Information technology blog, cybersecurity blog

Here at Kelser, we’ve been in the IT consulting business for nearly four decades. By now, we’ve heard every excuse in the book from companies who don’t want to take a proactive approach to network security services.

Many managed service providers (MSPs) will tell you that they offer network security services—but how do you know that their offerings are actually high-quality and useful to you as an organization?

Your network is one of the most critical parts of your business—which means that any technical issues will come at a high price. According to a study by ITIC Corporation, 81 percent of organizations estimate that a single hour of downtime would cost their business $300,000 or more.

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.

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.

It’s well known that cyber attacks on businesses are increasing every year. The fact that the number of city governments falling victim to hackers as well is just coming to light. In Connecticut alone, the City of West Haven, the Derby Police Department, and the Bridgeport School District have all experienced cyber attacks in the past year inflicting varying degrees of damage.