Two weeks ago, we held a talk in cooperation with AustCham Thailand at the Banyan Tree, about the latest threats and dangers in the world of IT security.

We were really happy to have a roomful of people coming and listening to what Bernard Collin, our CEO and Founder, had to say. It turns out that many companies suffer from some of the latest IT threats around, perhaps most of all the very annoying and potentially devastating threat that is ransomware.

 

A few takeaways if you missed the talk

Ransomware is on the rise. Even though the search for ransomware on Google has dropped a bit the last month or so, the general trend of 2016 is that it’s indeed a very hot topic, and it poses a real danger to any company these days. Since a frightening amount of companies don’t have a proper data backup system, the consequences of getting struck by a ransomware attack can be financially severe.

 

Relatedly, the Google search for data recovery is constantly a hot topic, which means that a lot of people suffer from their data being lost, stolen or encrypted, be it due to ransomware or other evil forces.

 

Further, in 59% of the times, ransomware enters your organisation via email. To compare, in 24% of the times a company is hit by ransomware, it’s from a website or web application. Email is losing face – embarrassingly.

It’s highly important that you’re aware of what you click on in your emails, and that you’re 100% sure an email from a person that looks like someone you know, is legit. We’re all very busy these days, so it’s not easy to find time to double-check these things – but it can be crucial to your firm.

Real-life cases

This is a slide from our talk. As we can see, several major companies have suffered from hacks only in the last couple of years. They all had their – and in turn your – data hacked, stolen or leaked. Not good. Not good at all.

 

 

If it can happen to Yahoo, it can happen to you.”

Yes, that’s an incredibly cheesy thing to say, but it doesn’t make it less true. You can’t be too safe these days. As they use to say in the movies, better to be safe than sorry.

So how can you prevent it?

Come to our talk next time, and we’ll tell you.

But we’ll be nice here and give you three key points:

1. Educate your staff. Your people are your first line of defence against cybercrime.
2. Enforce procedures. Knowing what to do when things go south can mitigate risks and reduce severe damage.
3. Get good technology. A proper Antivirus, Anti-Spam/Anti-Malware, and a WAF (Web Application Firewall).

If you have these, you’ve actually come a long way.

 

Has my email been compromised in any data breach?

That’s certainly the question.

A tremendously good way to find out if your email address has been pwned (that means compromised) in a data breach at any site you have it registered on, pay a visit to havibeenpwned.com, and find out.

If you find that it’s indeed been pwned, you have to do these things – immediately:

1. Change your password on that site
2. Go to all other sites where you have that password, and change it
3. Go for a strong password; minimum 8 character, special signs (!@%), both BIG and small letters, and a number

As of the date of writing this, the recent Yahoo hack is not included in the database.

How can I stay up-to-date of all that’s going on in IT Security?

We’re glad you asked.

On our front page, if you scroll down a bit, you can sign up for our non-commercial, purely educational newsletter. We would never misuse your trust by spamming you or trying to sell you anything if you sign up for it. You have our word.

We would post an update when something noteworthy happens in the industry, but you can expect one email at least every other month.

What’d you get out of it?

• You’d get valuable, must-have insights from inside the world of IT Security
• Learn about the latest trends and threats that could potentially make or break your business
• You’ll get expert advice for free. Come on, who doesn’t like freebies?