Suffolk County Real Estate Industry Crushed by Cyberattack

Following a cyberattack on the Suffolk County government earlier this month, real estate transactions have come to a halt.

 

Since the cyberattack more than 20 days ago, verifying property titles and filing paperwork has been challenging, which has abruptly halted all deals in the county, according to The Real Deal. On September 8, The Suffolk Times reported that a breach by a group known as BlackCat knocked down county websites, servers, and databases.

It’s been stressful for real estate professionals in the New York area. While this may seem like just another insignificant cybersecurity issue, the implications are much deeper than we can see. In this post, we’ll dive into what happened, why it’s so concerning, and how to stay safe.

 

What Happened?

The Suffolk county cyber attack crippled the county clerk’s office, which is in charge of documenting paperwork and assisting with records searches for properties, and shut down the county’s internet systems last month.

Due to title companies’ inability to accurately scan county databases to confirm that the properties don’t have any liens, judgments, or other encumbrances to pass title, real estate closings have been postponed or canceled, especially on larger commercial acquisitions.

According to attorney David Rosenberg of Garden City-based Rosenberg Fortuna & Laitman, “After the Suffolk county hack, delay in restoring access to the county’s real estate records, which had been available online before the hack, is causing many title companies to withhold final clearance that would allow closings to occur.”

The ability to ascertain whether new liens, encumbrances, or property transfers have been recorded between the first title report and the closing depends on these documents. In more recent deals, it causes the title company to postpone the initial title report, which makes it impossible for lawyers, purchasers, borrowers, and lenders to close any sizeable transactions confidently.

According to The Suffolk Times, a hacker collective known as BlackCat took responsibility for the suffolk county data breach and demanded payment to allow users back into government servers. The hackers say they have taken four gigabytes of information, including information on specific citizens, from the clerk.county.suf domain.

 

What this Means?

Deals have slowed to a trickle since neither banks nor buyers can confirm that titles are clean — that is, the property is free of liens and that the seller is the legal owner and only owner — without checking the property out on county websites.

The process of filing claims is another problem. While some records supplied by hand are being accepted and preserved in chronological order, they won’t be officially on file until the systems are operational. Since New York is a “rush to record” state, the first party to file a title claim is the one whose claim is considered; hence incorrect document filing could result in significant issues.

According to Attorney Howard Stein, head of the Real Estate Practice Group at East Meadow-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, the damage will increase exponentially. “New title reports cannot be created, and as a result, newly signed transactions are completely blocked.” The economic implications could be disastrous if a solution cannot be found.

Some title insurers have been forced to add an exception to their Schedule B list of things they cannot insure due to the closure of county systems. This exception now states that they will not cover “any defect, lien, encumbrance, adverse claim, or other matter created by or arising out of the inaccessibility of the Office of Suffolk County, including, but not limited to, an inability to search the public records, or any delay in recording of documents in the public records.”

According to Linda Haltman of Plainview-based Hallmark Abstract Services, “If they were in process before the hack and all of the title searches were done, they have been closing,”  “Underwriters are letting sellers sign affidavits if the searches have already been conducted, with the exclusion of unoccupied land, new development, and foreclosures.”

Haltman warns that delays in closing can become costly given the fast-increasing mortgage rates.

“Delays in being able to close could be costly without an extension of a rate lock-in term,” she warned. “It could cost an extra $5,000 upfront to pay down the rate on a mortgage for a $500,000 house.”

 

Protected Harbor’s Take on the Matter

On September 8, websites and web-based apps for Suffolk Government were shut down after officials discovered malware in county systems. Images of county documents were posted as ransomware on the website DataBreaches.net. The hackers claimed to have taken court records, sheriff’s office records, contracts with the state, and citizen personal data from the county clerk’s website.

“An immediate resolution to this issue is critical, as there will be an increasing number of damages as a result of the shutdown,” Protected Harbor CEO Richard Luna said.

Earlier, most small and mid-sized enterprises were unaware of the importance of cybersecurity. However, with the increasing number of cyber-attacks, it has become imperative for all enterprises to invest in cybersecurity. As a company that provides enterprise-grade software, we have always ensured that all our products are secure.

 

Tips to Fight Against Ransomware

1. Desktop/Network & Backup Isolation
   

   The first step in a new network design is to limit through segmentation of the network. Desktops, Servers, and the backup should all be on separated and isolated networks. Using this approach, an infected desktop will not be able to access the backups and will not infect the backups.

2. Virtualization
   

   We can accomplish desktop and network isolation using virtualization. Virtualization allows you to back up the entire desktop, not just shared folders, databases, or scanned folders, but all folders. This means we can recover the whole office, and not pieces of the office.

3. Email & Web Filtering
   

   Filtering email and web content is an integral part of the Ransomware defense. Good email filtering should include pattern recognition. The initial Ransomware attacks follow a template, and when properly configured, email filtering systems block or quarantine the attack.
   

4. Enable network monitoring
   

   Network monitors can alert and warn on unusual traffic or traffic that is typical of an attack; for example, if specific information is transmitted out of the network, that would trigger an alert.

5. Geo-Blocking
   

   Maintain enhanced network protection that includes active parameter checking and Geo-Blocking. For example, check the address of inbound requests, and if the IP is from a blocked country, then the traffic is blocked even before it reaches the client’s network.

Continue to read in detail how to protect yourself against ransomware attacks.

 

Final Thoughts

Cyber threats are increasing daily, and it is essential to stay protected against them. It is impossible to avoid cyber threats altogether, but we can stay protected by following specific steps and implementing the best cybersecurity practices.

Protected Harbor offers a range of cybersecurity products and services that protect your business against all types of malware, ransomware, and other cyber threats. It also ensures data integrity, regulatory compliance, and system availability.

The Ransomware solution is highly scalable and can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. It is easy to set up and maintain, with no technical skills required. The solution comes with a 24/7 support team that will resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. We are committed to protecting all types of businesses and organizations, offering products and services that are both affordable and easy to use.

We believe there is no better time than now to invest in cybersecurity, as it is the only way to stay ahead in this highly competitive and ever-changing digital world. October is our Annual Cybersecurity Month; we’ll be posting security blogs and videos to keep you protected. Get in touch with our expert and get a free IT Audit today.

WELCOME TO CYBERSECURITY MONTH!

Cybercrimes & Everything You Need to Protect Your Business

Why Is Cybercrime So Dangerous and Can You Be Safer? 

If you are a small business using an off-the-shelf software, I’m sorry to inform you that you are at a higher risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime. We have all, at some point, received phishing emails or have been asked for personal information via our work email from people asking for something out of the ordinary. Most employees have work and personal information on either their company websites or social media. It’s one thing for your business to get scammed, but these bad actors will also go after your clients putting your reputation and business at risk. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to keep yourself safer.

Social Media Risks

A criminal hacker can target any employee who uses social media. It’s fairly dangerous, but we at Protected Harbor have some tips. We harden our clients’ networks and run employee training all the time. The best thing to tell your employees is to not post anything online that you would not say to your competitors or your manager.

Several social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, allow users to post their resumes. Information concerning one’s work can reveal too much about one’s personal life, giving criminals such as hackers information that may enable them to hack into one’s account. Identity theft can also be committed using resume information.

The privacy settings on most social networking sites are either pre-set or default. Suggest your staff make an effort to alter their privacy settings to block strangers and people who are not friends with them from viewing their private information.

 

Protecting Yourself from Spyware and Viruses 

Think about utilizing safe search online browsing software, frequently included in antivirus software complete editions. This software often uses a red, yellow, or green dot next to the links on the search engine. This aids in warning employees of potentially harmful websites.

Never download a torrent file or a software crack, and never download any file that doesn’t come from a reliable website. These frequently include malware. Also, do not click on any pop-up windows that you are not expecting. Instead, either close the window or get out of your browser completely.

Most importantly, make sure that you are updating your OS’s security patches and always have the latest version of your web browser installed. It sounds simple, but companies like Windows Defender push patches and updates daily to fix vulnerabilities. If you are not fast enough in updating the software, a hacker will use it as an entry point into your system.

 

Understanding Social Engineering

Generally, social engineering involves some type of deception to gather information to commit fraud or gain access to a computer. For instance, our google account uses Meta for Business to run our Facebook Page. Often, we will get a general email to our work email claiming our ads were blocked or taken down due to a violation. It would be tempting to open the email and click on such a link if we actually ran ads there.

Do you know what typosquatting is? Pay attention to the spelling of website addresses. They may resemble a real website, but instead, they are misspelled, for example, GOOGLE.com vs. G00GLE.com.

Any email including an offer of any kind should raise suspicions, especially if it seems too good to be true. The same applies to receiving offers from social media or reputable internet businesses, like Facebook and Google.

 

Caller ID Spoofing; What You Need to Know

“ID spoofing,” is another cybercrime you must be aware of. These days, a random phone call is more likely than ever to be a scammer. Criminals can fool people by hiding their information using “spoofing.” Spoofing disguises, the telephone number from which a text is sent by creating a new one. Phony numbers with the same area code are often used to persuade recipients to answer. The scary thing for businesses is that they can make it look like your number, and call clients.

All of your business numbers and extensions represent assets that you need to protect. Software like IntelePeer and Hiya Connect Secure Call can stop scammers from mimicking your phone numbers, regardless of how many lines and extensions you have in your internal network.

 

Is Public Wi-Fi Safe?

Unfortunately, public Wi-Fi is not secure. Several security risks are associated with using a public Wi-Fi. These networks broadcast signals through radio frequencies, which means that anyone who has the right tools, and these tools are fairly easy to find, can intercept the data that is sent through it.

To protect yourself when using public Wi-Fi, you should use either a remote desktop or virtual desktop. DO NOT USE A VPN!

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) helps you establish a private network while using any public networks. While beneficial to provide access to employees and third parties, this access is open-ended and unsecure. All security capabilities are lost when granting third parties’ remote access via VPN. VPNs lack access controls and session monitoring, both effective means of security for network access. VPNs don’t manage, vault, or verify credentials, so password protection depends on your third parties keeping them safe.

Remote desktop solutions are becoming increasingly familiar with the increased prevalence of distributed workforces and more employees regularly working from home. It’s perfect for people who are either frequently on the go, work out of a home office, or are often out in the field and need access to their local desktop computer. RDP is encrypted by default with a higher level of encryption than VPN and requires no additional connection time.

Even if you have a virtual desktop, don’t store any type of critical data on a device, and then use it outside of a network that is not secure. That means downloading documents to your cellphone, then connecting to Starbucks’ free Wi-Fi to watch TikTok. Turn off the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on your cell phone or laptop when you aren’t using them, a device that can still send wireless signals appeals to a hacker.

 

What Is a Credit Freeze?

If you don’t have a credit freeze on your business bank account, you are putting your business at further risk. A credit freeze, sometimes called a security freeze, locks down a credit file so that a lender cannot check your credit. This is a good thing, as criminals cannot open any new accounts using your name or your EIN…and if a lender can’t check your credit, they are unlikely to extend a line of credit.

Remember that you must request a credit freeze from each credit bureau, including Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion. Remember you can always un-freeze your accounts whenever needed.

 

Keeping Your Passwords Safe and Protected

The most important thing you need to know about passwords is that there is no secure password. Some passwords are more secure than others, of course, but they can always be found. Passwords are extremely convenient for people who want to access your accounts.

Is a Password Manager a Good Idea?

It’s hard to keep track of all your passwords, so it’s tempting to reuse the same one across the board. However, if a hacker gets possession of your password, they’ll have free access to everything you have. Password managers, on the other hand, can simplify your life.

It’s unsurprising for us to be asked, “are password managers safe to use?” The answer is, the use of password managers is considered to be one of the most secure ways to protect your passwords. Password managers offer strong protection against cybercrime because of their encryptions. AES, the industry-standard protection used by the U.S. government to safeguard its sensitive data, is just one example.

 

Set Up Two Factor Authentication on All Accounts

Password authentication is when a user enters a unique ID and key compared to previously stored credentials. It is one of the quickest forms of security; you can set up your device to require some identification before letting someone access your phone. It can be in a passcode, PIN, password, fingerprint, or two-factor authentication (2FA) can be adopted as well.

An additional layer of protection is provided by 2FA, which ensures that the user is whom they say they are. Before gaining access to the account, the user must first provide their username and password. The second piece of information is then requested. Almost every major company and organization website utilizes some kind of two-step, or two-factor, identification.

 

Protecting Your Credit Cards

Many of us, especially in today’s world, use credit cards for not only our jobs but even our daily lives, and there are several things you can do to protect yourself from credit card fraud.

First, make sure to examine your business credit card statements often to see whether they include any unfamiliar or strange expenses. Check your credit card accounts weekly if you can. Check for both large and small charges. If the hackers want to make a large purchase, they might make a small purchase to ensure it goes through.

You can also set up “push” alerts on your company accounts to receive notifications via email or text when purchases are made. For example, you may receive a text any time purchase over $100 is made, or an email anytime there is an online credit card transaction.

Also, store your credit card numbers online at your peril. It’s safer to manually enter the digits every time you want to purchase than to auto-input via Google or Apple.

 

Final Words

Many businesses have already installed firewalls, spam filters, and anti-virus software in order to prevent any cybercriminals from breaking in, yet they are still concerned – and we don’t blame them. These preventions are worthless without a dedicated IT team to respond to malicious attacks and fix compromised devices. If you are worried about ransomware or cyber-attacks, bringing in an experienced team to help with the rise in threats can provide a level of service beyond what firms currently have and at a lower cost.

Outside teams like Protected Harbor bring years of actionable experience to strengthen an organization.

We will ensure that your organization is protected from outside threats with well-tested, proven, and integrated technology. Protected Harbor concentrates on six elements throughout the stack, uplink, firewall, switches, hosts, VMs configuration, and storage to safeguard our customers’ operations.

 

We are offering free cybersecurity assessments and IT audits to all companies that may be interested. You can sign up here:  Free Cybersecurity Assessment

 

How do You Prevent Another Uber-Style Breach

Uber blames contractors for the hack and links breach to Lapsus$ organization.

 

In the News

According to Uber, the hacker responsible for the breach last week is a member of the Lapsus$ extortion group, which has previously attacked Microsoft, Cisco, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Okta, among other well-known IT firms.

According to the company, the attacker conducted an MFA fatigue attack by flooding the contractor with two-factor authentication (2FA) login requests until one of them was approved using the stolen credentials of an Uber EXT contractor.

The usage of this social engineering technique has increased dramatically in recent attacks on well-known businesses worldwide, including Twitter, Robinhood, MailChimp, and Okta. Continue to read how do you prevent another uber-style breach?

 

What happened

The attacker gained privileged access to several tools, including G-Suite and Slack, by breaking into numerous other employee accounts, according to Uber’s updated statement.

“The attacker then modified Uber’s OpenDNS to display a graphic image to employees on some internal sites,” which was posted to a company-wide Slack channel many of you saw.

The business stated that it had not discovered proof that the threat actor could access production systems that hold sensitive user data, including financial and personal information (e.g., credit card numbers, user bank account info, personal health data, or trip history).

The FBI and the US Department of Justice assist the company’s investigation into the event.

 

Uber claims to have taken the following steps to stop similar approaches from being used in future breaches:

• Any employee accounts that were affected or might have been compromised were found, and we either disabled their access to the Uber systems or ordered a password reset.
• Many internal tools that were impacted or might have been impacted were disabled.
• We changed the keys on many of our internal systems, effectively resetting access.
• We restricted access to our source to stop further code additions.
• We asked users to re-authenticate to regain access to internal tools. Additionally, we are enhancing our multi-factor authentication (MFA) guidelines.

We could keep all of our public-facing Uber, Uber Eats, and Uber Freight services operational and running smoothly. Because we took down some internal tools, customer support operations were minimally impacted and are now back to normal. — Uber

 

Is there a solution?

MFA is not an antidote on its own, but security experts believe that any level of MFA is better than none. Uber is not the only business whose network has been penetrated despite using multi-factor authentication.

By luring an employee into submitting their credentials to a phishing page, they had set up, which the hackers then used to generate a push notification delivered to the employee’s smartphones, hackers hacked into Twitter’s network in 2020.

According to an inquiry by the state of New York, the employee acknowledged a prompt, allowing the hackers to enter. More recently, a social engineering attempt that conned a worker into giving up their log in information led to another hack of Mailchimp.

 

Instead of focusing on the highly inspected systems for security issues, all of these attacks use the limitations of multi-factor authentication, frequently by directly attacking the individuals using it.

Cloudflare is the only company targeted in a recent wave of cyberattacks that successfully prevented a network compromise because it employs hardware security keys, which cannot be phished.

Even though some employees “did fall for the phishing messages,” Cloudflare acknowledged in a blog post that its use of hardware security keys—which require employees to physically plug a USB device into their computers after entering their credentials—had prevented the attackers from accessing its network.

According to Cloudflare, the attack “targeted personnel and systems in a manner that we believe would make it probable that most firms would be compromised.

 

Experts Advice MFA

The gold standard of MFA security, security keys, are not without their limitations, not the least of which are the expense and maintenance of the keys. We spend much time debating the necessity of physical security keys for everyone.

However, Tobac noted that some firms still push for mandated SMS two-factor authentication or MFA prompts for internal access.

As Uber’s breach shows, MFA by randomly generated code or push notification is far from ideal. Still, according to Richard Luna, CEO of Protected Harbor, ” Putting the good before the perfect is not a good idea.” Minor adjustments over time have a significant impact.

One notable advance is MFA number matching, which makes social engineering attempts much more challenging by presenting a code on the user’s screen and requiring them to enter it into an app on their verified device. The notion is that, similar to a security key, the attacker would need both the target’s credentials and their confirmed device.

Microsoft, Okta, and Duo offer MFA number matching. However, as security expert Kevin Beaumont pointed out, Okta’s number matching service is wrapped in an expensive licensing tier, while Microsoft’s solution is still in preview. Uber uses Duo for MFA, but it is said that at the time of the incident, number matching was not being used.

According to Tobac, network defenders can also set alerts and restrictions on the number of push messages a user can receive. They can also begin by distributing security keys to a test group of users before expanding it every three months.

In reaction to the hack, Uber stated on Monday that it is strengthening its MFA standards. Uber may still have many questions to answer regarding how the hacker gained access to high-privilege credentials for the remaining vital systems of the company using just a contractor’s stolen password.

 

Bottom Line

Stay up to date with patches, upgrade your software, and apply the latest security fixes. Install an antivirus program and keep it up to date. Use a VPN to protect your traffic from being monitored and encrypted communication to protect your data from prying eyes.

Stay vigilant and aware of any trends or changes in the threat landscape, and react accordingly. Stay informed by reading best practices and security blogs and keeping up with the news to stay on top of all the latest threats.

Protected Harbor security experts recommend enabling multi-factor authentication, using encryption, and activating Identity and Access Management. These tools will help to maintain data integrity, protect private and confidential information, and keep your customers safe from identity theft and data breaches.

Identity and Access Management solutions allow you to delegate the right level of access to the right people, thereby limiting the risk of data breaches. Encryption is essential to protect data in transit and at rest. It is recommended to use TLS protocol for secure data transfer and a FIPS-certified cryptographic module for data at rest.

Get a free security IT Audit and Penetration Testing today from Protected Harbor. Contact us now!

Everything You Need to Know About API Security in 2022

 

The demand for Application Programming Interface (API) solutions continues to increase as enterprises adopt to digital transformation initiatives. APIs are a critical component of any software architecture, making them an essential and accessible feature in modern software development. We’ve already seen how the adoption of APIs can simplify the integration and communication between applications and systems. But, with this growing prominence comes increased risks—especially when it comes to security.

There are various security threats associated with APIs, including data tampering, data leakage, and reverse API endpoint access. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about API security in 2022.

 

What is API Security?

Any best practice security that is applied to online Application Programming Interface’s (APIs), which are widely used in modern applications, is known as API security. Web API security covers API privacy and access control, as well as the detection and rectification of API attacks using reverse engineering and the use of API vulnerabilities as outlined within the OWASP API Security Top 10.

The client-side of an application (such as a mobile app or web app) communicates with the server-side of an application through an API, regardless of whether it is aimed at customers, staff, partners, or anyone else. Simply put, APIs make it simple for developers to create client-side applications. Furthermore, APIs enable microservice architectures.

APIs are often well documented or simple to reverse-engineer because they are frequently made available over public networks (accessible from anywhere). APIs are very vulnerable to Denial of Service (DDOS), making them desirable targets for criminals.

An attack can involve avoiding the client-side application in an effort to interfere with another user’s use of the application or to access confidential data. The goal of API security is to protect this application layer and to deal with any consequences of a bad hacker interacting directly with the API.

 

Why API Security Must Be a Top Priority?

The past few years have seen a rapid rise in API development, driven by the digital transformation and the crucial role that APIs play in both mobile apps and the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to this expansion, API security has become a major worry.

Gartner estimates that, “by 2022, API misuse will be the most-frequent attack vector resulting in data breaches for enterprise online applications,” based on their research for how to build an effective API security strategy. Gartner advises using, “a continuous approach to API security across the API development and delivery cycle, incorporating security [directly] into APIs,” in order to defend oneself against API attacks.

APIs require a focused approach to security and compliance because of the crucial role they play in digital transformation and the access to sensitive data and systems they offer.

 

What Does API Security Entail?

Since you are responsible for your own APIs, the focus of API security is to protect the APIs that you expose, either directly or indirectly. API security is less concerned with the APIs you use that are offered by other parties, but it is still a good idea to analyze outgoing API traffic whenever you can as it might provide useful insights.

It’s also crucial to remember that the practice of API security involves several teams and systems. API security tends to include identity-based security, monitoring/analytics, data security, and network security concepts like rate limitation and throttling.

Access Control	Rate Limiting
OAuth authorization/resource server	Rate Limits, quotas
Access rules definition and enforcement	Spike protection
Consent management and enforcement

 

Content Validation	Monitoring & Analytics
Input/output content validation	AI-based anomaly detection
Schema, pattern rules	API call sequence checks
Signature-based threat detection	Decoys
	Geo-fencing and geo-velocity checks

 

API Security for SOAP, REST and GraphQL

APIs are available in a multitude of form factors. An API’s design can occasionally have an impact on how security is applied to it. For instance, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) Web Services (WS) was the prevalent form prior to the advent of web APIs . XML was widely used during the WS era of service-oriented architecture, which ran from 2000 to 2010, and a large range of formal security specifications were widely accepted under WS-Security/WS-*.

Digital signatures and sections of the XML message that are encrypted are used to implement the SOAP style of security at the message level. With its separation from the transport layer, it benefits from being portable across network protocols (e.g., switching from HTTP to JMS). However, this kind of message-level security is no longer widely used and is largely only found in legacy web services that have endured without changing.

Over the past ten years, Representational State Transfer (REST) has become the more common API security method. When the term, web API is used, REST is frequently taken for granted by default. Resources are identified by HTTP URIs in a way that is crucial to REST-style APIs. The predictable nature of REST APIs led to the development of access control approaches in which the URI (Resource Identification) being accessed, or at the very least its pattern, is linked to the rules that must be followed.

A combination of HTTP verb (GET/PUT/POST/DELETE) and HTTP URI patterns are frequently used to construct access control rules. Rules can be enforced without insight into and, more critically, without the capacity to comprehend the payload into these API transactions by determining which data is being accessed through the URI. This has proven useful, especially for middleware security solutions that implement access control rules independently of the web API implementations themselves by sitting in front of them (such as gateways) or serving as agents (e.g., service filters).

GraphQL is a developing open-source API standard project and yet another form of API style. Front-end developers enjoy GraphQL because it gives them the power to tailor their searches on what best suits their apps and context because they are no longer limited to a specific range of API methods and URI patterns. GraphQL is on its way to dominating web APIs because of this increased control and other advantages like non-breaking version updates and performance improvements.

Although both REST and GraphQL API formats will continue to coexist, GraphQL is becoming a more popular option. In fact, the infrastructure for web API access control is in danger of being disrupted due to its popularity. The key difference between GraphQL requests and the widely used REST pattern is that GraphQL requests do not specify the data being retrieved via the HTTP URI. Instead, GraphQL uses its own query language, which is often included in an HTTP POST body, to identify the data requested.

All resources in a GraphQL API can be accessed using a single URI, such as /graphql. Infrastructure and access control mechanisms for web APIs are frequently not built for this kind of API traffic. It is increasingly likely that the access control rules for GraphQL will need to access the structured data in the API payloads and be able to interpret this structured data for access control. It should go without saying that API providers must decide which strategy would work best for each new set of needs.

 

API Security for Cloud, On-premises, and Hybrid Deployments

API providers can now secure APIs in a variety of ways thanks to the technological advancements of cloud services, API gateways, and integration platforms. Your choice of technology stack will have an impact on how secure your APIs are. For instance, many divisions within big businesses might create their own applications using unique APIs. Large firms also wind up with several API stacks or API silos as a result of mergers and acquisitions.

When all of your APIs are housed in a single silo, the technology used in that silo may be directly matched to the API security needs. These security configurations ought to be portable enough to be retrieved and mapped to different technology in the future for portability’s sake.

However, for diverse settings, API security-specific infrastructure that works across these API silos is often advantageous when establishing API security policies. Sidecars, sideband agents, and of course, APIs that are integrated across cloud and on-premises installations can all be used for this interaction between API silos and API security infrastructure.

 

Layers of API Security

The scope of API security is broad, as was previously described. To provide a high level of protection, there must be many levels, each focusing on a different aspect of API security.

 

API Discovery

What you don’t know about, you can’t secure. There are numerous barriers that restrict security personnel from having complete access to all APIs made available by their company. You have API silos first, which were covered in the section before. API silos reduce API visibility by having separate governance and incomplete lists of APIs.

The rogue or shadow API represents another barrier to API visibility. Shadow APIs occur when an API is created as a component of an application, but the API is only understood by a small set of developers and is regarded as an implementation detail. Security personnel is usually unaware of shadow APIs because they cannot see the implementation specifics.

Finally, APIs have a lifecycle of their own. An API changes with time, new versions appear, or an API may even be deprecated but still function for a short time for backward compatibility. After that, the API is forgotten about or eventually fades from view since it receives so little traffic.

API providers and hackers are competing to find new APIs since they can quickly exploit them. You can mine the metadata of your API traffic to find your APIs before attackers do. This information is gathered via API gateways, load balancers, or directly from network traffic and fed into a customized engine that generates a list of useful APIs that can be compared to API catalogs that are accessible through an API management layer.

 

OAuth and API Access Control

The user—and maybe the application that represents the user—must be identified to limit API resources to only the users who should be permitted access to them. This is often done by mandating that client-side applications include a token in their API calls to the service so that the service may validate the token and retrieve the user information from it. The OAuth standard outlines how a client-side application first acquires an access token. To support diverse processes and user experiences, OAuth specifies a wide range of grant types. These numerous OAuth processes are thoroughly described in this developer guide for additional information on OAuth 2.

It is possible to apply access control rules based on an incoming token. For instance, a rule can be used to decide if the user or application should be permitted to make this specific API call.

A policy enforcement layer must be able to apply these rules at runtime. The rules are defined and managed using policy definition tools. These guidelines consider the following qualities:

• The user’s identity and any associated attributes or claims
• The OAuth scopes for the application and the token’s associated application
• The information being accessed, or the query being made
• The user’s preferences for privacy

Processes and integration are needed in a heterogeneous environment to regulate access consistently across API silos.

 

API Data Governance and Privacy Enforcement

Data travels through APIs, therefore leaks can occur. Because of this, API security also must look at the structured data entering and leaving your APIs and impose specific rules at the data layer.

The enforcement of data security by examining API traffic is particularly well suited for this purpose since data is arranged in your API traffic in a predictable fashion. API data governance enables you to instantly redact data that is structured into your API traffic in addition to [yes/no] type rules. The practice of redacting particular fields that might include data that a user’s privacy settings specify should be kept secret from the requesting application is a typical illustration of this pattern. Since GraphQL does not identify resource IDs via URIs, applying data-level access control enables you to support it.

There are several advantages to separating privacy preference management and enforcement from GraphQL service development. Software created in-house has a high total cost of ownership and might be slow to change. Rarely do the interests of the Node.js developer and the person in charge of enforcing privacy laws overlap. However, giving business analysts and security architects their own tool to create this level of access control speeds up the digital transition. Additionally, by making GraphQL services and REST APIs more adaptable to changes in fine-grain data governance, this decoupling future-proofs the investment in both.

 

API Security to Be Continued

As we’ve explored, APIs are a critical pathway for data and functionality. With this growing importance, we’ve also seen the growing risk of security threats. Security, therefore, needs to be a top priority. We’ve now explored the different areas of API security, but what are the threats that API security is designed to mitigate?

We’ll be discussing this within part two of this article.

Cyberattacks Against Law Firms

What You Need to Know and How to Prevent Them

As the intensity of cyberattacks against businesses continues to rise, law firms have become one of the cyber criminals’ prime targets. Since law firms manage some of the most confidential data for their clients and have access to an extensive network of potential new clients, they have become far more vulnerable than other businesses.

In response to the increasing frequency and scope of cyberattacks against law firms, cybersecurity and managed services provider Protected Harbor has launched a new security awareness program titled, “Cyberattacks Against Law Firms and How to Prevent Them.”

The program consists of two resources: an e-book featuring the top law firm hacks throughout history as well as a whitepaper detailing the cyberattacks against law firms’ and what their trends and threats are. Both versions are free to download!

Now, we will discuss a little bit of background on cyberattacks against law firms and a few quick, various ways you can reduce your organization’s risk to getting attacked.

 

Background on Law Firms and Why They Are Such a Target

Poor cybersecurity is now one of the most significant hazards a legal business can encounter and is no longer only a concern for technology. Major law companies in the US have recently suffered catastrophic cybersecurity breaches that has cost them millions of dollars. Cybersecurity is not just the responsibility of the IT department, it’s instead something that must be covered within the company’s overall policies for utilizing technology within the business or in its services.

A lot goes into cybersecurity, and some businesses are too small to get the complete expertise of IT professionals. Due to the expenditures, medium and big businesses may put off planning for cyber-attacks or assume they won’t be affected which in turn is a huge mistake.

Until recently, law companies were seen as primarily analog in nature. The risk of a cyber breach was typically minimized by attorneys and staff manually tracking client and firm information. But, as businesses embrace innovation and clients want more technologically sophisticated communications and strategies, law firms have made the switch to a more technologically advanced environment and are now more vulnerable to cyberattacks than they were previously.

Law firms, in particular, are viewed as attractive targets for hackers, with numerous high-profile attacks being covered in the media. According to a recent study by the American Bar Association, more than 20% of law businesses reported being the target of a cyber-attack. This percentage was 35% among legal companies with roughly 10 to 49 attorneys. This means that more than a third of small law firms had experienced hacking in some shape or form.

These data breaches are concerning for reasons other than the victims’ embarrassment or the possibility of identity theft. A 2017 study found that the average cost of a data breach outside the US is around $3.6 million, or $141 per record. The amount is considerably larger in the United States at $7.3 million, not to be surpassed.

The consequences of a data breach go beyond the loss of individual details. Trust in the compromised institution can be destroyed by a single breach, a fate which many practices cannot recover. In reality, “almost 60% of [small businesses] forced to cease operations after a cyber assault never reopen for business,” according to a Forbes article.

 

6 Tips to Protect Your Law Firm Against Cyberattacks

1. Improve Your Security Culture
2. Implement Basic Cybersecurity Measures
3. Encrypting Sensitive Data
4. Proactive Security
5. Securing Network with Firewalls
6. Keeping Antivirus Updated is a Must

Download our e-book for free to read in detail the tips on how to protect your law firm and best practices.

 

Conclusion

You must have a plan before cyber criminals attack your law firm. After dealing with a data breach at your legal company, you want to be sure to take immediate action. Consider communications in particular when creating your plan. The best way to prevent your law firm from becoming the next cyberattack victim is to implement a cybersecurity program that includes preventative measures, detection, and response strategies. Instead of having a client accidentally learn the terrible news, the law firm must be the one to deliver it.

Download our e-book Cyberattacks Against Law Firms and How to Prevent Them, which we have created specifically for legal companies. Within this e-book, you will learn about the most common cyberattacks against law firms and how you can prevent them from happening to your company. We also give you access to our e-book library with our most requested titles.

Get started and download today!

The Biggest Data Risks and Cybersecurity Trends for Law Firms

 

In the digital age, law firms are operating within a high-risk environment. The number of cyber-attacks continues to rise, as do the associated costs. Recent studies suggest that, on average, small and medium-sized businesses spend more than $200 million annually on cyber security breaches.

These statistics show just how important it is for companies of all sizes to take cybersecurity seriously as well as highlight the risks involved in working with sensitive data. After all, no company wants their clients’ personal information to fall into the wrong hands.

We are excited to launch our 2022 Law Firm Data Breach Trend Report white paper. This report will be a compilation of data analysis from hundreds of law firms across the globe, as well as interviews with more than 100 partners and senior-level executives from the largest law firms in the US. We have learned a lot from these conversations and are excited to share our findings with you.

Download the white paper for free today!

 

Protecting Client Data:

The Biggest Challenge for Law Firms

Protecting client data is a top concern for law firms of all sizes. While most firms are diligent in protecting sensitive data and complying with local, state, and federal regulations, some are not.

After being asked to identify their most significant challenges when it comes to safeguarding client data, 58% of law firms cited, “managing the sheer volume of data,” and, “ensuring data is secure,” as their primary concern. These findings make sense if we consider that, on average, law firms store more than 5,000 gigabytes of data. The large volumes of data makes it difficult for law firms to constantly comply with the most up-to-date security protocols.

 

Top Threats

Your client’s data is constantly in danger from simple breaches, such as those resulting from a stolen laptop to even more extensive hacking schemes.

Here are a few actions you’re probably doing now that can endanger your clients most sensitive information.

• 

  Skipping Assessments – To help prevent a data breach, an annual inventory should be taken to understand what devices and data you have, where they are located, and who has access to them. It’s also essential to conduct a security and risk assessment. How vulnerable is your information? What would the ramifications be if it was stolen?

• Understaffed and Underfunded IT Departments – A majority of IT departments are usually very understaffed and overburdened with day-to-day work. This leaves little time for them to improve their security infrastructure, as they always react rather than improve.
• Lack of Employee Security Training – Analysts claim that non-malicious attacks are the most common security breach that law organizations face. Unfortunately, many legal companies have failed to adequately train their employees on IT security basics.
• Cloud Migration & Apps – Your business needs to make sure it has a good strategy when it comes time to migrate, including fundamentals like access control and governance, API integrations, and continuous monitoring.

 

Recent Law Firm Breaches

New York City’s Law Department (July 2021)

Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks (May 2020)

Vierra Magen Marcus (May 2020)

Mossack Fonseca (April 2016)

 

Top Cybersecurity Trends for 2022

Use Password Authenticator – Password authentication is a method in which a user enters a unique ID and key compared to previously stored credentials. It is one of the quickest forms of security; you can set up your device to require some identification before letting someone access it. This can be done using a passcode, PIN, password, fingerprint, or a 2-factor authentication (2FA).

Use Effective EDR – Using effective EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) tools can help you improve the security of your network by aggregating data on endpoints, including process execution, endpoint communication, and user logins.

Move to a Virtual Server – Moving to a virtual server is essential as it has many benefits that address the security concerns law firms face. These benefits include getting the ability to prioritize critical traffic and improving network agility while reducing the burden from the IT department.

Isolated Backups – A remote or isolated backup is stored separately from other backups and is inaccessible from the end-user layer. Creating a remote backup helps to reduce security breaches, especially ransomware attacks.

Know Your Network Map – Understanding the network map is critical to complying with data privacy regulations as it provides an overview of devices and data on your network. This overview is crucial in identifying and minimizing the attack surface of a system. It will also uncover devices that IT staff may not know are there—for instance, an old, decommissioned server.

Timely Software Updates – It sounds simple, but vulnerabilities caused by outdated software are a significant problem. Keeping all the software up to date is essential for better performance. It also helps discourage potential cybercriminals who like to take advantage of previously-found weaknesses in software.

Data Encryption – In 2022, law firms must use encryption methods for systems, data in the cloud, data at rest, and data in transit to protect their files. Hard drives, USB devices, and phones should also use encryption if they are holding sensitive data

To read the cybersecurity trends for 2022 in detail, download our free white paper today.

 

Conclusion

By 2023, 80% of law firms will have experienced a data breach, according to research from LexisNexis. Given the rising number of cyber-attacks law firms face, it is necessary to take cybersecurity seriously. Law firms can better protect their sensitive data against these cyber threats by investing in the latest security technologies.

Protecting sensitive client data is essential for all law firms.

Stay on top of the latest trends and best practices for data security by downloading our white paper today! We highlight what law firms should be doing to protect their data and prevent a breach from ever happening. Protected Harbor also has other resources to prevent a law firm data breach, which you can access free from our digital library.

Keep in touch for more tips on how to keep your company safe from cybercriminals.

 

A Quick Guide to Proactive Cybersecurity Measures: How to Keep Yourself Safe From Hackers

 

Cybersecurity has become an important topic in today’s society. In the digital age, cybersecurity is critical to protecting data and intellectual property from unauthorized access, modification, disclosure, or destruction. However, cyber threats continue to grow in number and sophistication. A recent study by Intel Security found that 66% of businesses experienced at least one cyberattack during the year 2021. Cybersecurity for small businesses is important because they are often easy targets for cybercriminals who seek to steal sensitive data or disrupt operations, leading to significant financial losses and reputational damage. As more organizations are confronted with this reality, many have also begun to realize their current security measures aren’t enough.

In this blog post, we will unpack some proactive cybersecurity measures you can take to protect your organization’s data and reduce your risk of being a victim of cybercrime.

 

What is Proactive Cybersecurity?

Proactive cybersecurity is an organization’s effort to protect its data and software systems from threats before they happen. A proactive approach to cybersecurity can help organizations to stay ahead of emerging threats by using data-driven insights, continuous monitoring, and risk assessments. There are many ways to implement proactive cybersecurity measures.

Focusing on cybersecurity policies and procedures is a great place to start. You can also consider implementing tools that automate security tasks, such as Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).

 

Cyber-Threat Analysis

When adopting proactive cybersecurity measures, there are various risks your company can face. To determine your top cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, you must do a thorough threat analysis. You’ll want to know how many cyber attacks happen daily based on your sector, geography, and relevant exposure. You must be aware of your defenses’ weak and strong points. Additionally, you must have a specific cybersecurity attack and defensive strategy.

Cybersecurity threats can come from various sources, including human error, natural disasters, hardware failures, malicious software, unsecured networks, and more. Before implementing proactive cybersecurity measures, you should analyze your organization’s cyber threats. You can use cyber threat modeling to identify the most significant risks to your organization. This process maps the threats to your organization and involves breaking down the organization’s infrastructure into components and mapping the threats against them.

What You Can Learn from Cyber Threat Analysis Are:

Assets: System administrators and cybersecurity experts should identify and safeguard the most critical assets in your organization. This includes sensitive data, intellectual property, and critical systems.

Attack vectors: Attacks can come from a variety of sources. The most common attack vectors include infected websites, malicious code, unsecured networks, and social engineering tactics.

Controls: You can use threat modeling to identify the controls and protect your assets. This will help you determine where additional controls might be needed.

 

Educate Your Team

One important proactive cybersecurity measure is to ensure that your team understands the potential threats facing your organization and how they can reduce their risk of being attacked. This can be done through regular cybersecurity training that educates employees on best practices and how they can contribute to better cybersecurity. It can also help them learn how to protect themselves and their colleagues.

 

Threat Hunting

Cyber threat hunting continuously monitors networks and systems to identify malicious activity and threats in real-time. During threat hunting, you should also look for information that could be useful in tracking down and identifying potential attackers. This will allow you to respond to threats and attacks quickly. It could be an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), a sophisticated cyber-attack, or even an insider threat. Regardless of the potential attack, the threat-hunting process can help you identify the nature of the threat and take the appropriate action to mitigate it before any real impacts on your business.

 

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing is testing your cybersecurity measures by breaking into your own systems. You can also refer to this as ethical hacking or red teaming. Once you have identified a potential threat, you can use penetration testing to simulate the attack and determine the outcome of this threat. This will help you understand the threat’s risk and choose the best way to respond to it. A vulnerability assessment is also an essential tool to use during a penetration test. It will help you to identify areas of your network where you are at risk of being attacked. It is important to remember that penetration testing is only a simulation and will help your business down the road.

 

Get Help

The cyber threats facing organizations today are constantly growing. Proactive cybersecurity measures must be implemented to protect your organization’s data and intellectual property. This includes cyber threat analysis, educating your team, threat hunting, and penetration testing.

Now, one final proactive cybersecurity measure we recommend is to get help. Even well-resourced organizations often struggle to fully protect themselves from cyber threats. Therefore, engaging with cybersecurity experts who can help your organization improve its cybersecurity posture is important. Working with our team at Protected Harbor is also essential as it provides an unbiased third-party perspective that can help you to identify vulnerabilities you may be unaware of.

Calling in the experts is the most straightforward preventative cybersecurity strategy for if this all sounds a bit overwhelming. You and your IT team may feel less pressure if you enlist a group of professionals to assist at each stage, and your organization may be better protected.

Let our staff of cybersecurity professionals start taking preventative steps to secure your company. Get in touch with Protected Harbor today to learn more about our Threat Monitoring, Detection, & Response services.