Information technology blog, cybersecurity blog

Cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone in your organization, not just the IT department. Executive positions such as the CIO (chief information officer), CISO (chief information security officer), and CTO (chief technology officer) are becoming more and more common, as leaders recognize the impact of cybersecurity on the business as a whole.

Only twice has Microsoft issued a patch for old, out-of-support versions of Windows: in 2017, just before the massive WannaCry cyber attack, and just recently. With newly discovered vulnerabilities from Intel, and even one in Windows 10, a very high number of computers around the world are potentially exposed right now. While we haven’t seen exploits yet to take advantage of these vulnerabilities, they likely aren’t far off. Conditions have scarcely been better for a massive cyber attack on the scale of WannaCry. Last week, I had the chance to break this down for listeners of the Brad Davis Show.

Cybersecurity risks have been on the rise in recent years, and products and services have been constantly evolving to keep up with these threats: 83 percent of organizations say that they experienced phishing attacks in 2018, up from 76 percent in 2017. Social engineering attacks use psychology to trick people into revealing sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers by impersonating a trusted authority. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are a new (and lucrative) attack target.

Many business owners simply don’t think about the topic of business continuity and disaster recovery, assuming that they’ll be fine just because they haven’t yet faced a catastrophe. Others argue that their IT department’s budget is too small to spare any funds for a hypothetical future event.

Cloud computing has been around for a while now, but it remains a bit mysterious to many in the business world. I was thrilled to have the chance to help well-known tech journalist John Edwards break down some common misconceptions and assumptions in an article for CIO.com.

Kelser is proud to announce that Jim Parise has been promoted to president. In 21 years with the company, Parise was previously vice president of professional services and an enterprise solutions executive. He was instrumental in launching Kelser's suite of professional services such as Cybersecurity-as-a-Service and technology lifecycle management.

Voice over IP, or VoIP, has come a long way. Where once the call quality of a landline couldn’t be beat and voice communication over the internet was unreliable, companies can now run their entire voice communication system seamlessly through their internet connection and computers. The headsets and phones even look and function the same. VoIP is a very hot topic in the business world as companies evaluate if traditional phone lines continue to make sense for them or if one of the many VoIP options in the marketplace could save money, improve efficiency, or add useful features. This is something the team at Kelser routinely helps our clients navigate and implement. In fact, we even help the media provide information to the business community about VoIP.

It seems like large-scale data breaches that expose thousands upon millions of records are regrettably becoming commonplace today. Protecting your personal and business data should be a priority for anyone that has ever entered information into a web form. Without taking proper steps to secure your data like login credentials, you could make yourself vulnerable to anything from phishing attacks to full account takeover (or even worse). Even a single breach can cost a business upwards of $2.3 million per attack (not to mention the costs related to things like the damage to your reputation) and personal accounts risk losing personal finances, priceless memories (like photos and videos), and more. One of the most basic ways to improve cybersecurity is to make sure you're following best practices for your passwords.