Data Net Blog

One of the most dangerous and upcoming threats out there is cryptojacking. This process involves a malicious entity installing cryptomining malware on a user’s device without their knowledge or consent, allowing for a steady, reliable stream of income. What are the details behind cryptomining, and how can you keep your devices from becoming complicit in the schemes of hackers? Let’s find out.

It feels like only yesterday when the only action you needed to take to protect a computer was to install antivirus software. Back in the year 2000, there were around 50,000 known computer viruses. Today, that number is over 185 million unique malicious threats.

Studies have shown that email still has a safe place in the business world, with an estimated 124.5 billion business emails sent and received each day. However, are the emails that your business is actually receiving safe? If you aren’t adopting the following practices in your daily business operations, they probably aren’t.

People use all types of payment options. With more people moving away from cash as a payment option, businesses have to accept and process more payment card transactions. Depending on your business, it could put you in a very precarious position. Today, we will look at payment card statistics, and how the increase in payment card usage could end up be a devastating problem for the modern business.

Passwords have always been important to businesses, but they are priorities for organizations in certain industries. Government-based organizations in particular need to be concerned about using secure passwords. Of course, not all businesses are government-based, but there’s a thing or two your own can learn about some of their password practices.

Data security isn’t the easiest thing in the world to plan for, especially if your organization doesn’t have any dedicated security professionals on-hand. While protecting your data with traditional methods, like passwords, firewalls, and antivirus, is important, what measures are you taking to make sure a thief or hacker isn’t just walking into your office and making off with your technology?

Mobile devices are great tools that allow for enhanced mobility and convenience, but this increased accessibility is also a major detriment in terms of data security. Mobile devices are notorious for being considerable security threats to businesses that utilize them. Therefore, businesses that use mobile devices on a regular basis should absolutely be aware of how they can influence security policies.

There is no denying that a Google account is a very valuable thing to have today, and if valuable doesn’t seem like the right word to use, let’s say practical. Business and casual users alike use the wide variety of services for many purposes - but are they doing so safely?

Ready or not, the season of giving is here, and that means it’s gift card season. These can seem to be the perfect gift for coworkers and employees… which is why everyone will need to be wary of a particular business email compromise scam that has seen an uptick this year.

An IT provider can do a lot for your business, but it can exceed your organization’s expectations in more ways than one. A growing business, however, often runs into issues that need to be addressed regarding its technology. We’ll outline some of the major benefits that technology management from an IT provider can offer for a growing business.

While a technology exploit or vulnerability is never a good thing, hearing one described as “zero-day” adds another level of sinister malice to the term. However, it is still important to understand what is meant by zero-day, which is why we are going to review that term below.

We live in an era where the term “fake news” makes up a significant portion of the headlines. The Internet makes it very easy to misinform others and spread false rumors or news, as you can do so relatively anonymously with little fear of consequence. This has become a problem on social media sites like Facebook, which recently shut down a major “troll farm” in response to continued complaints.

Cybercriminals and hackers aren’t exactly examples of the most trustworthy people online, so it should come as no surprise that they are willing to exploit each other for their own benefit. We recently saw an example of this phenomenon with the Cobain botnet.

Intel has had publicity problems in the past, but now things are getting critical. An issue was reported that could potentially cause the processing power of their chips to diminish. What are being known as the Meltdown or Spectre vulnerabilities, have businesses scrambling around looking for ways to protect their data and infrastructure from what is seemingly an oversight that affects most of today’s CPU architectures; namely those that rely on virtual memory.

If you think about it, password security is an interesting phenomenon. The odds are that a user knows the importance of using a strong password, as well as the potential consequences of using weak ones. Yet, time after time, people would rather go with passwords that are easy to type and remember, as opposed to adding a few simple security measures.

We talk about network security a lot, and for good reason. The majority of today’s businesses rely heavily on their information systems and there is plenty of danger presented by Internet-based threats. However, some organizations spend so much time worrying about cyber threats that they forget that physical threats exist outside the technology plane. Your organization needs to take steps toward securing its on-site premise, as well as the digital space in which your business exists.

Too often, the desire to share an exciting travel destination with the world overrides any security or safety concerns one might have. Even people who are traveling for business will use social media to document their trip as a method of promoting their attendance at the event over social media. This includes photographing and sharing proprietary documents, like boarding passes and passports.

Have you ever thought about what would happen if your IT administrator were to go rogue and create redirects on your website that take your visitors to inappropriate content? Well, it happened to one unfortunate company in Arizona, and it ended poorly for both parties involved. What started as a ransom ended up as four years of probation and a huge sum of cash paid in restitution.

By now, you’ve heard all about the Equifax data breach, which exposed sensitive information of 143 million individuals. To keep this from leading to identity theft and other challenges for these users, many professionals are encouraging them to freeze their credit lines. To do so, a PIN is required, which is something that a hacker can easily take advantage of.

Since many modern businesses rely on technology, it becomes mandatory that they have an idea on how to best protect themselves against the myriad of threats that can be found online. Knowing what kind of threats that you may encounter is key to concocting a thorough cybersecurity strategy.