Monthly Archives: August 2022

Why SentinelOne Is Perfect for Your Business Security

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Concept of using SentinelOne solutions - Employee using a laptop and touching a digital padlock with data protection.

Giving customers a unified and proactive security system.

Technology as we know it is rapidly evolving, and many cyber-solutions are quickly being rendered obsolete. Attack vectors and areas of vulnerability multiply with evolving network technology. Hackers now have numerous points to infiltrate your system, from endpoints to the networks to the cloud.

The most innovative and quick acting enterprises have attempted to address the cybersecurity points of vulnerability independently by developing specific solutions to threats. None of the proposed technologies pre-SentinelOne attempted a single solution that connects the dots and protects all points of vulnerability.

The pre-SentinelOne solutions made it overwhelmingly difficult to solve threats that targeted all vulnerability points at once. To fix this urgent product niche, SentinelOne developed Singularity XDR, a solution that monitors and protects all potential points of attack.

The Singularity XDR gives customers a unified and proactive security system that simplifies the process of monitoring, identifying and preventing attempts at security breach. The following is why you should seriously consider using SentinelOne as your cybersecurity solution.

Cross-stack Application Facilitated by in Built Artificial Intelligence

Singularity XDR, SentinelOne’s successful creation, can be integrated into all parts of your technology system, be it the endpoint, the internet of things (IOT), cloud, threat intel, identity, email, network, or your secure access service edge (SASE). This across the board compatibility is what is referred to as cross-stack application.

Cross-stack applicability gives the SentinelOne Singularity XDR an edge over other competitors. SentinelOne applies advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software to meticulously monitor all vulnerable points and facilitate streamlined operations and workflow.

Singularity XDR employs artificial intelligence to automatically unify and extend the detection, analysis, and response. With this technology, you can seamlessly view the security status of any point in your system through simple applications and even automate your responses to threats.

With all this power in your hands, you can very easily eliminate security blind spots and stealth attacks as they occur. Singularity XDR has attracted positive reviews from well-known technology enterprises that have put it into use.

Proven Track Record Used by Enterprise Companies

Nothing points to true quality than customer approval, and SentinelOne has nothing but stellar approval ratings from some of the most successful companies in the world. SentinelOne is trusted by 3 of the Fortune 10 companies and hundreds of the Global 2000 companies.

World leading companies like Electronics Arts, Samsung, Aston Martin and TGI Fridays have satisfactorily trusted SentinelOne to protect their valuable systems. IT professionals from these companies have consistently labelled SentinelOne the best cybersecurity measure in the market.

Even though many huge enterprises use SentinelOne, it is still affordably available to businesses with limited budgets, hence making it a cybersecurity favorite for any type of enterprise.

Cost Effective for Small Business Budget

With all the positive SentinelOne reviews, you would assume that it is expensive and hence unaffordable for businesses with limited cybersecurity budgets. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

SentinelOne offers a range of ‘Singularity Platform Packages‘ which are affordable by business of any stature. Prices range from $36 to $9 per agent per month. Regardless of the size of your business, your cybersecurity is definitely worth more than $36 to $9.

Protect Your Enterprise With the Latest Technology

Take your cybersecurity to the next level with SentinelOne’s AI assisted cross-stack solution to monitor, detect, analyze and respond to security threats.

Using an antivirus is not sufficient protection for your business, cyber criminals have gotten smarter and can exploit many points of vulnerability. It’s time to take the next step to effectively protect your business. Contact us here for a review of your current policies and an assessment of possible security mechanisms.

 

Why Do I Need Multi-Factor Authentication for My Cloud Services?

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Employee holding a smartphone while entering a multi-factor authentication code for his personal data.

Incorporating multi-factor authentication into your cloud services.

In the modern world, getting hacked and/or having your credentials stolen from a once-trusted service is like catching a cold. It may not happen to everyone every year, but it’s pretty darn common, and the environment moves too fast for anything to be guaranteed 100% hacker-proof. When it comes to user accounts, employee accountability, and keeping your proprietary data secure is worth the effort – especially when that effort is fairly quick, easy, and familiar for all users.

Multi-Factor and the Cloud

Multi-factor authentication is the padlock on the locked shed of your user and data security. Hackers buy and sell stolen login credentials and specialize in new ways to steal them. A password is only so secure, and even live anomaly detection systems are not perfect. The importance of security only increases as we move to the cloud – where data is available to any authorized user at any time – as part of the core principles of cloud service. Two-factor authentication takes that security one step further (or more) in ensuring that the real authorized human is on the other end of every login.

If you don’t have it now, you need to have these services on your business applications and systems to prevent your business from being the next cybersecurity breach in the news.

Office 365

If your team uses Office 365, you use your Microsoft password and login for everything which means being compromised just once can give access to all your work logins at once. This is one of the primary sources of internal wire fraud attacks.  A lot of time it occurs in this manner where once they have access to your email they email other employees requesting gift cards or to do a wire transfer.

Multi-factor, however, prevents hackers from being able to take the final step just to login. The need to have both the stolen login credentials and the victim’s personal phone at the same time makes this prospect nearly impossible -which is why there are scams where hackers will ask you to relay your multi-factor codes. Don’t do that.

VPN Connections

VPNs are Virtual Private Networks. If your business works with a VPN, then you have opened an internal network space so it is available for remote employees through a VPN login. If one internal user’s login is compromised, the entire virtual network and all your internal file systems may be put at risk.

Multi-factor authentication, however, requires that a live human in the company receive a text every time an account tries to log in. If it is their account and they weren’t trying to access the system, this throws an immediate red flag. Not only is the hacker unable to get past the login stage of their planned intrusion, but they might be more profoundly caught.

You can also use each un-initiated multi-factor text message as a trigger to change passwords company-wide, invalidating all previously stolen credentials on the spot.

Multi-Factor is a Modern Necessity Made Easy

Today, we need more than passwords to secure every account, and multi-factor authentication is a quick, easy solution to an ongoing challenge.

Whether it be office 365, VPN connections, or other cloud-based software, having multi-factor authentication prevents thieves from accessing your data because they are not going to have your cell phone. When you have your wallet stolen, you cancel credit cards to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Your phone is the modern wallet and today, you or a business can remotely wipe your phone if it is lost or stolen to keep your data from falling into the wrong hands.   Today, a person’s phone is the last key to gaining access to company data through multi-factor authentication.

Are you ready to incorporate multi-factor authentication into your cloud services? Are you ready to help your employees and infrastructure evolve beyond password security? So are we.

If you have not already implemented MFA on your line of business (LOB) software, give us a call and we can assist you in navigating these waters to protect your business.  Contact us here so we can review your current policies and look at ways to tighten your security so you’re not the next business target that we read about in the news.

What is the Dark Web and Why Should we Care?

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The Dark Web is a scary place

You’re happily humming along on the Internet thinking you’ve got a pretty good understanding. You can navigate your way around Google, Facebook, Amazon, and news sites. You’re actually only visiting four percent of the Internet. There’s a whole world (96% of the Internet) hiding beyond these safe surface-level sites, known as the Dark Web. It’s a much less hospitable place.  

 What exactly is the Dark Web?  

The Dark Web is a conglomeration of websites that cannot be found on search engines or accessed via traditional web browsers because their location and identity is hidden through encryption tools, like TOR. TOR was originally created to protect military communication but now has much broader utilization for both Dark Web purposes and for highly secure communication. You have to access Dark Web sites utilizing TOR, typically.  

 People create sites on the Dark Web in order to hide where they’re operating from, as well as to remain anonymous (TOR hides all IP information, identifying information, as well as data transfers). Over half of the sites on the Dark Web are used for criminal activities.  

 Why Do People Use the Dark Web?  

One of the most prevalent uses of the Dark Web is buying and selling illegal goods, such as recreational drugs, weapons, fake identities, and organs. The proliferation of cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, has facilitated these sales. People living within totalitarian societies that restrict communication also take to the Dark Web to share their thoughts freely.  

 The most dangerous use of the Dark Web for businesses is the exchange of credentials (usernames and passwords) and identities. An individual’s stolen credentials can typically be sold on the Dark Web for the low price of $1 to $8. Hackers utilize these purchased credentials to: 

  • Gain access to important financial information and steal identities (access to a Bank of America account holding $50,000 can be purchased for $500) 
  • Access accounts for further phishing attacks 
  • Threaten people with exposure of sensitive information (Remember the Ashley Madison hack from a few years back? Those credentials were dumped onto the Dark Web and hackers leveraged them to expose users). 
  • Compromise other accounts using the same passwords and perpetuate the sale of personal information 

 What can you do about it?  

The average citizen will never have a reason to access the Dark Web, but their credentials could easily be floating around, endangering their offline livelihoods. Once your credentials are released on the Dark Web, there is precious little you can do to have them removed. However, you should, at the very least, know when you’ve been compromised; so that you can immediately act, like changing passwords and activating two-factor authentication.  

We recommend utilizing a full Dark Web monitoring service that alerts you if credentials appear on the Dark Web.  These services constantly scan the Dark Web for your information and alert you whenever something suspicious appears. These alerts don’t necessarily mean a breach has occurred, but they are very good heads up that something bad may be coming. You can then create a plan of attack before any damage is done. Granted, there will be your fair share of false positives, but we firmly believe in operating in the better safe than sorry camp.  

How should you get started with Dark Web monitoring?  

Our team can run a preliminary scan of your domain revealing the likely breaches in the last 36 months. We’ll then review that report with you and come up with a plan of action to alleviate any major dangers. Click here to request that scan. 

I Have Office 365, Why Do I Need a Spam Filter?

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Installing spam filter - Hands of a businessman typing on a laptop - showing spam emails.

Providing the best possible protection for your email data.

Email security is important for any organization in order to protect against data breaches, malware, and phishing attacks. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their methods for exploiting vulnerabilities, and organizations need to ensure that their email security solutions are up to date in order to protect themselves.

Office 365 (O365) utilizes Microsoft’s Exchange Online Protection (EOP) as its built-in spam filter, but many organizations find that EOP does not provide the level of protection they need. In these cases, it is necessary to supplement EOP with a third-party spam filter in order to provide the best possible protection for email data.

Why the Office 365 Spam Filter Isn’t Enough

There are a number of reasons why a third-party spam filter may be necessary, even for organizations that already have O365. EOP is not always effective at blocking spam and phishing emails.  As a result, many organizations find that a significant percentage of spam and phishing emails still make it through EOP and into their inboxes. If you are using Office 365 and are relying on its security filters to provide adequate protection for your email data, you may want to consider supplementing it with a third-party spam filter. Doing so can help to ensure that your organization is better protected against the latest threats.

What Separates Spam Filters from Office 365?

A few key features separate third-party spam filters from Office 365’s EOP. Today, we will take a look at a few of the most important ones.

Artificial Intelligence

One of the most important features of any spam filter is its ability to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) in order to identify and block spam emails. AI-based spam filters are constantly learning and evolving, which means they are better able to keep up with the latest threats. EOP, on the other hand, relies on static rules that are not as effective at blocking new and sophisticated threats.

Email Continuity

Another important feature that separates spam filters from EOP is email continuity. This feature allows users to continue accessing their email even if the email server goes down. This is important because it can help to ensure that business operations are not interrupted in the event of an email outage. EOP does not offer this feature, which means that organizations that rely on it may experience disruptions in their email service if the cloud service goes down.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Content Policies

Another important difference between spam filters and EOP is the ability to create and enforce DLP content policies. DLP content policies help to ensure that sensitive information is not sent through email. This is important because it can help to prevent data breaches.

DKIM & SPF Email Authentication Protection

Spam filters also typically offer DKIM and SPF email authentication protection. This is important because it can help to ensure that emails are not spoofed. Spoofed emails are a common type of phishing attack, and they can be difficult to detect. By using a spam filter that offers DKIM and SPF protection, you can help to ensure that your organization is better protected against these types of attacks.

Zero-Day Protection to Stop Advanced Threats

Zero-day protection is another important feature that is offered by many spam filters. This type of protection helps to ensure that emails containing new and unknown threats are blocked. While Microsoft is able to detect and block some new threats, it is not always able to do so in a timely manner. This means that there is a window of opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit. By using a spam filter that offers zero-day protection, you can help to close this window and better protect your organization against new and unknown threats.

Searchable, Unalterable Messaging Archives for Easy Regulatory Compliance

Another important feature that is offered by many spam filters is the ability to archive email messages. This is important because it can help organizations to meet compliance requirements. Email messages that are archived can be easily searched and retrieved, which makes it easier for organizations to comply with regulations.

While many organizations may be under the impression that third-party spam filters will be a significant expense, the truth is that spam filters outside of Microsoft can be purchased for only a few dollars a month and can actually save organizations money in the long run.

Be sure to check back with us every week this month as we discuss other solutions to better protect your organization from cyber threats and provide better features and services that don’t break the bank. If want to learn more about our services and improve your cyber security strategy, contact us to take the next step.