Technology Advisor Blog

Cybersecurity is in the news just about every day!  The balance between cybersecurity and convenience is always tough, and sometimes cybersecurity can even get in the way.  

As summer winds down and the back-to-school season ramps up, it’s the perfect time to review the importance of safeguarding children’s online presence. In a time characterized by the prevalence of social media and digital sharing, it’s crucial to be aware of the risks associated with posting and sharing personal  information about your children on these platforms. This applies to both you and them! It can lead to potential cybersecurity breaches, and it can also have long-lasting consequences for your child’s privacy and safety. Here are some vital pointers and tips to assist in upholding your family’s online safety as your children return to school.

The new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT is all over the news these days!  ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, and it's an AI language model that can understand human language and generate human-like responses.  It's the fasted growing tech platform ever, hitting ONE MILLION users in just FIVE DAYS!  You can ask a question and get a response.  Need help writing an email or a letter to a client?    You can automate a lot of repetitive tasks like writing an introductory email, an online ad, or even an outline of a book.  It's a tool that can save you a lot of time when used right.  If you have writer's block, or just can't think of how to start a response, just ask ChatGPT.  The responses will require some fact checking and fine tuning, but you'll never have to stare at a blank sheet of paper again (a computer screen these days).

Building on annual success Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2022 is set to highlight the growing importance of cybersecurity in our daily lives and look to empower everyday individuals and business to take cybersecurity steps by making cyber more accessible.

"I'm a small business.  Why would a ransomware gang be out to get me?"  This is a question we hear a lot working with local businesses.  Everyone sees the big cyber crime headlines in the news, most recently with Uber, and last year quite visibly with the Colonial Pipeline, but what many people don't realize is that half of these kinds of threats hit small businesses - the events just don't make national news.  Why are so many small businesses impacted when there are bigger targets out there?  It's Ransomware as a Service.  What's ransomware as a service? You’re likely familiar with software as a service (SaaS) but ransomware? What does that mean?

First, let’s do a quick review of what ransomware is. It's a type of malware that holds the victim’s files and folders for ransom.  This sounds like something out of a Tom Cruise movie, but basically a giant warning shows up on your screen with a ticking clock that says pay the ransom, or you won't ever access your files again.  Most typically, malware gets on your computer network through human error with someone inadvertently clicking on the wrong link or opening the wrong email attachment (like a fake resume).   The malware is deployed and encrypts network data, with a safe return of your data being promised when the ransom is paid. And with payments usually made through cryptocurrency, these crimes are can be committed anonymously.  Cybercrime is big business!

The "Ransomware as a Service" business model was developed for criminal purposes to make it even easier for criminals to conduct crimes. Ransomware requires little effort to deploy with potentially big payouts.  Criminals with little or no technical know-how can now blast out millions of emails to potential victims.  All they need is a few mouse clicks to make a lot of money.

Ransomware as a Service

We're more than half way through 2022, the world has been through a tough two years with the pandemic, and we're getting through to the other side.  We just checked in again with the CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2022 report, and it's pretty on track for the year.  Ekaru is a proud member of CompTIA, and if you're not familiar with CompTIA, you should be!  "The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the leading voice and advocate for the $5.3 trillion global information technology ecosystem.  Through education, training, certifications, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce."

Do your passwords pose a security risk for your business?  At first this sounds like a funny question, because passwords are supposed to keep things secure, right?  Well, not if they're recycled, weak, or not protected with multi-factor authentication!  Your protection may not be as strong as you think, and getting better password practices is an important step in strengthening your cybersecurity.  World Password Day was created by cybersecurity professionals in in 2013 and designated as the first Thursday of May.  Now is a great time to help strengthen cybersecurity awareness in your team, and we've put together some resources for you to help to help foster better password practices.

Over the past years, technology has increasingly been a driving force in business transformation. Direct digital transformation investments are projected to total $7 trillion between 2020 and 2023 according to data published by Statista.  Big corporations invest in sophisticated long-range strategic planning, but smaller businesses need to pay attention to this trend as well.   If you want your local business to succeed, you must have the appropriate technologies to help you keep pace with the changing business world.

Technology fuels local businesses these days, helping them achieve their goals and vision. At the same time, local businesses are also at increased risk for growing cyber threats worldwide – ALL businesses are impacted, not just the big ones that make national news. One of the important foundations of keeping your technology safe is to conduct a security risk assessment each year (at least!).

Cybersecurity headlines may sound scary, but it’s important for local businesses to know there are a lot of smart and affordable things you can do to fight back to stay more secure online and increase your chances of surviving a cyber event. A basic security risk assessment can help identify security gaps to remediate, and ongoing employee training will greatly help reduce “clicks” on the wrong things. Preventing problems is a lot less expensive and more effective than responding to an incident, but it’s not possible to eliminate all risk. As a technology service provider, Ekaru has been working with local businesses in the greater Boston area for many years, and having an incident response (IR) plan will make a big difference in your ability to successfully recover after a cyber incident.