Cybersecurity Expert

Article by  Beau Peters As a freelancer in any industry, you are likely more susceptible to hackers and cybercrime than many other professions. Not only are you pulling in a constant stream of customer data, but as a worker on the go, you likely work exclusively in the digital realm with all of your information in the online space. That means that you are basically presenting data on a silver platter for cybercriminals to find and use for malicious purposes. If you take your business seriously, then cybersecurity needs to be your top priority , not only for your clients but also for the stability of your own enterprise. Luckily, you can stay out of the way of cybercriminals by implementing a few basic security features along with an understanding of common threats. We’ll explain both solutions below. Protect Client Data It is important to remember that just about any piece of client data can be used by cybercriminals to cause havoc. Credit card and social security numbers are espec...

Article by Kristin Herman, a writer and editor at Ukwritings.com and Academized.com The term 'cybersecurity' has been tossed around lately. But although cybersecurity has been viewed as a saving grace for mobile devices, computers, etc. the topic is still cloaked in misconception. Things that might pop up, when it comes to cybersecurity, are: The idea of security Password strength Who cybersecurity threats target and affect If insurance will cover damages How effective an IT team actually is Cybersecurity “costs” What devices are most vulnerable to malware? However, as one side says one thing, while the other side contests it, it’s easy to get caught up in believing the wrong things. In fact, a lot of people get it all wrong. So, to understand the truth about cybersecurity, then check out this quick guide, which will cover seven of the most debunked myths about the subject matter: 1. “Physical Security and Cybersecurity are Two Different Things” “The truth is, physical securit...

I had the great delight of reading Geoff White’s new book, “ Crime Dot Com: From Viruses to Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global ”, I thoroughly recommend it. The book is superbly researched and written, the author’s storytelling investigative journalist style not only lifts the lid on the murky underground world of cybercrime but shines a light on the ingenuity, persistence and ever-increasing global scale of sophisticated cybercriminal enterprises. Crime Dot Com: From Viruses to Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global In Crime Dot Com Geoff takes the reader on a global historic tour of the shadowy cybercriminal underworld, from the humble beginnings with a rare interview with the elusive creator of the ‘Love Bug’ email worm, which caused havoc and panic back in 2000, right up to the modern-day alarming phenomenal of elections hacking by nation-state actors. The book tells the tales of the most notorious hacks in recent history, explaining how they were successfully planned a...

LogMeOnce , a password identity management suite provider, has published a detailed interview with myself titled ' Passwords are and have always been an Achilles Heel in CyberSecurity '. In the Q&A I talk about Passwords Security (obviously), Threat Actors, IoT Security, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Anti-Virus, Biometrics, AI, Privacy, and a bit on how I got into a career in Cybersecurity. Quotes “I’m afraid people will remain the weakest link in security, and the vast majority of cybercriminals go after this lowest hanging fruit. It’s the least effort for the most reward.” "There is no silver bullet with password security, but MFA comes close, it significantly reduces the risk of account compromise" "The built-in biometric authentication capabilities of smartphones are a significant advancement for security" "Cybercriminals go after this lowest hanging fruit, the least effort for the most reward." "As technology becomes more sec...

The top three actions to reduce the risk and impact of a WannaCry type Cyber Attack at a business Perform regular Staff Awareness specifically on spotting Phishing Emails Have a robust Patch Management Processes. Ensure all Microsoft Windows systems have Microsoft Critical Updates applied quickly - they are marked as critical for a reason! Have Anti-Virus running on all Microsoft Windows systems, with AV definitions kept up-to-date Security in Depth There are further security risk-reducing steps like filtering web traffic, ensuring data is regularly backed up, security monitoring, and network segmentation, but the above three are the most simple and most effective in terms of prevention against this type of attack, especially within the SMB space where security budgets are limited. Expect further versions of the WannaCry ransomware. The Reasons Behind this Advice (1) The WannaCry ransomware infects an initial system via a phishing email, the user executes the malware within...

A large-scale cyber-attack has impacted organisations around the world today, including badly affecting NHS services, with at least 25 NGS organisations hit by a mass ransomware outbreak. The ransomware responsible is known as WanaCrypt0r 2.0, WannaCry or WCry2, once it infects a system not only does it encrypt data on the host system, but it attempts to infect other computers over the local network.  This aggressive malware uses an exploit method named EternalBlue, details of which was posted online by the Shadow Brokers dump of NSA hacking tools on April 14th, 2017 . WannaCry exploits this Windows vulnerability (CVE-2017-0145)  to enable it to spread quickly over the network (i.e. Worm malware), the vulnerability was security patched by Microsoft on 14th March 2017. More specifically, the vulnerability lies within the  SMB protocol, which is used for network file sharing, which the WannaCry malware exploits to replicate itself to other vulnerable Windows devices al...