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    Cybersecurity Threats Endanger Business Data and Customers

    Not long ago, businesses could protect themselves by posting a security guard at their front entrance or reception area. Nowadays the threats are stealthier, and the crooks are more interested in backdoor access.   

    As cybercrime evolves, business leaders must deal with an expanding threat landscape, which includes third-party exposures, infected apps, business email compromises, denial of service attacks, malware, ransomware, spyware, phishing, spoofing, and social engineering scams, just to name a few. This can lead to data breaches, identity theft, and account takeovers, not to mention, losses of revenue, customer trust and reputation.   

     

    The threats are real, ongoing and emanating from many directions. For example, new Linux malware targeted Docker installations, intended to make it easier to create, deploy, and run applications. Hackers began using the Docker API to deploy new servers inside a company's cloud infrastructure.  

     

    The FBI director noted recently the increasing sophistication of criminal groups creating a proliferation of malware as a service. This means dark web vendors sell stolen information that threaten hospitals, police departments, and businesses.   

     

    When organizations and businesses moved to the cloud, they lost control and data management capabilities that come with traditional enterprise security. Many criminals also find it easier to target the cloud by utilizing API susceptibilities, stolen customer credentials or user misconfigurations to take over accounts and access information.   

     

    With continuing digital transformation, digital incidents today cost businesses $200,000 on average, according to insurance firm Hiscox. Plus, the Ponemon Institute found the average cost per 'lost and stolen record' is around $150. 

    Data is increasingly valuable to businesses — customer and payment information especially provide opportunities for advanced analytics and business intelligence. Criminals also find that information worthwhile. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of U.S. data breaches tracked in 2019 (1,473) increased 17% from the total number of breaches reported in 2018 (1,257). More than 43% of those breaches affected businesses. In addition, businesses who were breached in 2019 had almost 19 million sensitive records (personally identifiable information) and 705 million non-sensitive records (99.99% of that total category). Non-sensitive records, according to the ITRC, are becoming highly targeted as many people and businesses use this information (such as usernames and passwords) to protect sensitive information such as financial account details. It helps the hackers complete their stolen user profiles.  

     

    The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the threat of raw data and data sets being stolen. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommended businesses boost system monitoring to counteract the additional risk management concerns due to the coronavirus response. An 'always-on' security operations center (SOC) and/or a security information and event management system (SIEM) can help mitigate the stress of maintaining a perimeter defense.   

     

    All organizations need help managing security, and ThreatAdvice can help make this business decision easy! 

    • ThreatAdvice Virtual CISO, NXTsoft’s flagship software solution, provides oversight into cybersecurity needs, and then warns and advises organizations with the appropriate actions to take. 
    • The ThreatAdvice EventTracker provides a 24/7 SOC team of cybersecurity engineers to assist with threat remediation, both remote and on-site. 
    • The ThreatAdvice SOC analyzes quarantined security alerts and ensures comprehensive protection.  
    • ThreatAdvice Endpoint Protection can roll back files to previous safe versions. 
    • ThreatAdvice Educate provides employee cybersecurity education and phishing simulations to ensure compliance and oversight. 

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