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Stay Safe and Keep it Simple… 4 Essential Actions to Take During Cybersecurity Awareness Month

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The theme of CISA’s, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Secure Our World.” They are asking all of us to do our part.

CISA offers helpful tips, videos and resources to protect yourself, your family, and your business from online threats here:

https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world

CISA recommends all of us – individuals, families and businesses – to keep it simple and focus on these four critical actions this month – and all year long.

  • Use Strong Passwords – Strong passwords are long, random, unique, and include all four character types (uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols). Password managers are a powerful tool to help you create strong passwords for each of your accounts.
  • Turn On MFA – You need more than a password to protect your online accounts and enabling MFA makes you significantly less likely to get hacked. Enable MFA on all your online accounts that offer it, especially email, social media and financial accounts.
  • Recognize & Report Phishing – Be cautious of unsolicited messages asking for personal information. Avoid sharing sensitive information or credentials with unknown sources. Report phishing attempts and delete the message.
  • Update Software – Ensuring your software is up to date is the best way to make sure you have the latest security patches and updates on your devices. Regularly check for updates if automatic updates are not available.

Your UC and Voice Communications need to be protected too. Need help with your UC or Voice communications security?

Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Stay Vigilant… 5 Techniques Bad Guys are Using to Breach Your IT

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While we all know security is important, sometimes day-to-day operations overwhelm our good intentions to keep up with fast-moving technology threats. Staying safe means being continually aware and taking precautions against the more common techniques bad guys are using to breach businesses every day:

1. Spoofing – Email spoofing is when the sender address is forged to make it appear that their email comes from a trusted source, such as your bank. The email can send you to a bogus website where your account details can be stolen. Or it appears to come from inside your own organization, asking you to change your password or confirm your details.

2. Phishing – Often posing as a request for data from a trusted source, this attack is launched via email and asks users to click on a link. Over time, phishing has evolved to include Spear Phishing (targeted attempts highly personalized for a specific individual) and Whaling (phishing scams that target high-profile users and decision makers).

3. Hijacking – This attack changes a computer’s settings to either ignore DNS or use a DNS server that is controlled by malicious hackers. The attackers then redirect communication to fraudulent sites. Website hijacking is commonly used to redirect users to fake login pages for banks and other online services in order to steal their login credentials. It can also be used to redirect security sites to non-existent servers to prevent affected users from updating their security software.

4. Malware Insertion – This refers to a variety of cyber threats including Trojans, viruses and worms which typically steal data or destroy key computer functions; usually introduced through email attachments, website visits, software downloads, or operating system vulnerabilities.

5. Ransomware – This is a specific type of malware that requires some sort of ransom payment to either remove it or to retrieve files that had been encrypted. Ransomware has been around for a long time, but it made news in recent years when payments started to be demanded in Bitcoin, making this activity virtually risk-free for cyber criminals.

IT security is a big challenge. TCI security experts can help keep your business safe. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.