we would review three of these innovations to give you an idea of what is being done to help businesses handle the rough-and-tumble cybersecurity landscape. 

July 18th, 2024 saw one of the most widespread and devastating outages in recent memory, as a global update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike brought about significant impacts to major infrastructures and societal needs. All this occurred even though only 1% of Windows operating systems experienced the issue.

Technology is integral to modern business, making proficiency in necessary tools a must for today’s workforce. However, the complexity of these technologies can create vulnerabilities as malicious actors continually seek ways to infiltrate systems, steal data, and siphon funds.

Firewalls are stalwarts in network security. They serve as a protective barrier between trusted internal networks and potentially hazardous external ones, such as the vast expanse of the Internet. Essentially, they act as vigilant gatekeepers, scrutinizing each packet of data attempting to traverse their domain. Let’s briefly discuss the diverse types of firewalls and their pivotal roles.

Are you prioritizing your business’ network security? It’s remarkably important that any modern business focuses its efforts on this aspect of running a company. Still, it can be challenging to implement the right tools for the job—particularly if you are a future-minded business. You want to get the best return on your investment, which makes sense. Let’s help you get there.

Network security is complicated, and as such, you need to have considerable knowledge of it to ensure that your business is as secure as possible against the plethora of threats out there. Thankfully, you don’t have to do it alone. We want to give you some insight into the dos and don’ts of network security.

Email is complex, despite all appearances. It’s easy to overlook its complexities when you log into your account and it just works. However, you’ll need to ensure that your email is managed properly, as well as secured with protective measures for the underlying technology. Let’s go over some of the more effective methods you can use to keep your infrastructure secure from all types of threats, whether they are visible or hidden.

Your business’ network is critical to your operations, making it all the more important that you have it properly secured. Fortunately, there are a few relatively simple and straightforward ways to help do so. Let’s share some of the network security basics you need to prioritize.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is always a great time to examine your own practices to ensure they are in line with the best practices. We thought we would share some of the most impactful security best practices that you and your employees can keep in mind as you go about your workdays.

Does your business rely on the strength of its information systems? If so, you understand just how important cybersecurity is to the health of your organization. In a near-constant attempt to maintain organizational cybersecurity, many organizations have started changing the way that they approach data and network security, by moving their security efforts to the edge of their network. This is called edge security, and there are some very intriguing benefits.

Ransomware is a serious issue for businesses. How serious?

Think “$265 billion in costs by 2031” serious. In light of this, every organization needs to do everything possible to avoid falling victim to ransomware. Let’s touch on a few practices that will help.

Passwords, as annoying as they are sometimes, are the front line of defense to almost every account and profile your business depends on. That doesn’t stop security professionals from trying to develop better strategies to secure digital systems. Some of the biggest names in tech are searching for ways to forge ahead passwordless. Let’s take a look at one example that has drawn the attention of the tech community.

For quite a while it took an actual disaster to encourage business leaders to allocate any time and money to put towards cybersecurity. Many businesses still don’t, in fact. Those that have, while absolutely prudent in their use of resources to help ward off security problems, may forget that there are still things that need to be done aside from employee training to keep their security up. Let’s go through a few things that every organization should be doing to maintain the security of their information systems. 

When dealing with business computing, there are many situations where threats could potentially ruin the good thing you’ve got going. Today, a lot of businesses are getting much more serious about their IT security with what is known as a “zero-trust policy”. What exactly is a zero-trust policy? This month we will explain it. 

When it comes to your network and its security, you cannot give all of your users access to all of your assets. It’s just not a good practice, and doing so can potentially put your resources at risk. Let’s discuss how network segmentation can make a world of difference for the integrity of your network and the data found on it.

If Edgar Allan Poe worked in an office, here’s what one of his works would sound like:

True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I have been and am, but why will you say that I am mad? The office had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was my sense of hearing. I heard all things in heaven and on earth and many things in…the other place. So, how then am I mad, especially when I can so healthily and calmly tell you this story?

While we strongly recommend that you put the security safeguard known as multi-factor authentication in place wherever it is available, it is important that we acknowledge that cybercriminals are frustratingly inventive. So much so, in fact, that a new form of attack has been developed to take advantage of MFA, referred to as MFA fatigue.

Let me ask you a question… if you were a hacker, how quickly would you take advantage of newly disclosed bugs and other vulnerabilities? I’d bet it would be pretty quick, and industry experts agree. According to these experts, there’s less and less time for security professionals to react to vulnerabilities and zero-day threats… and it continues to shrink.

So, the question remains, how prepared is your business to respond when these kinds of vulnerabilities are taken advantage of?

Social engineering is a dangerous threat that could derail even the most prepared business. Even if you implement the best security solutions on the market, they mean nothing if a cybercriminal tricks you into acting impulsively. Let’s go over specific methods of social engineering that hackers might use to trick you.

Sometimes it can be easy to take cybersecurity for granted, especially when you consider that built-in security features are more powerful than they have ever been. Unfortunately, if you think that cybersecurity is something that ends with the built-in security of your desktops and laptops, then you’re in for a rude awakening.