Hackers gained access to the test results of tens of thousands of patients at California’s leading hospital system.

What Happened

Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan provider, has announced a data breach that exposed almost 70,000 individuals’ sensitive health information.

According to TechCrunch, the breach of Kaiser Permanente’s systems was first disclosed to patients in a June 3 letter. According to the letter, the breach was first discovered on April 5, when officials learned that an “unauthorized entity” had accessed a Kaiser employee’s emails. The emails contained “protected health information” about tens of thousands of Kaiser customers. According to a second filing with the Department of Health and Human Services, the total number of people affected by the breach is 69,589.

The exposed data includes first and last names, medical record numbers, dates of service, and laboratory test result information according to the disclosure letter. Still, no social security or credit card details were involved.

According to Kaiser’s email to customers, which was published, “we terminated the unauthorized access within hours of it occurring and promptly initiated an investigation to identify the magnitude of the event.” “We found that the emails contained protected health information, and while we have no evidence that an unauthorized party accessed the material, we cannot rule out the possibility.”

Though the HHS document classifies the incident as a “Hacking/IT Incident,” it’s unclear how the “unauthorized person” got access to the emails.

What It Means

Over the last few years, the healthcare business has seen an influx of unwanted attention from cybercriminals. A data breach at a Massachusetts healthcare company exposed information on the treatments that up to two million people had received, as well as their names, birthdays, and Social Security numbers, only last week. We recently saw a data breach at Eye Care Leaders, so it’s becoming common for healthcare organizations every day. During the pandemic, hospitals and healthcare providers were popular targets, and it’s easy to see why. Medical facilities are attractive targets for cybercriminals because they store massive databases of personal information that can be ransomed, stolen, or sold on the dark web. The cybersecurity defenses provided by hospitals’ antiquated digital infrastructure aren’t the finest in the world.

Human Error is Still a Threat to Security

The event also highlights what has always been and continues to be the most significant security risk businesses face in human error.

According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), which takes a complete look at data breaches from the previous year, 82 percent of the intrusions studied last year featured “the human element,” which can mean a variety of things.

“Whether it’s the use of stolen credentials, phishing, misuse, or simply an error,” researchers wrote in the report, “humans continue to play an eminent part in incidents and breaches alike.”

Protected Harbor’s Take on The Matter

“The threat of Business Email Compromise (BEC), which appears to have occurred in the Kaiser incident, is particularly serious.”- said Richard Luna, CEO of Protected Harbor. Socially designed phishing and other malicious email campaigns trick unwary employees into giving up credentials to their business email accounts have become increasingly sophisticated.

Once a threat actor has secured early access to a firm network, this might lead to more malicious operations, such as ransomware or other financially driven cybercrimes.

In fact, BEC has become a big financial drain for businesses, with the FBI recently reporting that companies spent $43 billion on this type of attack between June 2016 and December 2021. In fact, there was a 65 percent increase in BEC schemes between July 2019 and December 2021, which the FBI ascribed to the epidemic forcing most business activity to take place online.

Tips to stop BEC & Common Attacks

Upstream Spam Filter- Spam filters detect unsolicited, unwanted, and virus-infested emails (also known as spam) and prevent them from reaching inboxes. Spam filters are used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ensure that they are not transmitting spam. Spam filters are also used by small and medium-sized organizations (SMBs) to protect their employees and networks.

Inbound email (email that enters the network) and outbound email (email that leaves the network) are both subject to spam filtering (email leaving the network). ISPs use both strategies to protect their clients. Inbound filters are usually the focus of SMBs.

2FA– 2FA is an additional layer of protection that verifies that anyone is attempting to access an online account are who they claim to be. The user must first provide their username and password. They will then be requested to submit another piece of information before they can receive access. This provides an additional layer of security to the process of gaining access.

Applying Recent Security Updates– Updating your software is very important, and it’s something that you should never overlook. Frequently updating your devices and installing the latest security updates can help to protect you from cyber threats and keep your devices secure.

Restricting User Access to Core Files (Access Control)– Access control is a security approach regulating who or what can view or utilize resources in a computing environment. It is an essential security concept that reduces the risk to the company or organization. Access control is a critical component of security compliance programs because it guarantees that security technology and access control policies are in place to secure sensitive data, such as customer information.

Network Monitoring for Malicious Activity– Network security monitoring is an automated procedure that looks for security flaws, threats, and suspicious activity in network devices and traffic. It can be used by businesses to detect and respond to cybersecurity breaches quickly. Network monitoring identifies and analyzes weaknesses, notifying you of potential security threats. Cybersecurity alerts enable you to swiftly safeguard your company from network attacks and the resulting calamities.

User Activity Monitoring- User activity monitoring (UAM) solutions are software tools that track and monitor end-user behavior on company-owned IT resources such as devices, networks, and other IT resources. Enterprises can more easily spot suspicious behavior and manage risks before they occur in data breaches, or at least in time to minimize damages, by deploying user activity monitoring.

Final Thoughts

In a world where cyber-attacks are common and more sophisticated than ever before, businesses must take steps to protect themselves and their customers from data breaches and other cyber threats. One way to do this is by partnering with a trusted company that offers unparalleled cybersecurity solutions.

Thanks to our innovative cloud-based approach to security, you can be sure that your company will be well protected against the ever-evolving threats to data security. By thoroughly examining your company’s network security and other aspects of its IT infrastructure, we can identify areas of weakness and suggest ways to correct them.

Visit Protectedharbor.com today to get a risk-free review of your current IT security solution. You’ll receive a detailed assessment of your current security setup and recommendations for improving your security posture.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

What is a Privilege Escalation attack? How to prevent them?

Privilege escalation is a vulnerability used to access applications, networks, and mission-critical systems. And privilege escalation attacks exploit security vulnerabilities and progressively increase criminal access to computer systems. These attacks are classified into vertical and horizontal privilege escalation based on the attack’s objective and strategy. There are several types of privilege escalation attacks, and each of them exploits a unique set of vulnerabilities having its own set of technical requirements.

Where there are privileges, there are ways to subvert them. Privilege escalation attacks are methods of gaining access to restricted privileges in system services or programs. This article covers the various types of privilege escalation attacks, the types and impact of these attacks, and how to prevent them and prevent yourself from being exploited.

What is a Privilege Escalation attack?

Privilege escalation is a common method attackers use to gain unauthorized access to systems and networks within a security perimeter. Many organizations face an attack vector due to a loss of focus on permissions. As a result, existing security controls within organizations are often insufficient to prevent attacks. Attackers initiate privilege escalation attacks by detecting the weak points in an organization’s IT infrastructure.

Privilege escalation attacks occur when a malicious actor gains access to a user account, bypasses the authorization channel, and successfully accesses sensitive data. The attacker can use obtained privileges to execute administrative commands, steal confidential data, and cause severe damage to server applications, operation systems, and the company’s reputation. While deploying these attacks, attackers are generally attempting to disrupt business functions by exfiltrating data and creating backdoors.

How Do Privilege Escalation attacks Work?

Privilege escalation attacks represent the layer of a cyberattack chain where criminals take advantage of a vulnerable system to access data from an unauthorized source. However, there are various weak points within a system, but some common entry points include Application Programming Interfaces and Web Application Servers. Attackers authenticate themselves to the system by obtaining credentials or bypassing user accounts to initiate the attack. Apart from it, attackers find different loopholes in account authorization access to sensitive data.

Regrading how a privilege escalation attack works, attackers usually use one of these five methods: credential, system vulnerabilities, and exploits, social engineering, malware, or system misconfigurations. By implementing one of these techniques, malicious actors can gain an entry point into a system. Depending on their goals, they can continue to uplift their privileges by taking control of a root or administrative account.

Common Privilege Escalation Attacks Examples

Here are some common examples of real-world privilege escalation attacks.

• Windows Sticky Keys_ It’s one of the most common examples of privilege escalation attacks for Windows operating systems. This attack requires physical access to the targeted system and the ability to boot from a repair disk.
• Windows system internals_ commands provide a source of privilege escalation attacks in Windows. This method assumes that the attacker has a backdoor from a previous attack, such as Windows sticky keys method. The attacker must have access to local administrative rights and then logs into backdoor accounts to escalate permissions to the system level.
• Android and Metasploit_ Metasploit is a well-known tool, including a library of known exploits. This library contains the privilege escalation attack against rooted android devices. It creates an executable file called superuser binary, allowing attackers to run commands with administrative or root access.

Privilege Escalation attack techniques

The goal of the privilege escalation attack is to get high-level privileges and find entry points to critical systems. There are various techniques attackers use for privilege escalation. Here are three of the most common ones.

• Bypass user account control_ The user account control is a bridge between users and administrators. It restricts application software to standard permissions until an admin authorizes privilege increase.
• Manipulating access tokens_ In this case, the attacker’s main task is to trap the system into believing that the running processes belong to another user other than the authorized user that started the process.
• Using valid accounts_ Criminals can leverage credential access techniques to get credentials of certain user accounts or streal them using social engineering. Once attackers access the organization’s network, they can use these credentials to bypass access control on IT systems and various resources.

What Are The Types Of Privilege Escalation Attacks?

There are two types of privilege escalation attacks. These include

1. Horizontal privilege escalation

It’s a type of attack in which attackers expand their privileges by taking control of another account and misusing the authorized rights granted to the legitimate user. Phishing campaigns are used to gain access to user accounts. For elevating the permissions, attackers either exploit vulnerabilities in the OS to gain root-level access or leverage hacking tools, such as Metasploit.

2. Vertical privilege escalation

This type of attack occurs when a criminal gains direct access to an account with the intent to perform similar actions as the legit user. A vertical privilege attack is easier to achieve as there is no desire to elevate permissions. In this scenario, the attack focuses on account identification with necessary privileges and gaining access to that account.

Impact of Privilege Escalation Attack

Privilege escalation attacks can impact in the following ways.

• It can enter the organization’s IT infrastructure
• Modify permissions to steal sensitive information
• Add, delete, or modify users
• Create a backdoor for future attacks
• Gain access to systems and files and disrupt the operations
• Crash the website

How to prevent Privilege Escalation attacks?

Here are some best practices to prevent privilege escalation attacks.

1. Protect and scan your systems, network, and application. You can use effective vulnerability scanning tools to detect insecure and unpatched operating systems, applications, weak passwords, misconfigurations, etc.
2. It’s essential to manage privileged accounts and ensure their security. The security team needs an inventory of all accounts where they exist and their purpose.
3. Establish and enforce robust policies to ensure that users and strong and unique passwords. Use multi-factor authentication to add an extra security layer while overcoming vulnerabilities arising due to weak passwords.
4. Users are the weakest link in the security chain, putting the entire organization at risk. Businesses should implement robust security awareness programs with effective training.
5. Secure databases and sanitize user inputs. Databases are attractive targets of criminals as web applications store all their data in databases, such as login credentials, configuration settings, and user data. With one successful attack, such as SQL injection, criminals can access all sensitive information and leverage it for further attacks.

Conclusion

Privilege escalation attacks are a significant problem. They can easily create havoc, with the attack escalating from one user to the entire system. The most important thing you can do is be aware of the different privilege escalation types and be sure not to give access to anything on your computer or network that you don’t need. For better protection from attacks, seek help from a cybersecurity partner such as Protected Harbor.

The Protected Harbor approach is designed to mitigate the risk of privilege escalation attacks by monitoring and controlling system privileges. Protected Harbor is a leading provider of IT security consulting with over 20 years of experience helping clients protect their critical data from cyberattacks. We specialize in Privilege Escalation Assessment, Vulnerability Assessment, and Penetration Testing services for modern enterprises. By identifying potential risks in your organization before hackers target them, we provide proactive protection against cyber-attacks. Our experts will work with you to identify your needs and develop a customized assessment plan that meets your unique requirements. We’ll also work side-by-side during the assessment to answer any questions you may have and provide guidance on how to make changes or updates in response to our findings.

Protected Harbor is giving a free IT Audit for a limited time. Contact us today to get one.

Test Your Vulnerabilities: The Complete Guide to Identifying and Mitigating Risk

Vulnerability Assessment helps you identify, assess, and analyze security flaws in applications and IT infrastructure. We provide vulnerability assessment services through reliable tools to scan vulnerabilities and give in-depth and accurate final reports.

With the rapid pace of technological development in today’s digital world, companies have become exposed to new risks that are often difficult to identify and manage. However, failure to monitor these risks could result in significant damage. There are several ways that businesses can be affected by cyber threats. You must assess your own risk and other people’s risks, and potential external threats to your business. Failure to do so will leave you open to vulnerabilities; here is what you need to know about testing your vulnerabilities, mitigating risk, and how we help in vulnerability assessment.

Components Of The IT Environment We Access

We provide high-quality vulnerability assessment services at reasonable costs. Our information security team finds vulnerabilities and detects weak points in the following elements of the IT environment.

IT Infrastructure

• Network_ We evaluate the efficiency of the network access restriction, network segmentation, firewall implementation, and the ability to connect to remote networks.
• Email services_ We assess the susceptibility to spamming and phishing attacks.

Applications

• Mobile applications_ We assess the mobile application security level using the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP Top) 10 mobile security risks.
• Web applications_ We evaluate the vulnerability of web applications to several attacks using OWASP Top 10 application risks.
• Desktop applications_ We check how data is stored in an application, how the application transfers data, and whether the authentication is provided.

Assessment Methods We Apply

Our security testing team merges the manual and automated ways to take full advantage of the vulnerability assessment process.

Manual Assessment

We tune the scanning tools manually and perform subsequent manual validation of the scanning results to remove false positives. Upon completing the manual assessment conducted by our security testing team specialists, you get reliable results with actual events.

Automated Scanning

We use automated scanning tools based on customer needs and financial capabilities to start the vulnerability assessment process. These scanning tools have databases containing the known technical vulnerabilities and enable you to determine your organization’s susceptibility to them. The key benefit of the automated approach is that it ensures comprehensive coverage of security flaws in multiple devices and hosts on the network. Moreover, it is not time-consuming.

Cooperation Models We Offer

Regardless of the cooperation model you choose, we provide you with a high-quality vulnerability assessment.

1. One-time services

One-time services let you get an impartial security level assessment and avoid vendor lock-in. Selecting this model may help you make an opinion on the vendor and decide if you want to cooperate with them afterward. We are ready to offer on-time services to evaluate the security level of your applications, network, or other elements of the IT environment. When getting familiar with the assessment target, our team thoroughly reads the details, such as understanding basic device configurations, gathering information on the installed software on the devices in the network, and collecting available data on known vulnerabilities of the vendor, device version, etc. Evaluation activities are carried out afterward.

2. Managed services

Selecting managed services means establishing a long-term relationship with a vendor. After gathering the information on your IT infrastructure during the first project, the vendor can eventually carry out an assessment reducing the cost for you and spending less time on the project. If you want to stay aware of your company’s security level, we suggest you put a vulnerability assessment regularly and provide appropriate services. We have sufficient resources to perform vulnerability assessment on a quarter, half-year, or annual basis, depending on your regulatory requirements and frequency to apply changes in your applications, network, etc.

Upon completion, we offer a final vulnerability assessment report, regardless of the selected cooperation model. The report splits into two parts_ an executive summary and a technical report. The executive summary contains the information on the overall security state of your company and the revealed weaknesses, and the technical report includes comprehensive details on assessment activities performed by security engineers. Apart from it, we provide valuable recommendations regarding corrective measures to mitigate the revealed vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability classification techniques we apply

We have divided the detected security flaws into groups based on their types and security level while conducting the vulnerability assessment, following the classification below

• Open Web Application Security Project testing guide
• Web Application Security Consortium Threat Classification
• OWASP Top 10 Application Security Risks
• OWASP Top 10 Mobile Risks
• Common Vulnerability Scoring System

This vulnerability classification lets our security engineers prioritize the results based on the impact they may have during the exploitation. It will take your attention to the most critical vulnerabilities to avoid security and financial risks.

Challenges We Solve

The vulnerability assessment scope is defined without foreseeing the customer’s needs.

Information security vendors may follow a familiar pattern while performing vulnerability assessments for their customers having specific requirements. Our security engineers mainly focus on getting all information regarding the customer’s request and the vulnerability assessment target at the negotiation stage. Our security specialists confirm whether a customer needs to comply with HIPAA, GLBA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and other standards and regulations, whether the firewall protection is applied in the network, and what elements are included. This information lets us estimate an approximate scope of work, efforts, and resources required to complete the project.

Advanced and more sophisticated vulnerabilities occur every day.

Cybercriminals always try to find new attack vectors to get inside the corporate network and steal sensitive data. Our security testing team stays updated with the latest changes in the information security environment by regularly monitoring the new flaws and checking updates of scanning tools databases.

Changing the elements of the IT environment can cause new security weaknesses.

There is always a chance that new flaws can occur after modification in customers’ applications and networks. Our security engineers provide vulnerability assessments after each release or significant update. It will ensure that changes implemented do not open new doors for cybercriminals to attack your IT infrastructure.

Advanced hyper-connected solutions are highly prone to evolving cyber threats.

A wide range of advanced integrated solutions exists in affiliation with each other. Thus, a vulnerability in one system can compromise the security of other systems connected to it. For example, a modern solution merging a wide variety of elements in the e-commerce environment generally includes a website, an e-commerce platform, a payment gateway, marketing tools, CRM, and a marketplace. Our security testing team looks at the vulnerability assessment process from different perspectives that helps them to evaluate the security of all possible vectors that hackers may choose to get into the complex solutions.

Conclusion

A Vulnerability Test is a great way to understand your level of risk and identify any potential gaps or issues in your security. It is essential to conduct regular tests to ensure that any weaknesses are identified and addressed as soon as possible. Once you have completed your tests, including Network Penetration Testing, it is necessary to change your passwords and passcodes and update any software or systems that need to be updated. Finally, installing and using security software is important to monitor and identify threats in your systems and networks.

Increase the security level of your organization by leveraging Protected Harbor Vulnerability Assessment services. Our security testing team will help you identify the flaws in the security of your application, network, etc. Equipped with expertise, our specialists will help you detect the loopholes in your company’s IT infrastructure and find ways to mitigate the risks associated with security vulnerabilities. We rely on a quality management system to ensure that cooperation with us doesn’t risk your data’s security.

If you want to know more about our services while opting for vulnerability assessment services, feel free to contact us. Our security experts are here to answer any query to help you make a final decision.

Various ways to detect malicious activities in a network

Businesses are not reacting promptly to malicious activities. Technology is constantly and rapidly evolving and expanding the attack surface in multiple ways. At the same time, cybercriminals are adapting advanced courses and escalating the threat landscape. They are adopting sophisticated ways to attack, and the struggle to deal with the changes is real. Malicious or unauthorized activities occurring inside your network are causing damage without even you knowing that. How can you detect those malicious network activities inside your network as quickly as possible and respond efficiently to avoid or reduce the potential damage?

There are a variety of network protection tools available for this purpose. Some are enhancements or evolutions of others, and some are mainly focused on certain types of malicious activities. However, all network intrusion detection systems are intended to detect malicious or suspicious activities on your network and enable you to act promptly against them. This article will discuss these tools to see malicious activities on your network. But before that, let’s discuss the malicious activities.

What is a malicious activity?

Malicious activity is an unauthorized breach of network traffic or processes on any connected device or system. Malicious threat actors perform these suspicious activities using various attack vectors and looking for financial gain. These actors differ widely in attack techniques, sophistication, and whether they are linked to a cybercriminal group or not. There are multiple types of malicious software, and cybercriminals use many of them.  Therefore, it is essential to find out how to detect malicious activities on various platforms for different uses. Evidence of what an antagonistic activity on a network can do is everywhere.

For all organizations connected to the Internet, using it to store a company’s data or communicate with the employees, it is necessary to understand what a malicious activity can do. As digital transformation is in full rage, cybercriminals know how to use this digital shift to mold and escalate the threat landscape they create.

Malicious activities can come in various forms, particularly from an organizational point of view. It includes

• Network anomalies
• Strange network behavior
• Problem with the network traffic flow
• System downtime
• Vulnerabilities exploitation in the system
• Data breach and compromised system
• DDoS (Denial of service) attacks

There are several tools and best practices to avoid malicious activities. Let’s discuss some of them.

Network Security Tools

Here is a list of tools you can use to detect malicious activities in a network.

1. Intrusion Detection System (IDS)

An Intrusion Detection System analyzes activities on a network and vulnerabilities in a system to search for patterns and reasons for known threats. Here are two main types of IDS, Host Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) protects an individual host system, and Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) monitors an entire subnet at a network level. IDS raises flags for malicious or suspicious activities or any intrusion detected and sends notifications to the IT team. It does not take action to prevent or avoid that activity.

2. Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

An Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is an evolution of IDS. The capabilities and functions of an IPS are similar to an IDS. However, there is a difference that an IPS can take action to prevent or avoid malicious or suspicious activities. IP can also be referred to as an Intrusion Detection Prevention System (IDPS).

3. Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM)

A Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) tool are designed to help companies manage the massive volume of data and signals and tie up threat information for a centralized view of IT infrastructure. SIEM comes in various sizes and shapes, but it is promising to monitor, analyze, and record network activities to detect potential security events or incidents in real-time and send alerts to IT teams. So they can take appropriate actions.

4. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data protection is the most important thing for most organizations. It is the primary target of most cyberattacks, whether sensitive data of employees or customers, bank or credit card information, corporate data, or confidential intellectual property. Data loss prevention, also referred to as Data Leak Prevention or Data Loss Protection protects data and ensures that personal or sensitive data is secured and not exposed or compromised. DLP often enforces data handling policies based on how information is classified. In most cases, it can automatically detect things like Social Security numbers or credit card numbers depending on the data format to alert the IT team and avoid unauthorized disclosure.

5. Network Behavior Anomaly Detection (NBAD)

A simple way to identify suspicious or malicious activities is to detect a move out of the ordinary. NBAD, also termed as network detective establishes a baseline of normal activities on a network and gives real-time monitoring of activities and traffic to see unusual events, trends, or activities. Anomaly detection can identify emerging threats, such as zero-day attacks, because it looks for unusual activity instead of relying on indicators of compromise of specific threats.

Best practices to prevent malicious activities in a network

Apart from these tools, you can follow these best practices to avoid malicious network activity.

• Identify malicious emails_ Malicious actors use phishing emails to access sensitive data. It’s a growing trend in cyberspace, and employees should practice safe email protocol and must be careful while clicking on the links from unknown resources. It’s also important to have network security protection in place.
• Report a slower-than-normal network_ A malware outbreak or hacking attempt often results in a slower network. Employees should quickly inform the IT security department when they face slower than typical network speed.
• Identify suspicious pop-ups_ Increased security in a business environment means safe web browsing. Employees should not click on the pop-up windows appearing on the websites. Unknown pop-ups can be infected with spyware or malware that compromise a network.
• Note abnormal password activity_ If an employee is locked out of their system and gets an email saying that a password has been changed, it can signify that the password is compromised. The best practice is to ensure that all employees use strong and unique passwords for all accounts and update the network every six months.

Educate Yourself On Different Threats

In the realm of cybersecurity, understanding and identifying various threats is paramount. Here’s a brief primer on key threats and how to spot them:

• DDoS Attacks: These attacks flood networks with an overwhelming volume of traffic, rendering them inaccessible. Signs include sudden traffic surges, sluggish performance, and unresponsive servers. Mitigate by employing DDoS mitigation strategies and traffic analysis tools.
• Data Protection and Secure Email: Protect sensitive information with secure email protocols, encryption, and robust authentication mechanisms. Educate users on email security best practices to mitigate the risk of phishing attacks.
• Cyber Threats and Phishing: Cyber threats encompass phishing, malware, and Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks. Phishing attempts to deceive users into revealing sensitive information. Types include spear phishing, whaling, and vishing. Implement robust email filtering solutions and educate users to identify phishing attempts.
• MITM Attacks (Man-in-the-Middle): In these attacks, an interceptor eavesdrops on communication between two parties, potentially manipulating data. Signs include unusual network behavior and unexpected SSL certificate warnings. Mitigate by employing strong encryption protocols, digital certificates, and intrusion detection systems.

By understanding these threats and implementing proactive security measures, you can fortify your network defenses and mitigate risks effectively. Stay informed, stay vigilant, and empower yourself with the knowledge needed to safeguard your digital assets against evolving cyber threats.

Learn To Identify Phishing Emails

Master the art of spotting phishing emails to safeguard against cyber threats and protect your data with secure email practices. Learn the red flags, from suspicious URLs to unexpected attachments, guarding against potential DDoS attacks and MITM threats. Prioritize email security to fortify your defenses, ensuring robust data protection. Stay vigilant, empower your team with awareness training, and implement encryption measures to thwart phishing attempts. By staying informed and proactive, you can mitigate risks, bolster security, and keep your organization safe from the perils of cybercrime.

Keep Your Software And Hardware Up-To-Date

Ensure Data and Privacy Protection by Keeping Your Software and Hardware Up-to-Date. Maintaining up-to-date software and hardware is paramount for safeguarding your organization’s cyber infrastructure against potential threats. Using outdated technology exposes vulnerabilities to cyber attacks exploiting known security issues. Upgraded devices offer advanced security tools, bolstering your defense against digital threats.

In addition to hardware updates, regularly patching software is equally essential. Promptly installing the latest patches ensures your team’s devices remain protected. These updates often contain critical security enhancements, thwarting hackers’ attempts to exploit software vulnerabilities.

For added data and privacy protection, consider utilizing Encrypted Email Services to safeguard sensitive information against unauthorized access.

Control Privileges and Permissions on Your Systems

One of the most effective techniques for spotting cyber threats is to control privileges and permissions on your systems. By carefully managing who has access to what resources, you can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized activities. This approach is crucial for detecting insider threats, as it limits the ability of potentially malicious insiders to access sensitive data or systems. Implementing role-based access control (RBAC) ensures that users only have the minimum level of access necessary for their roles, thereby minimizing the risk of privilege abuse. Additionally, regular audits of permissions can help identify any unusual access patterns or unauthorized changes, aiding in the early identification of malicious activity in networks. Organizations can create a more secure environment by continuously monitoring and adjusting privileges and permissions, making it easier to spot and respond to potential threats before they escalate.

Conclusion

The threat of a cyberattack on your organization is real. Protecting your business network comes down to ensuring that security controls exist across the organization. The security tools and best practices mentioned in the article are simple and allow organizations to focus on their core business activities. It lets them take advantage of a modern world of digital business opportunities. Adequately configured network security tools are helpful for monitoring and analyzing overwhelming network traffic in a rapidly changing, dynamic environment and detecting potentially malicious activities.

Malicious activities can often go undetected in a network because they are disguised as regular traffic. By properly configuring your security tools, you can monitor and analyze network traffic to detect any activities that may be malicious. Protected Harbor provides 360-degree security protection from most threats and malicious activities. Our expert tech team is a step ahead of phishing and malware attacks with a proactive approach. Partner with us today and be secured from malicious activities.

How Can Law Firms Protect Themselves From Cyber Threats

After the coronavirus outbreak, everyone is doing their business online. Cybercriminals are getting more chances to attack, and it is evolving day by day. Not even a single organization is safe from cyber-attacks. Law firms are at greater risk and becoming the next top target of hackers.

Criminals use ransomware for data breaches and block access to systems until they pay the ransom. They threaten these firms to publish confidential data if they don’t fulfill their requirements. Law firms are responsible for the client’s data to keep it private. They carry sensitive information, and it is their responsibility not to let their data into the wrong hands.

This article will discuss the security measures law firms can take to protect themselves from cyber attacks:

How to protect a Law Firm from Cyber-attacks?

There was a rapid business shift to remote work during the pandemic outbreak. The responsibilities of IT professionals and security experts increase. They are under more pressure to keep their organization safe from potential attacks.

Migration to remote work creates more vulnerabilities as employees are working from home. Law firms should be more cautious and take steps to protect themselves from hacker attacks.

Here are some steps you can follow to make your firm more secure.

Tell your employees to monitor their devices.

When employees work from home and use their devices and the internet, it can increase vulnerability if the employee’s network is not secure. Hackers always try to attack vulnerable systems as they are the weakest and easily get attacked. The consequences of such attacks include data loss and data breaches. Law firms hold confidential data, and they can’t afford to lose it. The responsibility of law firms is to educate their employees to use a VPN to protect their systems.

Encrypt Data

Law firms use emails and document sharing systems to send and receive data. And they use the internet to communicate with clients and employees. Try to send data in encrypted form over the internet so you can protect it from cyber-criminals. It is harder for a hacker to intercept such data. The virtual private network helps to encrypt data reliably and cost-effectively. Through VPN, they can securely send data from a computer to the internet.

Tell Employees to use Two-Factor Authentication.

Most people use the same passwords for all the accounts they have. Either it is a personal account or a work account. But keep in mind, using a weak and same password is not a secure way. Reused passwords increase the risk of cyber-attacks. Implement a two-factor authentication process within your organization. This process uses a code for login. Every time a user wants to log in to a system, it requires a code sent to the employee’s mobile or device. This code expires after some time. It is a way to protect the company’s systems and accounts from vulnerable users.

Educate Employees about Ransomware

Ransomware is a kind of malware that prevents users from accessing their data and files on their system. They cannot access their data until they pay the ransom that cyber-criminals demand. There is no guarantee of accessing the data even after paying the ransom. So, it is better to take precautionary measures before facing such attacks. Law firms should educate their employees about it and tell them ways to protect their data. These steps include

• Use a secure way of file sharing
•  Do not open malicious emails.
• Use strong passwords
• Keep your systems up to date
• Use Virtual Private Network

Use VPNs

A law firm can protect a client’s personal information using a VPN. Lawyers keep sensitive data, and they need to keep it confidential. They can have better security if they use a VPN. All of the data is transferred in an encrypted form. VPNs are beneficial for these law firms because they meet the essential requirements. Privacy and security are the biggest concerns of a law firm that can be fulfilled using a VPN.

As mentioned above, all VPNs are not the same, so they should get one according to the firm’s needs and expectations. Prices and quality vary, so it is recommended to get a free VPN trial first, find the best one for your firm, and then buy it.

Conclusion

The current legal industry comprises around 1.5 million organizations, and large law firms are strongly advised to adopt cyber security measures to protect the IP they have developed over time.

When dealing with the digital world daily, security is a top priority. You must take every precaution to protect yourself from cyber threats and hackers, mainly if you deal with sensitive client information and data. Protected Harbor provides Comprehensive Legal Services Threat and Vulnerability Assessment for law firms. By partnering with Protected Harbor, you will have full access to all the safeguards and tools needed to stay protected from cyber threats, but you’ll also be partnering with one of the most respected names in the industry. Contact us today for a free network vulnerability test for your law firm.

Why Every Business Needs These 6 Cybersecurity Tools

With the advancement in technology, most businesses have shifted online. Due to the rapid technological shift, threats constantly evolve and become more sophisticated. Protecting the IT environment in an organization is critical, regardless of the size. Cybersecurity is the need of every business operating online, and they should take it seriously.

Cybersecurity measures protect organizations and small businesses from data breaches, malware, and security threats. No organization is safe from security issues and threats without a cyber-secure environment. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in security systems to put organizations at risk. To stay protected in a digital world, password management software for business is necessary.

In this article, you will know the best cybersecurity tools that can protect your online business against cyber threats. Let’s get started.

1. NordPass

Protecting your system and network with a strong password is necessary. With NordPass, you can store passwords in a single place and log into applications and websites with a click. Its password manager allows you to access your credentials on any device. It’s a highly secure, widely supported, easy to use, and more affordable tool for managing security.

Your assets like credit card details, passwords, and online notes are valuable, and they need to be protected using a reliable security tool. NordPass is a tool that uses advanced encryption algorithms that protect your valuable information.

2. BlueVector

The AI-powered solution of BlueVector is designed to deliver advanced network coverage and threat detection that can meet the security needs of any size business. BlueVector allows customers to use AI-based approaches to deal with the polymorphic nature of advanced cybersecurity threats with multiple privileges.

BlueVector, a leader in advanced threat detection, empowers security teams to know about real threats and allows online businesses to operate confidently so that their data and systems are protected.

3. Mimecast

It’s a cloud-based platform ideal for small and large businesses and provides cyber resilience for email. With Mimecast, you can prevent your business from cyber threats before they affect your online business. It blocks ransomware, prevents data loss, stops business email compromise, and eliminates brand exploitation. Mimecast finds and neutralizes impersonation attacks before they are unleashed.

4. Intruder

It’s an online vulnerability scanner that detects the weaknesses in the IT infrastructure of your organization to avoid data breaches. Intruder allows you to find vulnerabilities before the hackers do. You can prevent data loss and enhance customer trust with constant cyber protection.

The intruder is a powerful and easy-to-use vulnerability scanner designed to safeguard your business from cyber threats. It reports the genuine and actionable issues that can impact your cybersecurity posture and helps you stay on top of threat detection and vulnerability management.

5. Avira

Avira is a comprehensive and professional-level cybersecurity tool that blocks online threats, including ransomware, malware, and spyware, through its antivirus protection feature. Avira free VPN secures and hides your online activities, and its password manager software for business secures your online accounts with unique, strong passwords. Its anti-scam protection secures you from phishing attacks and helps you find vulnerabilities through software updates.

6. VIPRE

VIPRE provides cloud-based email and endpoint security for your organization. It is one of the most widely used security tools that protect your business from malware, spam messages, and malicious attacks without any hassle. It lets you stay safe against advanced cyber threats and attacks. VIPRE business solution pairs AI technology with real-time threat tracking that protects your business from cybercrime.

Final words

This article has discussed the best six cybersecurity tools that every business needs if they do anything online. Due to the rapid increase in cyber attacks, organizations have lost their valuable assets, and this has caused irreparable damage. Therefore, these cybersecurity tools can help you safeguard your online business from unwanted data breaches and security threats.

Being aware of the cyber attacks and adequately using these tools can ensure 100% protection and safety. However, there is always a possibility of cyber attacks. Hence, having a proper cybersecurity infrastructure would come as a trump card to protect businesses from all kinds of cyber threats. Protected Harbor is one of the top cybersecurity solutions considering its clients as its partners. We are in a league of our own with 99.99% uptime, an expert tech team available 24×7, proactive remote monitoring, and more unique safety features.

The business can take a step-by-step approach by adopting a cybersecurity framework that can help the organization effectively carry out the activities of its cybersecurity policy. Protected Harbor constructs a framework, and it can be drafted and adopted only after a thorough assessment of the current risks and vulnerabilities. Be cyber secured today; contact us.

Why Is Cybersecurity Awareness for Employees Important?

Organizations’ employees are one of the most significant risks to their cybersecurity, and their negligence is considered the leading cause of data breaches. However, these employees can be a valuable asset for organizations if provided with the required knowledge to identify cyber threats. An enterprise needs to be perceptive when it comes to cybersecurity.

Security awareness training should be mandatory for employees, and there should be an easy-to-implement ongoing training program that considerably reduces the risk of data breaches and security attacks. This blog post will cover human error with what needs to be taught in an effective cybersecurity training program.

What is security awareness training?

Cybersecurity awareness training is a demonstrated educational approach for improving the risky behavior in employees that may lead to compromised security. Cybersecurity training enhances employee resilience to cyber attacks by effectively delivering relevant information on social engineering, malware, information security, and industry-specific compliance topics.

Employees learn to avoid phishing, malware, and other social engineering attacks, identify potential malicious behaviors, follow security best practices and IT policies, report possible security threats and adhere to compliance regulations.

Why do businesses need security awareness training?

As cybercrimes continue to evolve, security awareness training helps organizations reduce help desk costs, secure their overall security investment, and protect their reputation. Implement a training program that significantly lessens the risk of data breaches and security threats via phishing simulations based on real-world cyber attacks and training covering related compliance and security topics.

Training your staff on cybersecurity safety and best practices creates a sense of empowerment. You can rest assured that your employees will be confident in decision-making while browsing the Internet, filtering through suspicious emails, or creating new passwords. Cybersecurity training will increase your employees’ cybersecurity knowledge and give them the practical skills to protect your organization from potential risks or data breaches, ransomware threats, and network attacks.

Best ways to improve cybersecurity awareness for employees

Here are the best practical tips to help you create the most effective security awareness training program for your organization.

1. Start with CEO leadership

Cybersecurity awareness is finally getting the attention it deserves. As the number of data breaches and security threats continues to rise, more emphasis should be on managing cyber risks to lower the chance of potential attacks. Cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone in the organization, but resilient companies need strong CEO leadership. If the company CEO takes cybersecurity seriously, it will penetrate the organization and form a culture of increased cybersecurity awareness.

2.Know your organization’s tolerances

Your organization should evaluate the threat landscape and detect the top risks in creating an efficient cybersecurity awareness program. It will give you a better understanding of the real-world threats that can compromise your organization’s security. Your risk tolerance should be defined at the outset for implementing the proper security measures depending on the actual threats faced. Identifying the risks correctly can help effectively target your security awareness program.

3. Focus on high-risk groups

An essential factor in making an effective security awareness program is ensuring that the proper training is targeted at the right people. All employees are susceptible to cyber risks, but some have a higher threat profile than others. For example, your Finance and HR departments are targeted mainly by cybercriminals because of their privileged access to sensitive data. Your senior executives, CEO, and CFO are also the main target due to high-level access to valuable information. If a senior executive becomes a target, the results could be devastating.

4. Deploy phishing campaigns

Phishing is a significant threat to organizations’ privacy and security. It’s one of the most common cyberattacks against organizations. It gets you into providing sensitive information, such as credit card information, login credentials, or other restricted data. The simulations implemented in a safe environment test whether employees identify or become victims of a phishing scam. Moreover, deploying a phishing campaign provides training on detecting, avoiding, and reporting these attacks to protect organizations.

5. Get your policy management up to date

Policies are essential in making boundaries for individuals, relationships, processes, and transactions within your company. These provide a governance framework and help define compliance, essential in today’s increasingly complicated regulatory landscape. An efficient policy management system has a consistent approach to creating policies, adds shape to organization procedures, and makes tracking staff responses and attestation more straightforward. As a result, it can help you streamline your internal processes, efficiently target the flaws presenting the highest risk to data security, and demonstrate compliance with legislative requirements.

What Topics Should Security Awareness Training Cover?

A significant portion of cybersecurity incidents stem from human error. To address this, Employee Training in IT Security is essential for fostering secure habits and mitigating risks. However, not all training programs are equally effective—data-driven approaches can bring about lasting behavioral changes.

Here are four common methods to cover cybersecurity threats and prevention in awareness training:

1. Classroom-Based Training:
This traditional approach allows employees to step away from work for expert-led sessions on topics like password security and phishing. While immediate feedback and interaction are benefits, drawbacks include high costs, long sessions, and lower retention rates.

2. Visual Aids:
Posters, handouts, and videos simplify complex concepts, making them easy to understand. They are cost-effective but lack interactivity and may lose impact over time if not engaging.

3. Phishing Simulations:
Simulated cyberattacks are a powerful way to instill cyber threat awareness by testing responses. While effective, they can be emotionally taxing if not handled with care. Proper execution ensures lasting behavior changes.

4. Computer-Based Training:
Dynamic online modules with quizzes and multimedia formats provide flexibility and up-to-date training for evolving threats. Focus on security behavior changes over compliance checklists to maximize impact.

A well-rounded program fosters a culture of security while reducing vulnerabilities.

Security Awareness Statistics

What do recent figures tell us about the state of cybersecurity employee awareness? Let’s take a look.

• In 2023, 70% of data breaches were caused by the human element.
• The average cost of a data breach in 2022 reached an all-time high of $4.35 million.
• Shockingly, in 2020, only 1 in 9 businesses (11%) offered a cybersecurity awareness program to non-cyber employees.
• 1 in 3 data breaches involves phishing.
• 20% of organizations experienced a breach due to a remote worker.

Surprising? Yes, but not unexpected. Many employees lack proper employee cybersecurity training, tools, and support to defend against threats. Strengthening workplace cybersecurity through regular training and effective cyber risk management can help bridge these knowledge gaps and protect businesses from becoming the next statistic.

Conclusion

Employees play an essential role in running a secure business. A negligent and untrained workforce can put your organization at risk of data breaches. Organizations should adopt a reliable security training program encompassing the crucial guidelines to prevent imminent cyber incidents. While searching for cybersecurity awareness training for employees, choose a service that goes beyond security training and focuses on skills and implementation.

For small to medium-scale businesses to maintain a cybersecurity-focused IT team. That’s why they partner with managed services providers and IT solutions providers. They take care of their IT and cybersecurity needs and conduct training programs for the employees to add a layer to cybersecurity. Similarly, Protected Harbor is one of the leading IT solutions makers who care for all your business needs. With our expert tech team available 24×7, 99.99% uptime, remote monitoring, and proactive cybersecurity strategies we strive to satisfy our customers. Learn about our Protected Harbor cybersecurity and awareness training and figure out how you can protect your organization against cyber attacks. Contact us today!

Benefits and Challenges of the Zero Trust Security Model

The Cybersecurity threat landscape has evolved so rapidly that it has become difficult to trust anyone in your network infrastructure. Whom can you trust inside your IT infrastructure? In a Zero Trust paradigm, the answer is no one. This trust model is based on network access control. It means that access to a network or device should only be granted after users’ verification and to the extent required to perform a task.

This article will explore the benefits and risks of the zero-trust security model. Let’s get started.

What is Zero Trust Model?

Zero Trust is a security model granting access to only verified and authenticated users. It provides an ultra-safe defense against potential threats by the user, devices, and network access control. Unlike traditional security models, it does not assume that people within an organization are safe. Instead, it requires every user to be authorized before granting any access.

The zero-trust security model is generally based on a three-step process.

• Verify a user’s identity via authentication
• Implement device and network access control
• Limit privileged access.

This model promotes that organizations must not trust individuals/entities outside their network perimeters.

Zero Trust Use Cases

The Zero Trust model has increasingly been formalized as a response to secure digital transformation and a variety of complex, devastating threats seen in past years. Organizations can benefit from the Zero Trust security model.

You are required to secure an infrastructure deployment model, including

• Hybrid, multi-cloud multi-identity
• Legacy systems
• Unmanaged devices
• Software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications

It is required to address critical threats use cases, including:

• Supply chain attacks_ generally involve privileged users working remotely and on unmanaged devices.
• Ransomware_ a two-part problem, including identity compromise and code execution.
• Insider Threats_ extremely challenging while users are working remotely.

Here are some considerations an organization have

• User experience impact considerations, especially while using multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• SOC/analyst expertise challenges.
• Industry or compliance requirements

Each organization has unique challenges because of its business, current security strategy, and digital transformation maturity. If appropriately implemented, zero trust can adjust to meet specific requirements and ensure a return on investment (ROI) on your security strategy.

Benefits of Zero Trust Security Model

Let’s outline the main benefits of the Zero Trust security model.

• This approach requires you to regulate and classify all network resources. It lets organizations visualize who accesses resources for which reasons and understand what measures need to be implemented to secure help.
• Implementing a Zero Trust security model is associated with deploying solutions for continuous monitoring and logging off user activity and asset states. It allows organizations to detect potential threats efficiently and respond to them promptly.
• This model helps expand security protection across multiple containerized and computing environments, independent of the underlying infrastructure.
• It prevents data breaches and has lateral movements using application micro-segmentation.
• A zero trust model ensures organizational security while providing a consistent user experience.

Common Technical Challenges

Here are the most common technical challenges faced by users/organizations while implementing a Zero Trust security model.

1. Network Trust and Malware

Organizations need to ensure that each device and user can safely connect to the internet regardless of the location, without the complexity associated with the legacy techniques. Moreover, they need to proactively detect, block, and reduce the targeted threats, such as phishing, malware, ransomware, advanced zero-day attacks, and DNS data exfiltration. The Zero Trust security model can improve your organization’s security posture while reducing the risk of cyberattacks.

2. IT Resources and Complexity

Security and enterprise access are complex and change continuously. Traditional enterprise technologies are complex, and making changes often take time to use valuable resources. A Zero Trust security model can reduce the time and architectural complexity.

3. Secure data and application access

Conventional access tools and technologies like VPN rely on trust principles resulting in compromised user credentials that lead to data breaches. Organizations need to reconsider their access model and technologies to ensure their business is secure while enabling fast and straightforward access for all users. The zero-trust security model reduces the complexity and risk while providing a consistent and efficient user experience.

Final words

In this article, we have discussed some of the benefits and challenges of the Zero Trust model. The benefits of implementing this framework go far beyond security. But there are still some risks and challenges associated with this approach. Changes in the threat landscape might encourage organizations to invest in a Zero Trust security model for network access control and identity management. These organizations should be aware of all the challenges and risks of this security model.

Zero trust can be provided as a service, as Protected Harbor proposes in its zero-trust network access technique. Before introducing zero trust, you can take a phased approach, starting with your most critical assets or a test case of non-critical assets. Whatever your starting point, a best-in-class zero-trust solution will help you reduce risk and manage security right away. Protected Harbor uses various features, like remote monitoring 24 hours a day, 99.99 percent uptime, malware protection, and more, to provide an unrivaled experience and satisfaction. To learn more about how we do it, go here.