cyber safety Archives · Page 2 of 2

State of Email Security for 2019

Email has been an irreplaceable blessing and a cruel curse to the cybersecurity of business over the years. Email connects the employees as well as the rest of the world. However, because email connects employees to the rest of the world, email has also come to be the largest vulnerability of any organization. In fact, recent studies report that 94% of companies will experience an email-related malicious attack.

These attacks are generally phishing attacks such as emails requesting money transfers and fraud based attacks such as impersonation of third party vendors. Email is the easiest point of contact for other users, external or internal, to interact with employees and attempt malicious attacks. Reasons for improving email security are endless and companies are looking for solutions to remedy potential vulnerabilities in their systems.

Vulnerabilities are Increasing

The amount of email-based attacks towards a company has consistently seen a rise in recent years. As the world moves further and further along with the use of the internet and emails, this trend isn’t likely to see any change. IT departments are finding it increasingly difficult to protect the company and increase email security. In fact, 61% of businesses believe that they will likely or inevitably suffer an email-borne attack.

Companies are continuing to promote email safety protocols and educate employees on the proper usage of email. Through these efforts, they hope to minimize security risks and improve vulnerability management. However, while these efforts to increase employee ability to spot cyber attacks have increased, only 25% of companies are providing training to actively increase email security. This training is commonly in the form of group sessions or informative videos. Some companies even go as far as having one on one sessions with employees to ensure that they understand the risk involved in email and that they keep the company safe while using it.

Effects of Attacks on Businesses

Many of these email-borne attacks have had direct effects on the functioning and profits of the organization. Specifically for email-based impersonation attacks, organizations have reported that:

13% lost their position in the market
26% loss of reputation
27% had to cut back on employee numbers
28% lost customers
29% experienced direct financial loss
39% experienced data loss

While 25% reported that they experienced no loss because of an impersonation email attack, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t suffer losses from some other form of attack. The chances are high that they did.

More to Email Security Than Just Outside Threats

There’s more to email security than simply malicious user attacks. There are also human errors involved. 31% of C-suite level(CFO, CEO, CTO) employees have reported to had sent sensitive data to the wrong person. If this information is incorrectly sent to a fellow employee, the situation may not be so bad. However, if the wrong information is sent outside of the company, there is a chance that the information can be used to harm the company. Roughly 40% of employees at a given organization believes that the CEO undervalues the impact of email security.

C-suite level members of an organization are also the target of most cybercriminals. As C-suite level members often hold valuable information and have authorization to much of the company, cybercriminals highly target these individuals because they can profit the most from them. C-suite level employees, just as much as normal level employees, need to become better educated on email security.

Email security should be one of the many integrated security strategies seriously enforced to protect the company. For more information regarding the state of email security, contact AE Technology Group. We are well-versed in protecting the networks of companies and offer solutions that can prevent cyber disasters and increase vulnerability management including email security.

Take Charge of Security With Two-Factor Authentication

As attacks by hackers become all too common, it is increasingly important to ensure that accounts and passwords are protected. Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an extra level of protection to accounts and is an important security option that all companies should consider. If you have questions or would like to learn more, AE Technology Group would be happy to help.

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-factor authentication provides a method for ensuring that accounts are safe, even if a password is hacked or stolen. In addition to use of a password, 2FA requires that the account holder provide an additional piece of data or information to confirm the account. While there are many options for the second authentication factor, three common choices are:

A piece of information unique to the user, such as a password or PIN;
A physical object owned by the user, such as a smartphone or token; or
A biometric indicator, most commonly fingerprints verified by a fingerprint reader.

When an account needs to be verified, the system will first require that the user enter their password and then request their second form of authentication. For example, after a password is entered, the system may generate a phone call to the user’s smartphone.

What Are the Benefits of 2FA?

The most obvious benefit to 2FA is security. In the password/smartphone example used above, a hacker would only gain access to the account if they knew the account password and had access to the associated smartphone. 2FA also allows for increased flexibility for workers. Without having to worry about the safety of their devices, they can work remotely and in more locations – allowing them to maximize their time and productivity.

How Do I Implement 2FA?

AE Technology Group is perfectly poised to help your business implement 2FA.

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What Is The Best Way To Protect Your Business From Hackers

According to Small Business Trends online 43 percent of all small businesses across the United States face a cyber attack. In fact, over half of those businesses that suffer a cyber attack eventually fail. These known statistics make it necessary to protect your business from hackers. A hacker gains unauthorized use to your business data through your computer. The question is, what can you do to protect your business against a cyber attack?

What Does The AE Technology Group Do To Protect Your Business?

IT Support Services

What is IT support services? Our IT services provides tech support against cyber bullies. When your operating system is under the threat of an attacker, we’re there to help. Our customers receive efficient monitoring of their operating system against hackers and other technical issues. We understand how effective IT support can keep your business productive.

24 Hour Support

There is no set time for a hacker to attack your operating system. The AE Technology Group is there to support your needs around the clock. Our customers receive 24/7 IT security, backup data services, disaster recovery, monitoring, and customized support IT software.

Unfortunately, a hacker will go through great lengths to infiltrate your business data. Businesses that operate financial services are at a greater risk of a cyber attack. Cyber bullies are after data that can help them financially gain from your business. Basic anti-virus software isn’t enough to stop malware and the threat of spy software used by hackers. Get the backup and recovery services your business needs when you need it. We also provide in-office IT support services with Office 365 and VoIP.

Amazingly, the AE Tech Group has proudly served the New York City area for over 17 years with a worldwide audience. We specialize in backup and recovery for small and medium size businesses. We’re there to protect you against ransonware, SQL injection, and worms used by hackers. You’re invited to contact us for more details on an exemplary 90 day trial to protect your business from unwanted hackers today.

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Cyber Safety Facts in Schools and the Work Place: The Similar Patterns of Kids and Adults

Cyber safety facts for kids and adults aren’t necessarily all that far apart from one another when you consider adults do the same things kids do online.

They both go on social media, and sometimes talk with strangers they may not know in those same places.

They also deal with placing personal information online that could easily be compromised if not careful.

Just how much more similar are kids to adults in the cyber world and their vulnerability to cyber safety? Take a look at these facts and keep your own kids and company employees safe.

Posting Personal Information Online

Kids frequently go on social media and perhaps say or do things parents aren’t even aware they’re doing. It’s why parents should supervise their underage kids on social media to see what they’re saying to strangers. While you also want to respect some of their privacy when talking to friends, knowing what they’re saying publicly is imperative. You don’t want them giving out your personal address or giving your family’s last name to someone they don’t know.

The same goes in your company with your employees. As a supervisor, you should be aware of what your adult employees are doing on social media. Unfortunately, some people can act worse than kids when posting things anonymously online. This could include private information about your company you don’t want seen by the public. Evidence suggests we frequently give out far more private information online when we think we’re safe under an anonymous name.

Dealing with Predators in Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are still around, even if Twitter usually fills in under the same concept. Kids are also still targets from pedophiles who scan chat rooms and social media looking to communicate with them. You should always be aware of who they’re talking to while creating a careful balance of not intruding on conversations with their true friends. If you see evidence of a name they’re talking to that isn’t familiar, you should investigate who they are.

Your adult employees may be doing the same thing. In the world of trade secret theft, you also have people who fish for information through your employees. This could happen in a social media conversation where your employee may give away more information than they even realize. They should be cognizant to every word said online or risk giving away things potentially endangering your company.

Your employees can also be the targets of online predators, or perhaps do link-ups that become dangerous.

Avoid Clicking on Links from Strangers

The most common way to get a virus on your computer or for thieves to gain access to your personal info is through phishing links. On social media, kids are going to see hundreds of links from people that look legitimate. If you don’t recognize the name, your kids should be educated not to click any unknown links. With just one click, it could send personal info to a hacker who can hack your computer to steal identities.

Of course, shared phishing links can happen with people you know. It’s best to learn how to scan the link with a virus software to make sure it’s safe. Unfortunately, it’s a warning even adult employees in companies don’t heed. In that regard, you need to have a policy in place to make your employees aware of phishing links.

All told, more viruses and computer issues are created by being fooled by phishing scams in the workplace.

Here at AE Technology Group, we can help bring a strong level of cyber safety to your company. With our comprehensive IT services, we’ll use preventative measures to make sure these threats never happen to retain your peace of mind.

Contact us so we can tell you more about our IT services and provide security in a time when all of us are sitting ducks without the most thorough protection.

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What is Cyber Safety? The Act of Protecting Information and Personal Reputation

Asking the question of “what is cyber safety?” might bring a lot of different answers in a time when dealing with the Internet has many layers of complexity.

But cyber safety still can be whittled down to a basic idea of protecting personal information and personal reputation. While the latter might sound more like reputation management, the intention of cyber safety is to find ways to prevent problems before they even occur.

In the world of kids, especially, programs are being developed (through iKeepSafe for one) to help them recognize what to look out for when online and how to ward off threats. Adults need just as much supervision, particularly when it’s easy to get complacent if they haven’t had anything happen before.

What things should you be looking out for when you go online to help make it a safer environment and to prevent any issues like cyber theft sullying your reputation?

Recognizing the Risks

The real danger of cyber threats is that you don’t always know something is happening to you right away. Hacking, for instance, can happen quietly while you’re online with no signs anything occurred. Only months after you find out your identity was stolen or other personal things were invaded will you realize that something might have gone amiss while online.

Your first step is to acknowledge that these threats are ongoing and to recognize the things you can use to protect yourself. This also includes recognizing the social threats on the Internet from predators when school students are online. Even adults are vulnerable to cyber bullying, which can be solved with the proper protections and behavior online.

Recognizing the Proper Tools

The silent threats of hacking and those gaining access to your private information can be warded off with firewalls and virus protection programs. While these can vary in price and are even free in some cases, their features can vary on the level of protection. If you’re a business, you might be vulnerable taking on free online protection programs that might work well for individuals, but not for major companies. The same applies to firewalls when not all you buy (including expensive ones) are proven to be fail-safe.

All of the above also applies to schools where kids are going online every day. Not having something 100% reliable could potentially place all computers in a school in jeopardy, while also leaving kids vulnerable. However, proper cyber safety courses should be given in schools to help ward off predators with proper online behavior.

While recognition of these threats and finding solutions are part of every goal in keeping online activity safe, should you rely on buying your own software for a fee or free?

Choosing an IT Team to Ward Off Threats

When you work with an experienced IT support team, you can have someone there who’s assured to give you the latest technology to keep your computer systems safe. Here at AE Technology Group, we use our IT support service to help many businesses in the Long Island, New York area be able to keep the use of the Internet in business a safe endeavor. With our attention to the latest technology, customer service, proactive solutions, and rapid response times, you can rest assured your business will have a top team watching out for you at all times with successful protection.

Contact us so we can do an analysis of what your company or school needs. We’ll help integrate the online world in a way that’s still fun while shutting out the wild west mentality still out there.