The Top 3 Threats You Need To Watch Out For
Introduction
2016 will see an uptick in cyber-assaults on businesses. This is the opinion of Morgan Stanley’s Chief Information Officer, Matthew Chung, speaking at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s annual conference in Washington.
Mr. Chung’s comments were summarized in an excellent post in ThinkAdvisor. Click here is read the original post.
Three threats to watch out for
The post went on to identify three threats that will define the 2016 threat landscape:
- Ransomware – we’ve blogged many times about this over the last two years and now we have an expert saying the same thing. So please listen! Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for extorting millions from businesses of all sizes. Don’t be foolish enough to think that just because you’re a small business cyber-criminals will leave you alone—they won’t.
- Disgruntled employees – this has always been a problem however it is something that companies of all sizes need to address. Unhappy employees with the right credentials can do lots of harm. Make sure you have security measures in place and limit credentials to only what an employee needs to do his or her job.
- Malware – malware is on a meteoric rise as Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS) syndicates grow in number, size, and power. Any criminal wannabe can hook up with a CaaS provider and become a malware-laden SPAM purveyor very quickly. Make sure you and your employees stop clicking on links within emails from people you don’t know.
We have said it before and now you have it from the experts—people are the weakest link in any security system. The above three threats all involve people, either employees with malicious intent or well-meaning and trusting workers who aren’t trained on how to avoid becoming victims and unknowingly put their company at risk.
Conclusion
Ignoring the human element in security is a bad idea. Systems need to be monitored and maintained and employee’s user rights restricted to only what they need to perform their jobs. These are dangerous times and those companies with lax security protocols will suffer dire consequences at the hands of today’s highly trained and skilled cyber-criminals.
Don’t forget that the best way to protect your data is to install a full Business Continuity Hybrid-Cloud Backup system. Don’t let cyber-crime put you out of business.
Joseph Imperato Sr. is the Managing Partner for XSolutions Consulting Services, a Managed Services Provider (MSP) delivering Computer Support, Business Continuity, Cloud Services, and IT Consulting to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut businesses. Call us at (845) 362-9675 and see how we can help your company.
