Cybersecurity has been a business need for years, with hackers constantly evolving new methods of attack to gain access to sensitive data.
In fact, the attack landscape has been significantly broadened recently as a result of the ongoing pandemic, with many businesses opting for a remote or hybrid office environment. Remote work has brough with it a host of cybersecurity challenges, from standardizing security protocols across geographically scattered locations to training employees on good cyber-hygiene.
And yet, this emphasis on developing threats has left many businesses with a blind spot — the fact that protection against older cybersecurity threats is still an essential component of a strong cybersecurity program.
According to data, about one in four attacks remediated this year has been caused by a common, older threat — ransomware. In 2019, over 205,000 organizations were hit with ransomware attacks, and the average cost to recover from those attacks was calculated at $84,116.
Of course, other old-school attacks are still being deployed by cybercriminals who know that some businesses are so focused on the evolving threats that they are ignoring older attack forms such as brute force or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In the case of DDoS, there has been a 12% increase in this form of weaponry in just the second half of 2020 alone.
The result? Businesses that care about protecting their data must pay attention to — and protect against — older cybersecurity threats.
Your Best Bet for Protection Against Older Cybersecurity Threats
Keeping abreast of cybersecurity trends is difficult, even for businesses with a dedicated IT department. Your best bet for comprehensive protection is to partner with a competent third-party managed services provider (MSP), who will have access to leading-edge IT talent and the best technical tools available.
That said, there are several actionable ways you can protect your business from cyber-harm from evolving threats — or those that have been around for decades.
Consider the Cloud
Most businesses function using legacy infrastructure that is old, unwieldy, and easy to access using old-school cyberattack techniques. Moving to the cloud not only provides greater security, it offers your business enhanced capabilities, better cost efficiency, and freedom from older technologies.
If you move to a cloud-based environment, make sure your cloud provider has cybersecurity solutions that offer maximum protection and risk management. If you are working with a hybrid legacy/cloud solution, check that your cybersecurity program can span both for comprehensive coverage.
Train Your Employees
Cybercriminals often target the weakest link in your security protocols — your employees — to gain access to sensitive data. In fact, this is the reason that ransomware is still so prevalent — and effective. For ransomware to infect your system it must spread by infection. Currently, there are two main methods hackers use to access systems: drive-by downloading and phishing. Phishing are emails that seem authentic but contain malicious links or attachments. Drive-by downloading is when an employee visits a malicious site (or a legitimate site that has been hacked) and malware is automatically downloaded to their PC, spreading throughout your network.
Keeping employees trained on evolving threats as well as old-school techniques like phishing is essential to help them stay alert to malicious or suspicious links and attachments. Email best practices training, cybersecurity training, and even training on social engineering can help prevent cyberattacks.
Stay Up to Date
Keeping up with updates and security patches for hard- and software can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a dedicated IT team. Still, it’s one of the most critical actions you can take to protect your business from cyberattack. If your staff don’t have the time or knowledge to keep up with it, turn to a reliable third-party partner to help.
Blue Technologies — Your Partner for Cybersecurity
At Blue Technologies, we know that keeping up with the latest threats — or with older ones — can be a daunting task, particularly for our clients that don’t have the luxury of an in-house IT department. That’s why we have hired high-level IT professionals to help us provide next-gen cybersecurity services — without ignoring the need for common threat protection.
Whether you need help moving from a legacy infrastructure to the cloud, want a mix of both, or just want assistance keeping your data protected, our team can help. Our suite of services include everything you need for total network management — from infrastructure design and deployment to maintenance, service, and of course, cybersecurity.
Protect your business from cybersecurity threats, old and new. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant and get the full-spectrum protection you need.