Tag Archive for: security

What Can You Learn From A Cyber Insurance Application?

Cybersecurity is one of the most critical concerns for small business owners today. A single cyber-attack can bring down a business, causing financial losses, reputational damage, and even legal liabilities. Business owners increasingly turn to cyber insurance policies to help mitigate cyber risk. These policies transfer some risk by providing resources, such as money and services, to deal with data breaches, network outages, and cyber extortion. However, cyber insurance is rarely sufficient to deal with the havoc that can ensue when a small business experiences an incident or breach.

Cyber insurance applications can teach small business owners a lot about effective cybersecurity risk management. Cyber insurance applications have grown from a few questions to many pages of questions as carriers seek to better assess risks based on the cybersecurity posture of their customers. This blog post will explore the key lessons that small business owners can learn from the questions asked on a cyber insurance application.

Current cyber insurance applications focus on the following topics:

  1. Endpoint Management
    Endpoint management refers to the management of laptops, desktops, servers, and mobile devices. Cyber insurance applications focus on endpoint management because endpoints are often the entry point for cyber attackers. Implementing endpoint management practices such as vulnerability scanning, patch management, and device encryption.
  2. Phishing Prevention
    Phishing is a type of cyber-attack where attackers use social engineering techniques to trick users into divulging sensitive information such as login credentials or credit card details. Phishing attacks are widespread and can be devastating for small businesses. Cyber insurance applications focus on phishing prevention because it is one of the most common types of cyber attacks. Small business owners can implement phishing prevention measures such as employee training, email filtering, and multi-factor authentication.
  3. Identity Management
    Identity management refers to managing user identities, access rights, and privileges. Identity management is critical for ensuring that only authorized users can access business data and networks. Cyber insurance applications focus on identity management because compromised user credentials are a common entry point for cyber attackers. Small business owners can learn from this and implement identity management practices such as password policies, enterprise password managers, user access control, and single sign-on (SSO).
  4. Data Backup Solutions
    Data backup solutions refer to the process of creating copies of business data and storing them in a secure location. Data backup solutions are critical for ensuring business continuity during a cyber-attack or other disaster. Cyber insurance applications focus on data backup solutions because they are critical for mitigating the impact of a cyber-attack. Application questions center around the segregation of backups because insurance companies know that cybercriminals will delete or encrypt backups if they can access systems. Small business owners can learn from this and implement data backup solutions such as cloud backup, offsite backup, and developing disaster recovery plans.
  5. Endpoint Detection & Response
    Endpoint detection & response refers to the process of detecting and responding to security incidents on endpoints through software and monitoring services. Endpoint detection & response is critical for detecting and responding to cyber-attacks before they cause significant damage. Cyber insurance applications focus on endpoint detection & response because it is a critical component of effective cybersecurity risk management. Small business owners can learn from this and implement endpoint detection & response measures such as threat hunting, incident response planning, and security monitoring.

The good news is that most IT-managed service providers and managed security service providers offer services to cover 100% of the risks cyber insurance companies focus on. If you cannot mitigate your cyber on your own, fast-track your risk mitigation and insurance readiness by contacting a managed security service provider like Go West IT.

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I hate being right, really!

I really hate hearing from customers and prospective customers that we were right and that they wish they had taken our advice to harden their systems and implement tighter security controls before their breach. Feedback from customers suggests the inconvenience of implementing additional controls is often what keeps them from taking action as opposed to the cost, which is negligible for some of the most effective controls like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). If you think the controls are inconvenient, you should spend some time visiting with someone who has been through a breach.

The most likely cyber-attack a small business will experience is an email breach which quickly lead to real payment fraud losses, reputational damage, and compliance risk. Once a criminal organization (yes, there are organizations attacking your small business) has success breaching one email account, you can expect the attacks to increase in volume and sophistication. Businesses can dramatically reduce email breach risk with relatively little cost and yes, some minor inconvenience.

Take the Next Steps

If you own a business or have are responsible for managing business risk, you need to take steps to protect your business, your shareholders, your employees, your vendors, and most importantly your customers. You must take action to implement additional controls. Start by asking your IT professionals to implement controls for yourself so you can understand first-hand how the controls protect your business and the level of inconvenience the controls may cause. This puts you in the best position possible to make informed decisions about how to protect your business and champion initiatives to tighten controls.

If you’ve done nothing to date, start with implementing MFA for your business email and then work with an IT professional to constantly review and improve security controls around all your systems and data.

I’m right and I hope I never have to tell you “I told you so”.

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SOC Audits Drive Improvement

Go West IT just completed our second annual SOC 2, Type 2 audit.   This is an expensive and time consuming process and it absolutely makes us better every single year.

SOC stands for Service Organization Controls and a Type 2 audit tests our use of and adherence to a defined set of controls over the course of a year.  We won’t receive our results in the form of a SOC audit report for another thirty days or so but I already know it was worth the expense and effort.  Go West IT learns something and improves each time we conduct an internal review, assessment, and our annual SOC audit.  These exercises make us better and in turn deliver greater value to our customers.

A SOC audit is a great way for your organization to get information about how your vendors and partners have designed controls for security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and confidentiality or privacy.  The SOC report provides you with a list of the tested controls that are audited by a third party and lists out exceptions that were uncovered during the audit period.  It is a great way for you to validate the statements that most companies make about how they care for your information.

A SOC audit is no guarantee of security but it is a good indication that a business spends time and effort developing systems and controls to mitigate risk.

If you are a Go West IT customer and would like to see a copy of our SOC audit please just contact your Account Manager and we will make sure you get a copy of the report as soon as it is delivered.  Please contact me directly if you have questions about the SOC audit process or what controls Go West IT has implemented to protect our customers.

Last but not least, please spend a few minutes thinking about how your organization might improve by assessing risks and taking action to implement controls to mitigate risk.  Please just call Go West IT if you want help taking the first step.

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Mitigating Cyber Risk – Top Ten Tasks

Your business is vulnerable to cybercriminals, period. So, workforce security should be top of mind for you and your business.

Workforce security matters

The truth is that no business is fully “secure”. Rather, businesses assume various amounts of acceptable risk. Your responsibility is to figure out where your organization lies on the workforce security spectrum, how much cyber risk you are willing to comfortably assume, and continually act to reduce your risk to those levels.

We understand that most businesses, especially SMB’s, can’t and won’t do everything their IT provider may recommend. This is true for a myriad of reasons including operational efficiency, timing, focus on your core business, and of course budget considerations. We also believe that most businesses do not realize the amount of risk which they currently assume. If you did, you would likely already be doing more!

To this end, Go West IT has developed our “Top Ten Task to Mitigate Cyber Risk”

Review your workforce security posture with your current IT provider and discuss how to implement the next best thing you can do to reduce your risk (HINT: If you’ve done nothing to date, start with backups, patching, and multi-factor authentication). If you need help please give us a shout, our experts will help you recognize, plan, and take the steps to mitigate your risk.

Understand where you are today… know where you want to be tomorrow… build the roadmap to get you there. You can reduce your risk, get started today! Give us a call, email us, or contact our support. You can get secured today! You can check out more about our Go Managed Security Plans here. If you have any questions, please reach out to us.

David Lewien
President, Go West IT

Download the PDF: Top Ten Tasks to Mitigate Cyber Risk
303-795-2200
info@gowestit.com
www.gowestit.com

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Consumer Grade Router Malware

Go West is providing this security alert as a cautionary measure for users with a consumer grade router or network attached storage device at their home or small business.  Due to a recent malware attack known as VPNFilter, the FBI and US-CERT are encouraging users with home devices from Linksys, MikroTik, NetGear, TP-Link and QNAP to reboot the device.  Users should also ensure device firmware is up-to-date and change passwords on these devices.

What Is It
VPNFilter targets small home and office routers and network attached storage devices.  Once infected, the device allows criminals the ability to launch further attacks, collect personal website information, block network traffic, or they can render the device completely unusable.

Official US-CERT alert statement: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA18-145A

Manufacturers Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear, QNAP and TP-Link have posted instructions for users to follow to update their device software.

How Does It Impact Me
There is very little risk associated with this malware attack for commercial organizations utilizing business grade devices.  However, it is vital that organizations be aware of the vulnerability for remote users connecting from a home office.  Those users are more likely to be using a consumer grade router and should follow the recommended procedures.

If you have concerns or questions regarding a potential consumer grade router at your business please reach out to Go West support at support@gowestit.com.

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Aggressive Patching is the New Normal

I recall a time when IT professionals adopted the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” approach to patching. To be sure, there was a time when patching firmware and software might have introduced more problems. That time is long gone. Aggressive patching is the new normal. Gone too are the days when a diligent IT person might go around to all the computers, servers, firewalls, switches, and other network attached devices and get them patched. That manual approach is no longer feasible and adhering to a manual patching plan is foolish. The nature of the modern cybersecurity landscape requires a platform which identifies patches that are needed, facilitates automated patching, and provides reporting & alerting to uncover anomalies.

Look no further than the Intel chip security vulnerabilities (Meltdown & Spectre) publicized this first week of 2018 for evidence of this new norm. When Operating System patches are released to mitigate this newly divulged flaw it will be critical that the patches are applied as quickly as possible.

Go West IT offers managed service plans that utilize state of the art remote monitoring and management platforms designed to keep systems updated and rapidly apply patches when new vulnerabilities are divulged. Stand on our shoulders and use the systems we have already built to keep your business ahead of the curve. Please contact us today at 303.795.2200 or info@gowestit.com.

David Lewien – President

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