Cyber Lessons from the British Library

The British Library has published its lessons learned from the devastating cyber attack that struck in October 2023.

In an eighteen-page report which shows an impressive commitment to transparency, but makes for painful reading, the organisation details how it was compromised by the Rhysida ransomware group during a traumatic timeline of events. In a subsequent press release, the Library also states it hopes other institutions will learn from its findings in the wake of a ‘deeply damaging criminal attack.’

Unfortunately, the report makes clear that in response to tighter security standards, the organisation ceased to be Cyber Essentials Plus certified in 2022, pending replacement of some older systems. In section six, sixteen ‘lessons learned’ form the basis of its future plans and guidance to other organisations:

  • Enhance network monitoring capabilities
  • Retain on-call external security expertise
  • Fully implement multi-factor authentication: Multi-factor authentication needs to be in place on all internet-facing endpoints, regardless of any technical difficulties in doing so.
  • Enhance intrusion response processes
  • Implement network segmentation
  • Practice comprehensive business continuity plans
  • Maintain a holistic overview of cyber-risk
  • Manage systems lifecycles to eliminate legacy technology
  • Prioritise remediation of issues arising from legacy technology
  • Prioritise recovery alongside security
  • Cyber-risk awareness and expertise at senior level
  • Regularly train all staff in evolving risks
  • Proactively manage staff and user wellbeing
  • Review acceptable personal use of IT
  • Collaborate with sector peers
  • Implement Government standards, review and audit policies and processes regularly

The exact origin of the hack – which took Library systems offline for months – is unconfirmed, in part due to the scale of the destruction. However the Library’s independent security investigators believe the original breach was caused by either a spear-phishing, brute force or other credential compromise. This allowed hackers access to a remote session on a terminal server that was not yet subject to Multi-Factor Authentication for a user to login.

From there, around 600GB of data (or half a million documents) were exfiltrated, with searches for sensitively-named content such as ‘passport’ and ‘confidential’. Backup copies of twenty-two databases were also made, and removed from the network. Ransomware was also deployed, and the encrypted data used for attempted extortion.

At several points Rhysida are believed to have made their own actions difficult to track – deleting log files and destroying servers to prevent a swift recovery. In a classic ‘double-extortion’ the group also leaked employee and customer data for auction on the dark web in November, with a starting value of 20 Btc (then approximately £600,000). The British Library insists that in line with guidance given by the National Cyber Security Centre, no attempt was made to communicate with the attackers, nor any ransom paid.

The Rhysida ransomware group are also reported to, or have claimed responsibility for, hacks carried out in Chile, Portugal, Kuwait and the United States in the latter half of 2023. Cyber security professionals believe the hackers are Russian-speaking, although evidence is limited.

Lengthy and costly, the cleanup effort has clearly been difficult. The report details that the Library convened Gold and Silver level crisis-management committees, with both private sector and UK state cyber security assistance – although senior staff at the BL were at one point forced to communicate via an emergency WhatsApp call in the absence of official systems. The Library’s main catalogue, containing more than 36-million records, only returned online in ‘read-only’ format in January, and the report states ‘Many staff have been unable to perform significant parts of their roles’ (for more than 3 months.)

The Financial Times have speculated that the recovery costs may eventually total over £7m, which would represent around 40% of the institution’s known financial reserves, although the Library’s Chief Executive, Sir Roly Keating, told the BBC it was too early to calculate the true value.

 

For cyber security expertise and assistance, please contact our team today.


Ransomware Case File 2023

Each year new cyber threats appear to circulate online, and 2023 has certainly been no exception. For cyber criminals, it’s business as usual… right?

Not quite. Over time certain new patterns emerge that are important for cyber security researchers to identify, and these can help protect businesses and organisations in the future. So what can we learn from this year’s crop of nasty ransomware strains?

 

Akira

akira ransomware

First spotted around April 2023, Akira ransomware appears to be one of the better-organised criminal efforts to extract payments from victims.

Suitable for multiple operating systems and sporting a green-and-black ransom note aesthetic Sophos describes as ‘Retro’, Akira is a professional effort that should give pause for thought.

Disabling many security settings to give itself more lateral movement on systems, the infection also tries to destroy backups to hinder the user, and has a ransom note written in (relatively) good quality English with a host of supporting infrastructure to help the hacker leverage a bigger payout.

The threat actor(s) behind Akira were known to exploit an existing VPN vulnerability to spread the ransomware, but had used stolen credentials purchased online from third-party data breaches to get started – in what has become a common pattern of low level breaches by third-parties supplying the more serious cyber crime via online black markets.

 

MedusaLocker

medusalocker ransomware

Originating back in 2019, this nasty ransomware has been through a string of variants with the most recent strain popping up in September 2023 to hit a major European health organisation.

MedusaLocker is an example of ‘Ransomware-as-a-Service’ – anybody can purchase and launch their own version, with a typical ransom being around $12,000. Like legal software companies, the developers behind Medusa even offer their customers a Support Helpdesk!

More recent variants have moved over to ‘double-extortion’ style attacks, where the hacker not only compromises the data, but threatens to leak a copy online, which is more likely to compel healthcare and public-sector organisations holding very private information on behalf of the public to pay the ransom demand.

 

Black Hunt

blackhunt ransomware

Targeting Windows environments, this ransomware looks relatively traditional, but may show the shape of things to come.

It can be spread both by email and via drive-by downloads on malicious websites that purport to give away free software or content, and for a special trick, immediately tries to terminate other processes on the user’s machine to speed up how quickly it can corrupt data – getting ahead of efforts to slow it down.

Curiously the ransomware searches for a specific text file called ‘Vaccine.txt’, which is likely a safety mechanism used by the original developers to protect their own systems against the dangerous infection.

The Group behind Black Hunt also use a tactic becoming increasingly popular among cyber criminals – publicly naming their victims in a perverse online ‘Hall of Fame’ – as a warning to others.

 

Our Verdict:

Keeping your data, staff and systems safe from ever-evolving ransomware infections means instilling good cyber-hygiene among your organisation, backed by a cyber security strategy that covers a range of areas including; endpoint protection, identify security, perimeter defence and user awareness training among others. Learn more here. 

 

For Cyber Security Expertise and Support, please contact our team today.


Home PC Hack Topples LastPass

LastPass have confirmed that a hack on a staff member’s home PC led to a massive cyber security breach on the company.

The second stage of the attack used data stolen in LastPass’s August breach, cross-referenced with other stolen information, to launch a targeted sting on one of their DevOps engineers – installing a key logger on the staff member’s home PC which resulted in the loss of yet more data.

LastPass confirmed the attacker was able to steal the user’s master password, gaining access to corporate vault resources and shared folders. In the process, encrypted notes and decryption keys needed to access LastPass production backups based in Amazon Web Services (AWS) – cloud-based storage and critical database backups were also compromised.

Since the August 2022 breach, when LastPass source code was stolen, the company has admitted the breach also saw the theft of account usernames, hashed passwords, and some Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) settings belonging to end users.

Unfortunately LastPass also acknowledged that saved URL for each password entry was unencrypted, giving potential attackers an obvious clue to the purpose of each set of credentials.

The breach highlights the way remote working culture has introduced significant new digital risks – such as the danger of home users accessing work data, resources and applications on devices that sit ‘outside’ of company cyber security protections.

LastPass is believed to be used by over 85,000 businesses and 30 million end users.

 

For Cyber Security Expertise & Support, please contact our team today.

Managed Cyber Security


NCSC releases 2022 Cyber Security Breaches Survey

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released its annual ‘Cyber Security Breaches Survey’.

The survey is used to inform government policy on digital security, educate British businesses, and ensure UK cyber space remains safe.

Data collected across over 2,400 business and 850 charities produced some startling statistics concerning the ever-looming threat of cyber-attacks infiltrating UK businesses’ digital footprint.

The report discovered that 39% of UK businesses detected an incoming cyber-attack during 2021. Phishing attacks made up a fifth of all threats identified – the most frequent type of malicious attack.

Organisations also revealed that ransomware was being recognised as a serious digital threat with 56% of businesses stating they have installed or will be introducing a company policy to not pay ransoms to cyber criminals.

Whilst 58% of small and medium businesses disclosed to outsourcing their IT Support service, only 23% of surveyed businesses had a cybersecurity incident management strategy in place that is more advanced than a basic endpoint antivirus.

NCSC promote a blend of regular cyber security learning and training processes within your business to better inform the deployment of traditional cybersecurity software measures across all the organisation’s IT systems.

This multi-layered approach aims to counteract the report’s discovery that a lack of cyber technical expertise amongst UK businesses is to blame for threats going undetected.

Similarly, a company-wide policy of digital hygiene erodes the false assumption that managed cybersecurity strategies are a cost to the business rather than a strategic, protective investment.

31% of business admitted being attacked at least once a week showing that any weak link in an organisation’s cyber defence can have grievous financial implications.

To mitigate this, we recommend organisations follow the NCSC’s guidance and adopt Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials +. The scheme requires businesses to meet or exceed an assured set of security requirements each year to protect against common forms of online crime, technology dangers and digital threats.

It is estimated that a Cyber Essentials certification can reduce your organisation’s risk of a cyberattack by 98.5% – contact Lineal to assist with your organisation’s application and to help you meet the requirements for a successful certification or re-certification today.


FragAttacks: how they can devastate your WiFi devices

A new set of fragmentation vulnerabilities have been discovered which have the capacity to affect all WiFi enabled devices dating back to 1997.

There have been 12 identified separate vulnerabilities discovered by New York University Abu Dhabi researcher Mathy Vanhoef, named FragAttacks (fragmentation and aggression attacks) which have a dangerous data exfiltration potential to gather information about the owner of a WiFi enabled device and export it to a within-range attacker or to run malicious code to compromise the device; bypassing WEP and WPA security protocols.

Vanhoef announced that more than 75 tested Wi-Fi devices are affected by at least one of the FragAttacks vulnerabilities, but a majority of the devices are impacted by multiple CVEs. These tested devices included Huawei, Google, Samsung and Apple for mobile devices; computers from Dell, Apple and MSI; Xiaomi and Canon IoT devices; Asus, Linksys and D-Link routers; and Aruba, Lancom and Cisco access points.

Furthermore, the identified CVEs had the capacity to erroneously reassemble fragments encrypted under different keys, process fragmented as full frames and not clear fragments from memory when (re)connecting to a network. These vulnerabilities are named ‘FragAttacks’ due to the issues on how the WiFi network dissipates and then reorders data for easier transmission before reassembly at the receiving endpoint device.

Despite the existence of these unearthed vulnerabilities, WiFi Alliance released a statement saying that “There is no evidence of these vulnerabilities being used against WiFi users maliciously” and suggests protection methods to users through downloading “routine device updates that enable the detection of suspect transmissions or improve adherence to security implementations”

The video below demonstrates how the 12 discovered vulnerabilities can be used as a stepping stone to launch advanced malware attacks:


Security updates released for Adobe Reader zero-day vulnerability to arbitrary code execution

Adobe is warning customers of a critical zero-day bug that is active in the wild affecting its Adobe Acrobat PDF reader software.

The bug, tracked as CVE-2021-28550, affects eight versions of Adobe software (full list below) and exploits vulnerabilities in the software including arbitrary code execution, memory leaks and exposure of private information.

10 critical and four important vulnerabilities were addressed in Adobe Reader and Acrobat in addition to five critical flaws in Adobe Illustrator that were resolved by Tuesday’s security patch release. The technical specific details of the bug were not available to Adobe software users until after the 43 patch fixes were downloaded which meant that before manual user installation, the zero-day bug allowed for hackers to execute virtually any command on targeted systems.

Users can download these new security fixes by initiating the auto update feature of Acrobat and Reader by going to Help –> Check for Updates and installing via the Adobe Download Centre. This will remove the user intervention necessity to manually install security updates and allows Adobe products to update automatically upon detection of patch releases.

List of affected Adobe software versions:

– Acrobat DC, 2021.001.20150  and earlier versions - Windows

– Acrobat Reader DC, 2021.001.20150  and earlier versions – Windows

– Acrobat DC, 2021.001.20149  and earlier versions - macOS

– Acrobat Reader DC, 2021.001.20149  and earlier versions – macOS

– Acrobat 2020, 2020.001.30020 and earlier versions – Windows & macOS

– Acrobat Reader 2020, 2020.001.30020 and earlier versions – Windows & macOS

– Acrobat 2017, 2017.011.30194  and earlier versions – Windows & macOS

– Acrobat Reader 2017, 2017.011.30194  and earlier versions – Windows & macOS


Facebook & Linkedin breaches hit 500 million users

Facebook and LinkedIn have both suffered massive data breaches, exposing the details of more than 533 million and 500 million user accounts respectively, it has been revealed.

Extensive leaked data from Facebook was reportedly found online by security researcher Alon Gal – including the personal information of 11 million UK users such as phone numbers, locations, birth dates and many email addresses.

It’s believed that the ‘hack’ may relate to a bug in Facebook’s friend-adding ‘Contact Importer’ tool which was fixed in September 2019. Previous breaches in 2017 fell before the introduction of GDPR, which Facebook argues absolved it of responsibility to notify users.

Questions still hover over the LinkedIn breach in particular, with the company claiming much of their data appears to have been aggregated from other sources, or (like Facebook) were perhaps not technically ‘hacked’ at all – but scraped in bulk from publicly visible parts of the popular professional website.

The huge cache of Linkedin data was thought to be on sale, after security researches found a 2 million user ‘sample’ advertised online.

A Facebook spokesperson told Reuters the social media platform will not inform users if their accounts were part of the breach, and Linkedin are yet to issue a statement on this point – although given that LinkedIn has around 740 million accounts in total, a clear majority of its users are likely affected.

Users of both platforms can check if their email addresses (and now phone numbers) were likely breached via either platform over at: https://haveibeenpwned.com/ – and are advised to update passwords as a precaution.

 

For IT Support and cybersecurity expertise, please contact our team today.


32,000 Microsoft Exchange servers still at risk from Hafnium cyber breaches

Microsoft has announced that up to 92% of all stand-alone Exchange servers have been patched, following a mass data breach by Chinese state-sponsored Hafnium cybercrime group.

A mass attack on zero-day Exchange servers through four security vulnerabilities was identified and exploited by Hafnium in early March. Those with at risk servers, according to Microsoft VP Tom Burt, are recognised as 400,000 on-premise Exchange servers belonging to multiple government and corporate data centres including defence contractors, schools and other entities globally.

Consequently, the ProxyLogon security fixes released on 2nd March have mitigated this number significantly with 92% of Exchange servers now protected under the new patches. Nevertheless, Microsoft states that around 32,000 servers remained unpatched and vulnerable to Hafnium cybercrime including theft of confidential sensitive data together with installation of ransomware and ‘corrupted web shells’, such as China Chopper, allowing unrestricted external access to the unpatched Exchange servers.

These security fixes are in conjunction with Microsoft’s Exchange on-premises mitigation tool (EOMT) which installs defender scripts and dependency downloads whilst automatically running the Safety Scanner; troubleshooting any identified problems on the Exchange servers.

However, the patches do not protect servers that have already been compromised from further exploitation, therefore Microsoft has advised that organisations administrators scan their stand-alone networks for potentially installed malicious software and scripts in addition to the scans of EOMT.

The attacks themselves have raised questions over the security maintenance of in-house email servers and adds weight to the growing adoption of cloud-based internet email.


Lineal Becomes Keeper Partner

Lineal Software Solutions has become a managed servicer provider for Keeper Password Management.

We tested a number of different Password Management providers, including 1Password and LastPass, but were particularly impressed with Keeper.

Password management is increasingly recognised as a key pillar of cybersecurity: the UK National Cyber Security Centre admits it is ‘virtually impossible’ for users to use unique passwords for all their accounts without software assistance.

Password managers help users remember all their passwords – but can be a much more powerful tool for dramatically limiting the damage in the event of a single account being compromised.

Criminals increasingly use credential-stuffing attacks where automated tools use previously-breached account details to gain access to the user’s other accounts.

A good password manager ensures you can use a strong, randomly generated and distinct password across each of your accounts to prevent any single breach putting other data at risk.

Keeper can also notify users when breached passwords are identified online, integrate with single sign on tools such as Active Directory, and enforce multi-factor authentication – all important considerations for organisations needing to maintain cybersecurity standards across large teams.

For added convenience, Keeper is available via the web, Windows/MacOS desktop clients, browser extension and Android/iOS mobile app.

 

For Cybersecurity advice and expertise, please contact our team today.

 


easyJet Hit by Cyber Attack

Popular short-haul airline easyJet has been hit by a cyber attack, affecting around nine million customers.

In a statement, easyJet says that a “highly sophisticated cyber-attack” discovered in January 2020 compromised email addresses and travel details of roughly nine million travellers. For 2,208 customers, credit card information was also accessed.

No further detail has yet been publicised as to the nature of the breach, although the company stated that it had “closed off unauthorised access”.

The bad news comes at a difficult time for airlines, as air-travel has declined dramatically in the wake of Covid-19 restrictions. When faced with a similar situation in 2018, British Airways received a large financial penalty of £183m from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The airline are making contact with all affected customers warning extra vigilance towards ‘unsolicited communications’, due to the heightened risk of phishing attempts from criminals masquerading as easyJet who may have gained access to customers’ personal details.

Under new GDPR guidelines introduced in 2019, it is mandatory that breached organisations report to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), who are currently investigating.

 

For cybersecurity and IT Support expertise, please contact Lineal today.


Lineal Hosts SW Police Cybersecurity Workshop

Local businesses recently gathered at Barnstaple Library for a special cybersecurity workshop organised by the South West Police Regional Cyber Crime Unit and Lineal Software Solutions Ltd.

Thirty participants from firms across the South West took part in a series of lego-based group exercises highlighting key concepts in cybersecurity, as they sought to protect a fictional utilities company from attack by common real-world cyber crime.

The winning team defended their company by spending their budget on the correct countermeasures at each stage of the exercise, and strategically limiting the damage from any breaches in security.

The South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SW ROCU) is one of nine regional units across England and Wales that delivers specialist capabilities to target and disrupt serious and organised crime. Designed to raise awareness of coordinated digital threats, the cybersecurity workshop session is part of a new educational initiative being run by the Police right across the region.

Group exercises were followed by a short Q&A including advice for businesses on related topics including network best-practice, password policy, physical security, and the Government’s new Cyber Essentials certification.

Lineal’s Head of Technical Services, Matt Norris, explained: “We were to delighted to be able to organise the Cyber Crime Unit to run this very special workshop for local companies: we see cyber attacks becoming ever more sophisticated, and the SWRCCU takes a really positive and constructive approach to educating business owners about how to protect their organisations and employees.”

“Many businesses struggle to grapple with cybersecurity, but help and expertise is accessible.”

 

You can learn more about the South West Police Regional Cyber Crime Unit’s and their educational work across the South West online here.

For IT support and cybersecurity expertise, please contact Lineal today.


773 Million Email Addresses Breached Online

Online Security breach website HaveIBeenPwned.com has detected the largest online breach of email addresses to date – nearly 773 million unique emails.

The 87GB of breached personal data, publicised by Microsoft Regional Director and cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, was spotted last week via online file-hosting website MEGA under the ominous name “Collection #1”, and has now been removed.

The data itself, believed to be a terrifying aggregation of a large number of previous smaller data breaches, also contained more than 21 million identifiable plain-text passwords.

More than 140 million of the email addresses identified have never been seen before by HaveIBeenPwned.com, suggesting some of the personal data may originate from as yet undiscovered breaches.

Those affected by the breach are advised to change their passwords immediately, to prevent criminals potentially exploiting the data to access other online services where the user has registered with identical login credentials.

You can check if your email(s) (and potentially passwords) have been breached among the 773 million by clicking here.

For IT support and cybersecurity expertise, contact Lineal about your requirements today.


Yahoo data breach compromised all 3 billion accounts

Yahoo has disclosed that all 3 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised in 2013, rather than the 1 billion previously reported.

The once powerful search engine, which was breached in 2013, only reported the impact on its security failure in 2016. Now under the ultimate ownership of Verizon Communications, the company believes that anyone with a yahoo email address, Flikr credentials or other account details for a Yahoo service pre-dating 2013 was put at risk.

Fresh evidence of the scale of the breach was unearthed by Oath, Verizon’s subsidiary which recently merged Yahoo and AOL into a media battalion it hopes can help combat the ever consolidated global power of Google, and bigger second-tier competitors Bing and Baidu.

Compromised user data includes names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and in some cases passwords or private security questions/answers. Financial data, such as card or bank information, held on separate systems, were not affected.

Users are strongly advised to change passwords, including those of accounts on other platforms which may use similar credentials.

Although Yahoo took decisive action to secure the breached accounts – forcing all users to changes their passwords, Yahoo’s very late disclosure of the data breach itself was widely condemned by the technology community, and was ultimately responsible for it’s $350m discounted valuation upon acquisition by Verizon. The Guardian reports that Yahoo itself is also currently facing 43 class action lawsuits over the security failing.

Under new UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, set to come into force next year, all UK companies (or those dealing with personal data from the EEA) must notify users within 72 hours of being made aware of a data breach – with strict penalties expected to be levied against breached companies which fail their statutory data protection duties.

 

For cybersecurity assistance and IT Support, please contact Lineal today.


Are you in the 46%? Studying 2017’s UK Govt. Cyber Security Report

DCMS has published this year’s 2017 UK Government Cyber Security Report, suggesting a staggering 46% of businesses have been hit by a cyber security breach in the past year.

The average cost of a cyber security breach is reported to be £1,570, although larger businesses (of which 68% reported falling victim) show figures of £20,000 or higher.

The polling, conducted by research institute Ipsos Mori, suggests businesses are increasingly seeking external IT or security advice as insurance against potential losses – particularly basic training for non-specialist staff and information on specific threats to their industry.

Certain positives jump out: basic technical standards laid out in the Government’s ‘Cyber Essentials’ scheme have been rolled out by half of all firms (although this was always a low bar, and the report admits that fewer than one in twenty firms have referred to public sector sources for security advice)

More encouragingly, the most common cyber breaches all involve an element of preventable human error: those reporting a breach in cyber security cited the most common cause as staff clicking links in fraudulent emails (72%) with other typical risks including viruses, spyware & ransomware (33%) and impersonation (27%.)

Specific dangers identified included:

  • Less than 40% of businesses have segregated WiFi networks, or any rules for encrypting personal data.
  • More than 70% do not have any input from someone responsible for IT security at a senior level.
  • Only 20% have run any kind of cyber security training in the last 12 months.

 

With the planned changes next year brought about by the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the potential costs associated with a data breach could be set to rise. Having measures in place to mitigate this risk well in advance is sound advice.

 

For IT Security support and advice, contact Lineal today: 01271 375999


2017: Be Prepared

2017

With data security making national news headlines, 2017 is only likely to put increasing pressure on businesses of all sizes to take sensible precautions.

But with IT moving so fast, what innovations are likely to lead the way through 2017? Exactly what sensible precautions will most tech-savvy companies be taking?

 

Cloud is good…

The worldwide push for ever more cloud-based systems appears to be unstoppable. A recent report from Synergy Research Group has suggested the global market for cloud computing grew by 25% to September 2016, reaching a staggering $148 billion in value.

It’s hard to see this not continuing, with companies relying on the convenience and automation of stashing growing quantities off-site backups in the cloud – using services like Office 365 as their private vault. As we’ve covered before: holding assets like email in the cloud actually gives you better protection than most people’s private server.

 

…..But Hybrid Cloud is better still.

But 2017’s smartest will be looking further ahead to Hybrid Cloud systems. As IT Pro recently noted, many companies report using more than 5 backup systems, but have no planning for speed of recovery should that data actually be needed urgently during 2017.

Getting all that data back may present a problem if your organisation is large, meaning hybrid on-site/cloud services like Lineal’s Disaster Recovery Service are likely to become the most flexible middle option. Keeping both a synchronised backup on-site, and a copy with a relatively local cloud service, leaves even the most vulnerable business with the maximum number of options.

 

Change your passwords

If you don’t already change passwords regularly, the security benefits cannot be overstated. Stolen data can often be circulated on the internet many times, so changing passwords regularly keeps not only your business secure, but helps prevent repeat data theft from being profitable. 

Whilst everyone still has a ‘New Year’ mindset and are prepared to accept a little change, it’s worth updating those passwords company wide. Remember to use a variety of different characters and choose something only you would ever guess.

 

Have a 2017 Plan A…. and a Plan B

Ransomware increasingly appears to be the organised criminal world’s cyber-weapon of choice and shows no sign of abating; expect to see more big UK high-street names get compromised this year by malicious emails. 

Antivirus companies may include ever more sophisticated heuristics to intercept malicious downloads before they begin encrypting your files, but ultimately only safe backups will ensure you can always restore to a clean set of data. Every firm should have a ‘Plan B’ for how to carry this out.

 

It’s all about Recovery Time

Expect to see Disaster Recovery (not just back-up and contingency) become a by-word for preparedness, with companies and organisations in every sector being judged not just by their number of backups, but by their costly hours of down-time. 

So if nothing else, start 2017 with an old piece of technology: a pen and paper. Work out what your business’ data recovery plan actually is, and how long it will take –  should the very worst happen.

 

Lineal can provide a range of IT security and business continuity solutions: contact our team today.


4 Smartphone security threats you need to avoid:

smartphone security

We increasingly live in a mobile dominated world in which Smartphone sales have skyrocketed whilst traditional PC sales have stalled. With portable devices likely to be the future of many people’s IT use – we’ve put together a few of the main smartphone security threats you need to be aware of.

 

  • Mobile Phishing & Fake Apps

Phishing websites which pretend to be your bank in order to get your personal or financial details have been around for many years, but for few people imagine that this is also a big risk on their smartphone.

Fake apps are the most obvious modern incarnation of this scam. IT security specialist ESET recently showed that a popular app like Prisma spawns multiple fakes online, downloaded unwittingly over 1.5 million times before being pulled from Google Play, with many containing harmful malware which attempt to steal personal information.

Don’t attempt to download an anticipated app before it’s official release date, as it’s likely you’ll be downloading a fake. Avoid downloading apps from unknown third-party websites, check the comments for warnings from other users, and invest in mobile antivirus to intercept downloaded threats to your smartphone security.

 

  • Old-fashioned Theft

In addition to fitting in your pocket, your phone contains a staggering amount of personal information about you which makes theft a real danger – everything including your personal details and those of friends/family, your emails, GPS coordinates of places you regularly visit and more: all stored on the device.

Home Office research suggests iPhones are the device most likely to be stolen – perhaps reflecting the Apple smartphone’s high value, quality and distinctive branding.

In addition to setting numeric pin codes on every device to prevent the danger of theft, tracking and lifesaving wiping tools like are strongly advised.

 

  • Public Wi-Fi Networks

With the proliferation of portable devices, many businesses, particularly in retail, offer public Wi-Fi hotspots to customers.

The problem with this is that you’re sharing a network with… whom? Terrifying free tools like [Redacted – obviously] and [Redacted] allow anyone on a shared public network to view insecure websites you visit, and snoop on any keystroke you type.

Not every public Wi-Fi network is a security nightmare, but it’s sensible to avoid using public Wi-Fi to do anything sensitive, such as online banking. A 4G data connection or simple telephone banking is the easiest alternative if you’re on a mobile phone, and likely to be more secure than a public Wi-Fi Network.

It should probably go without saying that you shouldn’t connect to entirely unrecognised, unsecured or unknown Wi-Fi networks either. For obvious reasons.

 

  • Being Personally Targeted

The problem with the wider shift to portable devices is that we carry our workplace into the outside world. Many of us expect complete access to our business data on our smartphone (as we would on our PC) wherever we are.

But carrying your work phone outside work means you’re also outside the protection of in-house IT security software and firewalls.

A simple phishing email can easily be targeted to you outside working hours when you’re ‘off-guard’, and the potential loss of confidential company data could be devastating.

Of course, many of the best IT security software providers now offer Android & iOS smartphone versions of their antivirus software – so why not extend your business’ IT security to your smartphone?

 

For IT support and security guidance – contact Lineal today.


Keeping your business IT secure – What’s the perfect password?

IT-Security

How to keep your IT Secure

Data breaches can lead to a massive loss of trust among customers, so how do you ensure your IT remains secure?

Despite what many online sign-up forms would suggest, the ‘strongest’ password is not necessarily long and complicated. Whilst complexity makes a password harder to guess or crack with a ‘brute force’ testing of combinations, most security breaches occur from stolen passwords, either physically or by malware attacks.

Very complex passwords do not help in this respect: users still need other IT security, such as antivirus software, errors are more common when typing (particularly on handheld devices) and employees may find complex passwords harder to remember – undermining data security by writing down their login details. The ubiquitous sticky note attached to the monitor is still a trusted solution to working with complex password policies in some organisations!

Routine password changes are a sensible precaution for most businesses, but can make it harder for employees to remember their passwords, leading to the same problem in which users are locked out of work accounts, copy passwords across accounts, or write passwords down at risk of theft.

Phrases can help avoid this problem by making passwords easier to recall: ‘Lineal15theB3st’ is preferable to a 15-digit numeral because a touch of personality adds memorability. Beware profanity though – just imagine trying to explain it to technical support later on!

Here at Lineal we’d also advise against ‘Remember Me’ automated sign-in functions, as well as Windows 10’s new Wi-Fi password sharing ‘Wi-Fi Sense’ Feature, as these make your chosen password redundant.

If you want to see where the future of online security is going, follow the money: most online banking incorporates a two-stage authentication process, requiring both a password and a unique alert code texted to the customer’s mobile phone for identification. This is already a free optional setting for Google, Facebook, Twitter and other popular websites.

Lineal’s advice is to stick to the following basics:

Avoid physical theft:

  • Don’t write your passwords down on a post-it note on your desk! Microsoft has a practical tip: if you absolutely must write a password down, do so in a safe place, without labeling it as a password or to which account it refers. Substitute words should also be used to hide the true password, for example writing ‘Fruit8£’ could refer to a password of ‘Apple8£’.
  • Don’t use an easily guessed word, such as your name, your company’s name, 1234, the name of something on your desk, the word ‘password’, or anything similarly obvious.
  • Never tell anyone your password, and change your password if you suspect it has been compromised.

Ease of Access:

  • If you struggle to remember your passwords, use a password storage program to store some of them. Remember to use a secure password for the program.
  • Mitigate against your own forgetfulness by setting up alternate password recovery options, allowing you to choose more varied, difficult passwords.
  • Consider where users will need to log in from – take full advantage of using numbers and special characters ( ! , £, %, * etc.) for keyboard users.

Preventing digital theft:

  • Use different passwords for your most important accounts, such as online banking.
  • Use two-stage authentication.
  • Maintain up to date anti-virus security software and firewalls on your work desktops, and don’t download untrusted software or open suspicious emails which could be phishing or contain password stealing malware.
  • Consult IT specialists to ensure office networks are protected from outside attacks.

Your security should always be strong enough to give peace of mind. Lineal can provide expert advice and support for securing your IT systems: why not get in contact with us here?

More from Lineal News

Flikr: Jason Baker