3 Reasons the Best Defense is a Good Offense (Cyber Security Edition).

As a business owner, you want to ensure you keep profitable and achieve your business goals. But increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks put your data and livelihood at greater risk every day. That’s why a proactive approach to cyber security is essential to staying profitable, and secure. Read on for 3 reasons the best defense is a good offense, especially when it comes to cyber security. 

Situation Report

Whether motivated by greed, ideology or nation-building, cyber-attacks are becoming more frequent and harder-hitting as malicious actors invent new ways of causing devastating consequences for you and your business. 

So far in 2022, we have seen large malicious attacks against everything from non-profits to government sites, to critical infrastructure and the supply chain. For example: 

• Malware on the Red Cross servers remained undetected for 70 days and compromised personal details of 515,000 people. 
• An attack on the Washington State Department of Licensing compromised documents of 650,000 people, including some Social Security Numbers.  
• Toyota’s Japanese production plants ground to a halt amidst an attack on one of their suppliers, Kojima Industries. 
• Insurance giant AON, which also provides cyber security, experienced a cyber-attack and is still assessing the damage. 

In addition to these attacks, we’ve seen cyber warfare between nation states, targeting foreign government websites and critical infrastructure in efforts to beat their enemies into submission. 

While these examples represent a wide range of motivations, what is clear from these high profile, broad-reaching attacks is that to cybercriminals, no entity, organization or person is off limits, which means no industry or sector is ‘safe’.  

Like never before, the need for complete and even exhaustive security measures should be at the forefront of every businessman’s mind. It is absolutely crucial in this day and age to have top-tier security measures in place to protect you, your business, your data, and the personal information of your employees and customers. 

The good news is that the technological advancements in computer and network security have skyrocketed in recent years. However, the bad news is that the need for those advancements is at an all-time high as well!  

So here are 3 reasons the best defense is a good offense when it comes to strengthening your technology. Plus, we’ve thrown in a few extra practical tips to help you push against the full-court press. 

1. Defense against known attack vectors secures you from 99% of cyber attacks 

Tactics used by cyber-criminals against corporations, organizations and individuals are chosen for one simple reason: they are effective. Larger bodies and groups have taken note and use or hire the same tactics at the government level or to disrupt industries, economies and the security of their enemies’ private data. 

Cyber-attacks vary in type, target and complexity. Advances in technology have enabled brute-force attacks to crack an 8-character password in 39 minutes, which is why we are big proponents of unique passwords that are changed often. However, the best step is to add in another layer of security by way of an on-device authentication token. As we previously reported, good password hygiene such as the adoption of Multi-Factor Authentication can protect you from up to 99% of all cyber-attacks. 

More advanced cyber espionage tactics are on the rise as well. These include social engineering to gain access to sensitive or classified data or Intellectual Property for economic gain, competitive advantage, or political reasons. These attacks are highly targeted, with considerable cost. 

It is a scary new reality that we live in, no doubt about it. But it’s NOT so overpowering that it has become impossible to protect yourself and your business.  

2. Frequent updates to devices and applications secure you from known malware 

We don’t just update our devices and apps for the new features. The recent iOS15.4 update had some nice convenience factors, but every Apple user should have updated because of the 39 security vulnerabilities it addressed as well. 

39! Those are just in the operating system, not including “bugs” and “fixes” in all the apps on the device. According to Apple, these vulnerabilities had not been exploited yet, but it’s still a reminder that we carry vulnerabilities with us wherever we go, on the devices that keep our whole world in our hands. Therefore, keeping our tech up to date makes it more difficult for malicious actors to exploit our tech. (If you haven’t updated yet, say this aloud with me, and into your phone: “Hey Siri, remind me to update iOS tonight at 9pm”.) 

3. Secure, Scheduled Backups keep your data accessible and relevant 

Data loss can occur due to many factors, including hard drive or device failure. Let’s be honest, who HASN’T lost important photos from a holiday or had a device misplaced or damaged from being dropped? Accidents happen. So, protect against data-loss accidents with secure backups in the cloud and on physical servers, and KEEP them up to date on a regular basis. We’ve got a helpful guide for that here. 

You don’t have to be ALONE in this. 

Your focus should be achieving your business or organizational goals but worrying about your IT distracts you from your core mission. That’s what Movaci’s service is all about – strengthening your security and keeping it simple for you, so you can keep focused and profitable. 

There are effective countermeasures to protect you against cyber-attacks and safeguards against life’s accidents.  

By understanding the nature and vectors of the threats, a highly trained and experienced IT Solutions and Security partner can help strengthen your technology and simplify your security. 

To keep up to date with latest trends and tips in IT Security, subscribe to our newsletter. 

If your business could use a tailored IT solution, click here to schedule your free 30 minute consult with a Movaci Solutions Consultant. 

*References: 

Red Cross Zoho Bug Hack https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/red-cross-state-hackers-breached-our-network-using-zoho-bug/ 

Washington State Department of Transport Data Breach https://komonews.com/news/local/state-department-of-licensing-site-back-online-after-data-breach 

Toyota production halted https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Supply-Chain/Toyota-halts-operations-at-all-Japan-plants-due-to-cyberattack 

Aon Cyber Attack https://cybernews.com/news/insurance-giant-aon-hacked/