The latest cyber news

I’m sorry, I’m just not buying it. If you’ve been anywhere but under a rock lately, then you’ve heard about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This week we were treated to the news that Russia has launched a cyberwar against Ukraine, and this is a sign that an attack is imminent.

First of all, I have no idea what’s happening on the Russian border, and I have no idea if Russia is going to invade Ukraine. What I do know, however, is a cyberwar has been raging between Russia and Ukraine for years now. If anyone thinks that “now the gloves have come off” is news, they simply haven’t been paying attention, and they certainly haven’t been watching the attack traffic reports. Folks, it’s possible there has been an uptick, but this isn’t big news. Just for fun, take a look at this link: MAP | Kaspersky Cyberthreat real-time map. Only Kaspersky knows for sure if this is actually real-time, as they claim, but it hasn’t changed much in the past few years.

We’ve been engaged in a global cyberwar for well over a decade, and the “gloves came off” a long time ago. Our infrastructure is under constant assault, occasionally effective. The characters are the same – Russia, Ukraine, China, North Korea, Iran. In fact, Iran made the news again this week with an intrusion into the Internation Red Cross’s network.

Cyberwarfare is costing US companies billions of dollars annually. It’s become too lucrative on the attack side to stop it, so the only defense you have is your own awareness and preparation.

Awareness – training, training, training, and fostering a culture of security in your organization are essential.

Preparation – firewalls that stop attacks (running antivirus and antimalware) at the perimeter of your network, along with endpoint protection (every device on the network) are critical. Running security and vulnerability scans should be happening at the very least annually. Have a documented (that means written) game plan for what to do WHEN you are attacked, will save you precious minutes when needed the most.

We can help with all of this, and we do it for clients like you every day at pricing that’s likely less than you may think. The truth is, you can’t afford not to be doing these things if you expect to stay in business. Don’t be one of thousands of businesses who close each year because a cyber-attack wiped them out.

Call us if you need to tighten your defenses and raise your level of cyber-awareness.