Cyber crime is only likely to increase, despite the best efforts of government agencies and cyber security experts. Its growth is being driven by the expanding number of services available online and the increasing sophistication of cyber criminals who are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with security experts. With the right level of preparation and specialist external assistance, it is possible to control damages, and recover from a cyber breach and its consequences.
Networking giant, Cisco, has advised governments and organisations on the need to demonstrate huge security capabilities, having discovered dramatic increase in spam volume as well as huge server vulnerabilities. In its 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR), which also showed the true cost of cybercrime, Cisco informed that attackers now launch more attacks against servers. Attacks on server can run the company or organisation down by making hitherto closed information available to attackers; this is even as the breaches impact the firm financially.
The FBI is warning the healthcare sector to step up security of its file transfer protocol servers as cybercriminals step up attacks targeting FTP servers running in anonymous mode. “The FBI is aware of criminal actors who are actively targeting FTP servers operating in ‘anonymous’ mode and associated with medical and dental facilities to access protected health information and personally identifiable information in order to intimidate, harass and blackmail business owners,”
Apple has resolved a certification validation vulnerability affecting both macOS and iOS users. The (CVE-2017-2485) vulnerability posed a remote code execution risk on affected systems, which created a potential mechanism for hackers to craft exploits that pushed malware on to otherwise patched iThings.
In 2016, more than 4 billion records were leaked worldwide, exceeding the combined total from the two previous years, according to a report from IBM Security. In its IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2017, Big Blue explained the leaked documents comprised the usual credit cards, passwords, and personal health information, but also noted a shift in cybercriminal strategies, finding a number of significant breaches were related to unstructured data such as email archives, business documents, intellectual property, and source code.
Tips that help you prevent data leakage
In today’s world one can and should value even the tiniest bit of privacy, with everything online, and when people start doing that, they realize that it is wise to think about how to prevent data leakage.
Data leakage can occur through many avenues including unauthorised access to databases employee negligence or other security breaches. Since this can put even the most sensitive information of yours at risk, one should always opt for ways that can prevent their data from leaking.
Data loss prevention (DLP) is a strategy for making sure that end users do not send sensitive or critical information outside the corporate network.
Tips that any person or company can utilise for data leak prevention:
- Monitoring company activity: Every company, in order to prevent data leakage, should carefully scrutinise upon what information is being shared with whom. With so many people involved in one company the administration should be clear as to what sort of information is being shared with partners, suppliers, customers and associates. Some companies are known for their multitude of end points and under such circumstances it can become extremely important to monitor all the traffic on all the networks. Employing database monitoring tools, which allow companies to overlook and monitor all access and activity, can be really helpful in regards to keeping your sensitive information safe and make the supervision of all activity very simple and even easy.
- Encryption: Encryption is perhaps the most effective way to achieve data security. To access an encrypted file, one must have access to a secret password that enables you to decrypt it. This type of encrypted data is known as cipher text and anybody who doesn’t have the password cannot simply access it. This should be one of the first steps in regards to data prevention as it would put all of your sensitive information under an encrypted code and hence you can make sure that nobody is snooping around in your information without your consent. Encryption provides an added layer of security and cover for all of your files and folders and with it you can make sure highly sensitive information doesn’t leak the office.
- Lock down the network: There are basically two most generic ways in which data can escape from the con founds of your office into other people’s computers. Mostly, leaks can occur through either email or the web. Hence, these two areas should be the primary focus when it comes to data leak prevention. Monitoring and surveillance, checks on web activity during office ours on office computers should be given extra importance and time. Having a network security hence not only ensures that no data leak occurs rather it makes sure that even if it does, the culprit responsible is caught on the earliest.
Intrusions happen, threats emerge and your security operation needs to be at its peak efficiency. Anglo African solutions can quickly intercept threats and thus help in avoiding data breaches. For more information about cyber security kindly contact Anglo African on 2331636 or by e-mail at contact@infosystems.mu
