Introduction
Australian Businesses and consumers are bigger targets than ever for internet-based fraud and statistics show it is on the rise. Scamwatch, the Australian government information site, reports a total loss of over $634 million in 2019.
The following are some simple ways businesses and users can protect themselves against fraudulent or malicious activity.
Education & Training
Security awareness training is aimed at educating staff on how to identify suspicious communications and actively tests and retests to ensure learning is embedded, this type of training can be applied at all levels. IT Strategic delivers specialized training in recognizing and repelling targeted scams and fraudulent communications/activity.
Training modules are scheduled over months to progressively train your employees without reducing productivity. Employees are targeted for testing using our phishing campaign to reinforce the training. Simulated attacks reinforce training with reports to users where they have inappropriately opened malicious hyperlinks or email attachments.
In all instances educating people to be aware of suspicious communications is the first step in repelling any email/text attacks. Should staff suspect an incoming transmission they should be trained to raise it with IT support for an assessment.
SPAM Filter
An active email filter will protect you from commonly targeted communications. It is recommended all businesses engage a SPAM filter to protect against not only incoming SPAM emails but also outgoing. Should a user or device become compromised they can be used to contact clients, posing as a legitimate employee, ordering clients to pay money, or providing information useful for future attacks.
These types of communication are evolving all the time and while a SPAM filter may not stop all malicious or fraudulent attacks it will reduce the number of attacks, reducing the risk of exposure and protecting staff and clients.
Endpoint Security
With today’s evolving threat pattern, traditional signature-based Antivirus is no longer enough to keep your network secure and operational. We recommend Endpoint Security software that combines Next-Gen Antivirus (NGAV) with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) elements, which includes:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect and prevent both current and emerging threats, with continual updates to the platform
Real-time system monitoring instead of traditional device scanning schedule, protecting at all times
Monitor processes before, during, and after execution, probing for file-less threats that do not require a file download for infection
Device Isolation and infection scope report on threats affecting multiple devices
Remediation of ransomware and other infections by rolling back devices to their pre-infection state
Dark Web Monitoring
IT Strategic focuses on cyber threats that are specific to our clients’ environments. We monitor the Dark Web and criminal hackers underground for exposure of our client’s credentials to malicious individuals.
This service is designed to help both public and private sector organisations detect and mitigate cyber threats that leverage stolen email addresses and passwords.
IT Strategic works quickly to secure compromised account(s). Our Identity Management focus is a product of our knowledge and experience in managing user and account integrity in challenging and complex environments.
Network
A computer network provides users with access to resources such as file servers, email and websites. Unauthorised access occurs when a network is compromised through vulnerability or intentional action. There are a number of practical ways local and remote network access can be secured –
Introducing a Firewall to a network provides a method to secure, monitor and manage incoming and outgoing network traffic
Wireless Network access can be managed by enforcing and managing user authentication
Remote Access can be secured via a Virtual Private Network (VPN), encrypting traffic between a user and a resource
Configure your network for guest-only access for visitors rather than providing access to your main network
Hide your Wifi SSID and regularly update the password to access the network, permitting certain devices can be used to limit wifi access
Backup
Data Security is critical to ensure your business can recover important files, data and operations. Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) is a step all businesses should undertake with some regularity.
The first step is to identify your assets, servers, PC’s, storage, where is all your data. Then identify how this data is currently backed up and/or managed? Consider what steps are required for the business to recover in the event of a disaster. Now how can you improve this process? A successful backup strategy needs to be tailored to your business needs, size, and operations.
In the end, a backup is better than no backup. If you are able to access a USB drive or utilise a cloud service like Dropbox, GDrive, or OneDrive you will be able to make a copy of your data. It’s not a full-featured backup but it will allow you to return to a point in time should your system become lost.
User Identity Management
Employees are critical to business success and managing their access to company resources should be an extension of business policy and procedures. When the business hires a new employee they need appropriate access to networks, applications, folders and files, email, and calendars to perform their job. And when an employee leaves or changes roles, access to business resources needs to be updated. Relevant access to business information should be maintained.
Password Complexity is not difficult to maintain and enforce. Using a password management application will allow you to generate, store, access and share passwords without needing to know or remember them.
Essential Eight Maturity
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has developed prioritised mitigation strategies, in the form of the Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents, to help organisations mitigate cyber security incidents caused by various cyber threats. The most effective of these is known as the Essential Eight. The Essential Eight Maturity Model provides direction to organisations seeking to secure systems, infrastructure, and staff.