Happy National Security Awareness Month – Stay CyberAware

It’s mid of October already, and we’re all enjoying the amazing landscape that autumn brings. Besides the beautiful pictures that October has to offer, this month we’re also celebrating an important event – National Security Awareness. During this month, each week will target different cybersecurity themes: “Online Safety”; “Cyber from the Break Room”;  “Recognizing and Combatting Cybercrime”; ”Our Connected Lives” and “Building Resilience in Critical Infrastructure”.

We already know the huge importance of a robust security system within our businesses, we just need to remind ourselves once in a while, and this is the perfect occasion.

New and improved technologies show up every day, and along with them, new threats find their as well. Detecting and preventing becomes more and more difficult as cyber-attacks are becoming smarter and smarter every day. All we have to do is to outsmart them. However, to be able to do this, it’s paramount to get to know as much as we can about them:

• Ransomware, a malware that blocks your files and your system. Coincidentally, this is also #1 security concern for most businesses.

More than 50% of organizations have been hit, this year by ransomware attacks, and 56,000 on ransomware infections happened in March, alone. This is definitely a threat that we need to take into consideration and find the best approach for it. One way to avoid being infected is to make sure your software and your systems are up to date.

• Identity Theft – the illegal use of someone’s personal information. A recent statistics shows that Identity Theft is making more than 15 million victims a year with over $50 billion damages. Therefore strengthening your digital security ensuring that you don’t give away your identity details are two simple to avoid your personal information being stolen
• Internet of Things is another threat that is becoming more real than ever. In my previous articles, I mentioned that the number of connected devices is increasing at the speed of light, so we need to be extra cautious in taking the right measures to secure them. Enabling multi-factor authentication, encryption, and digital certificates should be on our daily agenda.
• Virtual reality – The threats that come along with it are not virtual at all. A study revealed that by 2017, AR applications downloaded onto smartphones and tablets will reach 2.2 billion, meaning that more and more devices can be infected with malware via AR.

As 2016 is enjoying its last couple of months, we should welcome 2017 and do a quick review of the cyber-threats for the year to come:

• Connected cars – A GSMA study forecasts that by 2025, every car will be connected, meaning that hackers will have more options and opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities. Stealing sensitive data or even, gain remote control over the car, as it was the case for Tesla. Luckily, there are some precaution measures that could prevent this from happening, such as keeping your car’s software updated, and most important, be careful about the third-party devices that you’re connecting to the car.

• Smart Medical Devices –IoT has already revolutionized healthcare industry and brought significant improvements to it. Along with this, healthcare has become a preferred target for attackers, which seem that can’t resist the temptation of this sector’s sensitive and valuable data. Nearly 90% of all healthcare organizations suffered at least one data breach in the past two years, with an average cost of $2.2 million per hack. This is a huge percentage, and without the necessary measures, it will not drop at all. Investing in proper employee training and disaster recovery plans might alleviate this risk, and save healthcare organizations of losing both money and patients.

Cybersecurity awareness is something we should all get involved into, and October is the month to celebrate it! Stay #CyberAware!

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