Now in its 18th year, Cybersecurity awareness month continues to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity across our nation, ensuring that users have the resources they need to be safer and more secure online. Today we are going to talk about what the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is doing to spread awareness, different topics of Cybersecurity that CISA is shedding light on, and how you can benefit from raising cybersecurity awareness.
 
October is Cybersecurity awareness month. CISA’s theme this year is “Do your part”. This theme encourages individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, stressing personal accountability and the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity. This year, CISA is focusing on the following areas:
 
1. Being Cyber Smart

a. Businesses face significant financial loss when a cyber-attack occurs. Data shows that in 2020, a large increase was reported in cyber-attacks that target businesses using stolen logins and passwords. It is critical that software patches are applied, malicious links are avoided, and credentials are kept secret as these are the top access points for attackers.
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b. Traveling, whether it is international or domestic leaves you at risk if you’re using work assets. It is always important to practice safe online behavior and be conscious of what networks you are connecting to. If you’re unsure if a foreign network is secure, it is best to avoid it as it could lead to your data becoming compromised.

c. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) allows you to better secure your information and identity online. MFA typically requires a password alongside a call, email, or text containing a code. By utilizing MFA, you add an additional step to the login process which drastically decreases your chances of becoming compromised.
 
2. Fighting Phishing

a. Today’s technology allows us to connect around the world, to bank and shop online, and to control our televisions, homes, and cars from our smartphones. With these added conveniences comes an increased risk of identity theft or internet scams. It is crucial that you are aware of who you’re responding to, the links you’re clicking on, and fields you’re entering sensitive information in as attackers will try to trick you into providing personal information.

b. Phishing attacks use email or malicious websites to infect your machine or gather personal data about you or your business. Cybercriminals attempt to lure users to click on links or open an attachment that will infect your computer. This is why it is important to never click links you’re unsure of, and to especially never respond to strange emails with personal information.
 
3. Exploring, Experiencing and Sharing Cybersecurity

a. To help meet the need for cybersecurity knowledge, cyber.org offers free cybersecurity awareness training resources to K-12 students and educators. This allows the youth to understand the real-world threats at a young age in hopes they will carry that knowledge moving forward. Making everyone aware of the threats that are out there is one of the most important steps.
 
4. Cybersecurity Needs to Come First

a. Cybersecurity is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unlawful access or criminal use and the practice of guaranteeing confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. With most of our day-to-day tasks relying on computer systems and the internet now, it is critical that users have a good understanding of the cyber threats in existence, as well as how to combat them. Much of your personal information is stored either on your computer, smartphone, tablet or possible someone else’s system. Knowing how to protect the information that you have stored is of high importance not just for yourself, but for your organization and those in it.

b. Cyber-attacks can always be avoided given the proper training and understanding of threats. To approach these threats effectively and protect your networks, it is necessary to become familiar with cyber essentials.
 
 
Mnemonix is well versed and well trained in the cybersecurity realm. We are happy to work with your organization on awareness training, network assessments, and overall cybersecurity. We can’t emphasize enough how important a good understanding of cybersecurity is. If you have any questions or inquiries about cybersecurity, please reach out to Mnemonix.

The cloud refers to software and services that run on the internet, instead of locally on your computer. It allows for easy access to what you need from anywhere that allows an internet connection. Most users have the impression that if data or software is stored in the cloud, it is automatically secured. This is not always the case. Over the last week, we saw with bandwidth.com and many other VoIP providers that cloud hosted platforms are still vulnerable, as their services were attacked which caused phone system issues to over a million end users. Today we are going to discuss how secure the cloud is and ways to mitigate your risk with using cloud services.
 
As there are risks running services and storing data locally, there are an equal number of risks with cloud services. Below, we will discuss just a few security risks your organization should be aware of.
 
1.Limited visibility into network operations
-When moving data or services to the cloud, you indirectly forfeit a certain level of visibility into network operations. The upkeep of the network is done by the cloud service provider making them responsible for managing the systems and policy shifts that may take place. As a result, your organization may not be able to monitor your network infrastructure without directly contacting the cloud provider.
 
2.Malware
-By Moving sensitive data to an internet-connected cloud environment, organizations are opening themselves up to additional cyber threats. Malware attacks are one of the most common threats to cloud security, with studies showing that nearly 90% of organizations are more likely to experience data breaches as cloud usage increases.
 
3.Compliance
-As cyber-attacks grow at an exponential rate, compliance regulations are becoming more stringent. As industry standard compliance regulators such as GDPR, HIPAA and PCI DSS are enforcing stronger policies for cyber-security, cloud systems will need to adapt quickly to ensure client data is secured and compliant. Your cloud services may not be compliant, so it is important to be sure that your cloud service provider and confirm your compliance needs are met.
 
4.Loss of Data
-Cloud computing requires organizations to give up some of their control to the cloud service provider. This can mean that the security of your organization’s critical data may fall into the hands of someone outside of your IT team. If the cloud service provider experiences a breach or attack, your organization will not only lose its data and intellectual property but will also be held responsible for any resulting damages.
 
While there are risks involved with cloud computing, there are steps you can take to mitigate any potential security issues while using these services. With the help of your IT team, you can run risk assessments often to ensure your data is protected the best it can be. It is also important to make sure user access controls are setup in a way that reflects the zero-trust framework we discussed in a previous blog. Lastly, it is important to ensure that your organization, or IT team is constantly monitoring for any anomalies in your cloud data or services. If an attack is caught early enough, it can drastically mitigate the damage done. If you have any questions or concerns regarding cloud services, please reach out to Mnemonix as we are happy to help.
 
 

Nobody likes passwords. They’re inconvenient, there’s usually a lot of them and in most cases, you have to change them every few months. On top of that, it is now also highly encouraged to setup some form of multi-factor authentication as passwords are prime targets for attacks. Microsoft has introduced passwordless login capabilities which allow you to remove the need for a password from your Microsoft account. Today we are going to discuss how Microsoft was able to do this safely, new ways Microsoft will allow you to validate logins, and how Mnemonix can assist with getting you setup with passwordless logins.
 
Microsoft has been looking to add passwordless logins for the last few years. In March of 2021, they announced that this was finally possible and available to commercial users, bringing the feature to enterprise organizations around the world. By using the Microsoft authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key, or a verification code sent to your phone or email, you can now sign into your favorite apps and services. These services include Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, and more.
 
Microsoft has also gone ahead and addressed why they aimed to have passwordless sign-ins.
 
“Except for auto-generated passwords that are nearly impossible to remember, we largely create our own passwords. But, given the vulnerability of passwords, requirements for them have gotten increasingly complex in recent years, including multiple symbols, numbers, case sensitivity, and disallowing previous passwords. Updates are often required on a regular basis, yet to create passwords that are both secure enough and memorable enough is a challenge. Passwords are incredibly inconvenient to create, remember, and manage across all the accounts in our lives.”
 
A survey was conducted and found that a third of people say they completely stopped using an account or service rather than dealing with a lost password. To solve these problems, by human nature, we make passwords that we can easily remember. 15 percent of people use their pets’ names where others use common answers such as important dates like birthdays. 10 percent admitted to reusing passwords across sites, and 40 percent say they’ve used a formula for their passwords, such as Password123, which becomes Password1234 or Password12345. Due to these poor password habits, hackers are able to easily guess and gain access to multiple accounts every day.
 
You no longer have to worry about passwords with Microsoft. Mnemonix is happy to assist you or your business with passwordless sign-in where applicable. If you’d like to explore the passwordless option, or have any questions regarding the new feature, please reach out to Mnemonix.

​Using company owned computers for personal reasons or any tasks outside of your day-to-day work could put you and your business at unnecessary risks. It is important to be mindful of every email opened, link clicked, site visited, and software installed. Today we are going to discuss ways to keep your computer clean and safe, what to avoid while on a work computer, and how Mnemonix helps to keep your devices safe.
 
Passwords are something we use on a daily basis. First and foremost, it is best practice to never use the same password across multiple accounts. If your credentials become compromised, the attackers not only have access to the initial account they compromised, but also all of the others that you use the same password on. With that being said, there are multiple password vaults that are safe to use to keep up on the numerous passwords we have. In regard to using personal passwords in a business environment, it is important to remember to not save these passwords to a work computer as you don’t truly know who is accessing them on a day-to-day basis.
 
A report on telecommuting in the United States from FlexJobs and the Global Workplace Analytics found that 3.9 million U.S. employees who make up 2.9% of the total U.S. workforce work remotely at least half of the time. This number has only increased since the start of the pandemic. For many of them, it can be tempting to work from locations such as coffee shops, airports, hotels etc. Places that offer free Wi-Fi can expose you and your business device to attacks. Attackers can setup fake networks that often look like the real Wi-Fi but are just attempts to gain access to your computer. A software company, Check Point, conducted a study that showed two-thirds of IT professionals believe recent high-profile breaches were cause by employee carelessness and lack of security awareness while accessing public networks.
 
Many users like to listen to music during the workday. Did you know that listening to music on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc. can lead to security breaches? Downloading software not previously assigned or permitted by your business can lead to that same software falling behind on security updates. This may allow for attackers to have easy access to both your business computer, and in turn the business network if the software was to be compromised. This holds true for any software you may install that isn’t already installed by the business as it could lead to security breaches as well.
 
Mnemonix constantly monitors anomalies on client networks as well and managing anti-virus software to keep your devices secure. Mnemonix also offers email security training that has proven to decrease the number of breaches via email drastically. If you’d like to learn more about how Mnemonix works daily to keep your business safe, or would like more information about email security training, please contact Mnemonix.