Reduce Your Risk of Becoming a Cyber Crime Victim

Available for Interviews:  Paul Tracey

Paul Tracey is the Founder & CEO of Innovative Technologies, a Managed Security Service Provider in New York, and is a national speaker, cyber security educator, small business advocate, and author of Delete The Hacker Playbook and Cyber Storm.

What Paul Tracey can say in an interview on
Staying Cyber Secure:

Internet security threats such as malware, ransomware, botnets, Wi-Fi threats, phishing, hacking, data loss, malicious websites . . . What can we do to protect ourselves from cyber attacks?!

Of Greatest CyberCrime Concern

Based on the potential damage caused and the rate of increase in activity, the greatest threat is ransomware. In terms of financial value for the criminal entity, ransomware has the highest monetary outcome possible. They are able to potentially get a ransom from the company or their insurance company as well as sell that data on the dark web. If they indeed received a ransom payment from the victim they will likely repeat this in the near future to get paid again. The availability of this software has increased exponentially now with the creation of ransomware as a service. This is a service that requires a criminal to have no technical skills. They just purchase the service on the dark web and that “company”  will deploy ransomware and collect the payment on their behalf (for a percentage of course). A high reward with minimal risk is a criminal’s best friend and ransomware has both. The damages caused by ransomware can be widespread and affect millions of people as we have seen with the Colonial Pipeline and JBS’s Beef plants. 

Phishing Continues to Be a Growing Threat

There are many cyber threats that are increasing in alarming numbers, but one problem that continues to grow without a technical solution is phishing. We know that even with training and testing about thirty percent of employees will still fail a phishing test. 80% of successful attacks begin with phishing. The unfortunate part is that hackers are getting better and better at phishing attempts. They have these statistics too and that’s why we do not foresee anything but an increase in phishing attempts. 

Top 3 Tips for Staying safe online

    1. Be Cautious With Email. Never open an email link that you didn’t expect to get based on a prior conversation with someone. If in doubt, pick up the phone and call them to verify.
    2. Use a VPN. Use a VPN with an incognito/private browser whenever possible, especially when using public wifi or accessing sensitive accounts such as banking, credit cards, payment apps, or other private data
    3. Exercise Password Hygiene. The thing everyone hates. Use a passphrase so that you can remember it and still have over 12 characters. I recommend using a favorite movie or song quote so it’s memorable and adding at least 2 digits and 2 special characters. Enable multi-factor authentication on every account possible. 

There are certainly advanced security tools and training that can greatly reduce the risk of a successful attack but in a macro sense, we need to keep our defenses up. We see a constant resurgence of old methods reappearing with a new twist or feature that enables them to now avoid detection. That along with outdated software patches and security updates allow things that should be mitigated to be successful. Tools can assist in defending against threats. However, they need to be installed up to date and configured properly to be effective. Something that should be easily blocked like a malicious website that can be accessed because the browser wasn’t up to date is an easy example of this. 

 

Interview: Paul Tracey

Paul Tracey is the Founder and CEO of Innovative Technologies, a Managed Security Service Provider in New York, and is a national speaker, cyber security educator, small business advocate, and author of Delete The Hacker Playbook and Cyber Storm.

Nearly a successful decade in business, Innovative Technologies continues to help clients ensure they have security and compliance procedures in place and well-trained staff. They have earned the reputation as a leading managed security services provider (MSSP) in upstate New York.

Tracey has been featured in MSP Success Magazine and on the Success Spotlight podcast and also runs an MSSP dedicated to helping small and medium-size businesses protect their reputation, money, and customers from cybercriminals.

     

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Director of Public Relations
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