Tag Archive for: Coronavirus

Advice from Microsoft: Blocking Ransomware Attacks

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We have seen lots of changes in businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As most companies are converting to a remote workforce, we have seen human-operated ransomware campaigns targeting healthcare organizations and critical services. To prevent these attacks, Microsoft “advises potential victims to prevent threat actors behind ransomware campaigns from being able to exploit the weaknesses they usually abuse to launch their attacks.”

Microsoft encourages companies to do several things to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of a ransomware attack. The Microsoft Threat Protection Intelligence Team says, “Applying security patches for internet-facing systems is critical in preventing these attacks.” As they have researched data about recent ransomware attacks they have found the following security gaps or common ways attacks infiltrate systems: 

  1. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) or Virtual Desktop endpoints without multi-factor authentication (MFA);
  2. Older platforms that have reached end of support and are no longer getting security updates; and
  3. Misconfigured web servers, including IIS, electronic health record (EHR) software, backup servers, or systems management servers.

Organizations should be looking for signs of an active ransomware attack and if they find any signs, Microsoft encourages people to take the following actions:

  1. Investigate affected endpoints and credentials,
  2. Isolate compromised endpoints, and
  3. Inspect and rebuild devices with related malware infections.

To help people understand just how detrimental a ransomware attack can be, Microsoft reported that “after analyzing collected cryptocurrency wallets and ransomware ransom notes, the FBI said at this year’s RSA security conference that victims paid more that $140 million to ransomware operators during the past six years.” It is important for your business to be informed of the possible ways you may be at risk of a ransomware attack. 

Microsoft wants you and your company to be safe from the detrimental effects of ransomware.

Increases in Ransomware since COVID-19

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“The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a massive increase in the number of cybercrime complaints flowing into the FBI these days” -Tony Ugortez, Bureau Official, FBI.

Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has re-emphasized the need for effective cyber security and cyber resilience planning and testing during these times. At the same time, FBI Bureau officials have stated that IC3, the Bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, is receiving 3,000 to 4,000 complaints per day, far above the typical 1,000 per day prior to the pandemic, according to a deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “Not all of those are COVID-related,” she said during an Aspen Institute webinar, “but a good number of those are.”

Join us along with the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA to learn how to create, implement, and test an effective cyber strategy. You’ll hear from CISA and learn about their free and confidential cybersecurity assessments. You also hear from Lane Livingston, CTO of Trinsio, on end-to-end data management. and effective ways to protect, manage, and recover your data. The Webinar will be held Wednesday, June 4 2020 at 11:00 AM EST. RSVP will be available soon.

As a result of this rise in ransomware attacks, it is important to be sure your business is protected. Trinsio provides data management solutions, including data backup and recovery, all powered by Rubrik. With more than 30+ years of experience in cloud, data center colocation, and communications, Trinsio can provide customers with custom-tailored solutions covering all aspects of data management. With Rubrik, we provide enterprise-level complete data management to customers of any size. Our solutions address premise, cloud, and long term data storage.

Link to event: https://trins.io/events/webinar-with-cisa-create-implement-and-test-an-effective-cyber-strategy/

COVID-19 UPDATE

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While COVID-19 continues to interrupt our normal routines, Trinsio wants to provide you with an update on how we are responding to this outbreak to ensure continuity of quality service to our valued customers. 

Trinsio is following guidelines set by local, state, and federal agencies to help contain the spread of COVID-19. Besides providing employees with training on good hygiene habits and safeguards to protect themselves against the virus, we have moved meetings to teleconferencing where possible, and are requiring employees with symptoms to stay home.

As an essential service, We are dedicated to providing our customers with quality service during the outbreak. We have over 25 years of experience in managing and responding to real-life threats such as natural disasters, cybersecurity incidents, disaster recovery events, and data management issues and we are confident in our ability to help our customers at this time. 

Feel free to call (385) 283 – 1810, or email support@trins.io with questions; We have customer service representatives available 24/7 to help solve any concerns you may have.

Visit the CDC’s website for a list of symptoms and prevention tips. 

The Coronavirus + Your Business

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As the number of infected by the Coronavirus grows in the US, more local governments and businesses are taking action to prevent contracting the virus. Eight states, including Utah, have declared a state of emergency. Governor Herbert said about declaring a state of emergency: “Making this declaration simply opens up resources for Utahns and allows us in government to focus as seriously as possible on being prepared.”

Meanwhile Individuals are taking to the internet, preparing by doing their own research and watching Contagion (it’s okay, we did it, too) and buying face masks (even though the CDC says only the sick need to wear them). But what are businesses doing to prepare for the virus and how will it affect them?

Quarantined Consumers Versus the Internet

For businesses, the effect of the virus goes beyond employees asking for sick leave or working from home. Some companies such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Microsoft (all together 75,000 employees working from home in the US) have already asked employees to work from home. Meetings and conferences are already being cancelled or delayed until the summer, like Rubrik Forward, which just made the decision to cancel all physical events and instead to make the conference digital. 

However, a more drastic change for businesses will be customer preferences as their customers work from home. As more customers begin to use services from home, they will be more reliant on internet services, and connectivity will become more important to them. Security incidents will be harshly critiqued, and loss of service, even for short periods of time, will be enough to convince customers to look for more stable options. 

“Businesses who are inadequately prepared won’t be able to live through cyber breaches as consumers become more dependant on reliable internet services while working from home,” says Lane Livingston, CTO of Trinsio. “Businesses need to prepare now for the shift in consumer preferences forced by the Coronavirus.”

And to add an extra challenge, as customers become more intolerant of service interruptions, scammers and spammers are taking advantage of the ignorance, misinformation, and fear of citizens. The internet has seen an increase in scams related to the Coronavirus, asking people to donate, buy supplies, or click on links to see updated lists of infected cities, etc., some even impersonating the CDC to add legitimacy to their messages. So while your customers are on you for service interruptions, malware operators are working double time to wreak havoc on your business and provide your customers with more reasons to leave. 

Steps Your Business Should Take

While problems seem to be coming at you from both sides, what can you be doing to protect your business from the consequences? Here’s five things you can do now to keep your consumers happy and the hackers at bay. 

1. Use a good spam filter. A good spam filter will prevent a lot of the malicious mail from even getting to your mailbox, giving you a lower chance of clicking on something malicious. 

2. Train employees. A spam filter will not catch everything, so it is important that employees are aware of what to look for in malicious email. 

3. Set up antivirus software and a firewall. In information security, the more layers between your company’s information and the hacker, the better. 

4. Keep software and hardware up to date. Updated software and hardware will have the least amount of known bugs, giving hackers less opportunities to worm their way into your systems. 

5. Back up, Back up, Back up. Having a good backup system is a crucial part of any IT infrastructure, so that when the other parts of your system fail, your business has something to lean back on. And with customer tolerances of down time decreasing, it is also crucial to have a backup system that you can recover from quickly, preventing unnecessary down time. 

To learn how you can try a state-of-the-art backup solution for free, visit our website, or call (385) 283 – 1810.