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Ransomware The experience of someone victimized by a ransomware attack is laced with terror. The fact that the situation you are dealing with?finding your files, drives, or even network resources are encrypted and inaccessible–is definitely one that would startle anyone. You then see the clock that is patiently ticking down, and you know that if you don?t comply with the demands, your files/drives will be deleted. It?s not a pretty situation. Phishing Phishing messages are usually delivered through email, but can also be received via a phone call, text message, or social media message. They are known as such because the scammer responsible simply distributes a message and waits for someone to take the bait. Scammers today are well-established and have gone to great lengths to concoct messages that could fool even the most vigilant user.  Cybercriminals have taken to pairing these attacks together to help them take advantage of as many targets as possible. If a member of your staff incidentally clicks on a link or unpacks an attachment that is connected to one of these phishing emails?because it looks just like a valid email?you may be in some big trouble. Ransomware can move fast to encrypt data and drives, whittling your options significantly.  What to Look for in a Phishing Email There are some warning signs that a message is a phishing attempt. They include: Details are wrong – There are several details that you should check before you click anything in an email. Is the email address from the sending company? Are there misspellings and grammatical errors that you wouldn?t find in professional correspondence? Were you expecting an email from the company? If there are obvious inconsistencies, make sure to report it to your IT administrator before proceeding. There?s excessive urgency – Most phishing emails have desperate call-to-actions. Email is a useful correspondence tool, but very rarely are you directed to do anything that would necessitate you providing sensitive data. If an email?s message seems a little desperate, don?t proceed and report the message to your IT department. There?s a link or an attachment – If there is a link or an attachment in the email, and you weren?t expecting the email, you will want to reach out to the sender to confirm their legitimacy through another method of communication. Phishing is today?s hacker?s go-to strategy. Ensuring that your staff is able to spot phishing attempts is the best way to ensure that ransomware or other malware payloads stay off your network. Call the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services today to talk about the strategies we prefer to ensure that our clients? networks are left free of malware. You can reach us at (603) 889-0800.

Let?s dive into three ways that businesses commonly implement the cloud, as well as the benefits for each of them. Data Storage If you have multiple devices, chances are you have felt the frustration of not having access to a particular file because it is located on your desktop rather than your laptop. Even if files are stored on an in-house network, this same issue can persist if that network is not connected to the Internet. How do you solve this dilemma? It?s simple; utilize a cloud-based data storage system for file sharing! With cloud-based data storage, this frustration can become a thing of the past. Data can be accessed on any connected device, making operations much easier and far more flexible as a whole. Imagine the possibilities; you can work on any file, anytime, from anywhere. Once things open back up and you are comfortable traveling again, you won?t have to worry about not having access to important data, and productivity can skyrocket. Plus, think about all the space that server units can take up on-premises. Imagine what it would be like to not have to worry about those? Which leads us into our next opportunity for cloud-based expansion… Backup and Disaster Recovery Data backups in particular are important for any successful business continuity strategy. You might be able to deal with not having momentary access to your data, since it?s safe and sound on a different device, but imagine the struggle that would come about if that data simply did not exist anymore? The traditional way of restoring data used to involve tape-based backups that would be stored on-site, take up a considerable amount of space, and had to be set manually at the end of every day. This made them prone to user error and devastating natural disasters, like floods and fires. If you have an automated data backup system that can be deployed through the cloud, you can get back in business relatively quickly following any sort of disaster, and since the backups are stored with more redundancy than with tape, you?ll never have to worry about them not being accessible or corrupt; chances are there will always be at least one copy of your data that can be called upon in your time of need. Cloud Hosting In much the same way that the cloud allows for easier access to data, the same can be said for just about anything stored in the cloud. You don?t need to limit the possibilities to just files and other types of data. Why not try hosting applications in the cloud? Doing so gives you access to them on any approved device that can handle them. Having access to applications like your email, productivity suite, Voice over IP phone software, and other productivity or communication software while out of the office can be game-changing. On a more broad scale, you can also use the cloud for hosting hardware solutions. Let?s say that you have a legacy software that only runs on a particular instance of a server operating system. However, your servers all need to be on supported versions of Server 2019. Using partitioning through the cloud, you can have the best of both worlds by hosting multiple instances of that operating system in a virtual environment. Get Started […]

Before we get into regulatory compliance, we should mention that compliance with company-wide regulations (that presumably you?ve set up for a reason) are not exempt when considering your business? compliance responsibilities. Understanding where your organization is in meeting both outside and inside compliance requirements can set you up for success, even as your business doesn?t look the same way it did in the past. Outside Compliance Considerations When compliance regulations are considered, typically these are the qualifications that need to be met. They are traditionally ethics-based regulations set up by legislators to help govern fair enterprise. Today?s business creates, collects, and uses data in new and exciting ways, and having to meet regulatory benchmarks becomes more and more crucial. Most of these regulations are governed by federal, state, and industry legislative bodies and organizations created to do that. If they are not met, it can cause some difficult problems for any business. These include fines, suspension of service, and more.  Inside Compliance Considerations The regulations you set up for your own business obviously don?t carry the risks inherent in meeting regulatory requirements, but presumably you?ve enacted these benchmarks and requirements to help manage and operate your business effectively, so meeting those standards is important.  Massive Push For Data Privacy For some time now, consumers have been more cognizant of how their personal information can be used against them. That doesn?t mean that many people have taken the steps to protect that data, but that is evolving. Typically, any regulations aimed at data protection have been made to keep organizations from taking advantage of stakeholders, but now, it seems, there is a fairly large section of people that are actively looking to help individuals protect their personal data. Unfortunately, many of the major technology companies don?t seem to be among them.  The establishment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union was a landmark day for individual data privacy. It held businesses accountable and gave individuals control over a lot of their personal data. Much of the same data was shared with impunity before the GDPR went into effect. Today, there are several data privacy laws on the books in the United States, with a federal data privacy law looking inevitable in the years to come.  Compliance Tips Outside of the GDPR (which affects any business that does business with European companies) most of today?s requirements have been in place for quite some time. Regulations like HIPAA and PCI DSS affect millions of businesses, so it is important to have a set of strategies in place to keep compliant. Here are a few tips: Stay in Good Standing – You need a Certificate of Good Standing. Otherwise you can?t legally do business in most states. This is a certification that is issued by your state and requires your business to be registered as a legal entity, be current on tax filings, and meet other benchmarks or be suspended from doing business in that state.  Be Aware of Any Laws that Govern Your Business – These days, the regulations and laws are always changing. Business in 2021 moves fast, so staying up on the latest regulations will help your business maintain good health and go a long way toward putting you in a position to maintain compliance.  Keep Your […]

Before we start, we are going to forgo the obvious technology tools that a business will need like some form of computer and a high-speed internet connection. Every business is absolutely going to need these things. What we are going for is a list of things that the new business should consider to enhance their ability to hit the ground running. #1 – Management Software For the longest time, technology wasn?t something that a new business had to consider. They would acquire technology when the analog processes got too complicated. Today, technology has to be at the forefront of any business? plan. This is largely because of the reliance on digital technologies for ordering, payment, and more. If you are starting a new business the best tool you can start off with is some type of management software that can help you track customer relationships, track employee time and performance, and just give you a centralized view of your business. A piece of software like a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or some type of project management solution can go a long way toward providing you the tools you need to do more off the bat. Management software can help you. Save time – Since scheduling, time management, ordering, and support is done through the same piece of software, you and your employees will save a substantial amount of time.  Stay coordinated – Management software has an integrated calendar feature to help businesses track tasks, assign work schedules, and be more collaborative without having to rely on multiple pieces of software.  Get results – Scheduling work, completing work, selling products and services, supporting those sales, and getting paid are all extremely important. A centralized management software can help your new business work effectively from the start. #2 – Voice over Internet Protocol Every new business needs reliable communication tools and a Voice over Internet Protocol phone system can provide any business with the communication tools needed to conduct business reliably and efficiently. VoIP is powered through an Internet connection rather than through a phone line. This reduces costs and provides any new businesses with three major operational benefits. They are: Easy to set up – Since a hosted VoIP solution is billed monthly by the user and runs through the Internet, setting up new accounts or removing accounts is a breeze.  Give you the tools you need – Not only do you get a reliable business phone solution, it also can provide you with video conferencing, instant messaging, and a whole host of other tools designed to help your business manage its communications. Improves mobility – Every VoIP account can turn an individual?s smartphone into a work phone through the use of an app. This will help new businesses that don?t have a lot of capital, to gain mobility immediately for no extra charge. #3 – Cloud Services Obtaining the hardware and software needed to run a business can put a lot of stress on new business owners. With cloud computing, new entrepreneurs can acquire the computing they need as a service. There are options for applications, security, even full computing platforms available from some of the most noteworthy technology companies on the planet. This not only can help you control your technology costs, but it can get your business the […]

Let?s take a few minutes to dive into the situation at hand to see what insights can be gleaned from these events. The Colonial Pipeline Situation On May 7, Colonial Pipeline first became aware of a ransomware infection in its systems, prompting the fuel supplier to pull the plug on its pipeline operations along the southeast coast so that the malware wouldn?t spread. Leaning on a relatively new form of ransomware attack, those responsible for the attack?a group called Darkside?utilized a method known as double extortion, where the cybercriminal motivates their victim to pay up by not only locking their data down but also threatening to leak it out. For its part, Darkside primarily operates as a kind of cybercriminal service provider, developing threats to provide them to other groups with their support. In response to this threat, Colonial Pipeline quickly halted its operations? and as a result, a wide portion of the country experienced gas shortages due to the cutoff of supply. Many found themselves waiting for hours at the pumps, assuming that any gasoline was available at all. Despite stating that there were no plans to pay the almost $5 million in cryptocurrency that the hackers were demanding, it has been reported that the company did ultimately do so. Once the payment was received, the distributor was provided with a very slow decryption tool that they supplemented with their own backup solutions. This situation has highlighted a few serious considerations that will need to be addressed by businesses of every size, while also revealing a few things about the current state of cybersecurity in clearly critical pieces of infrastructure. Ransomware-as-a-Service is a Serious Threat Darkside had risen to prominence in a relatively short time in the cybercriminal business world, creating a network of affiliate hackers to collaborate with for a share of the cut. With a net gain of at least $60 million in its seven months of existence ($46 million of which came in during Q1 2021 alone), this approach is apparently quite lucrative. While the affiliate hackers retain the majority of the ransom fees, Darkside handles a lot of the work on their behalf: writing the ransomware itself, billing the targeted victims, hosting the data that has been stolen, and even serving as the cybercriminal?s IT support and PR team. This is serious, simply because it can significantly lower the barrier to entry that cybercriminals face when implementing ransomware, making it a feasible attack vector for more of them to put into place. Double Extortion Makes Ransomware Even Worse You may have caught that Colonial Pipeline did, in fact, have a data backup available to them? so, it may seem confusing that they still paid the ransom to have their data released. After all, the data backup should have enabled them to simply wipe and restore their entire infrastructure from scratch. It?s the fact that this attack was using the double extortion method that makes the difference. Instead of simply threatening to delete the data if the ransom is not paid, a double extortion attack doubles down by threatening to leak the data if the ransom is not paid in time. Depending on the industry that is being targeted, some of this data could bring significant repercussions to the business that allowed it to leak. Government […]