privacy Archives

Digital data is perhaps the most valuable asset your organization handles, but just how secure, safe, and compliant is it?

Data governance is a crucial element of business IT and one which businesses must comply with. It gives both accountability and responsibility to the data owners, ensuring sensitive data and privacy is correctly handled. This governance can either be internal – such as data policies specific to an organization – or external, such as government or regulatory bodies. The objective of data governance is to secure data and make sure it’s not misused.

Naturally, with cyber crime showing no signs of slowing up in 2024, it’s vital you have a firm understanding of data governance for business IT.

What is Data Governance?

Data governance is a complex set of procedures and policies which can be difficult to get to grips with. However, the basics are simple to understand. A simple explanation for data governance is that it focuses on the strategic management of all the data you hold. By monitoring your data and the way in which it is used, you build defenses around that data. This allows you to minimize the risks associated with data breaches, build trust among your stakeholders, and assist with informed decision making around your data.

The Importance of Compliance

Many industries are governed by strict regulatory requirements e.g. the healthcare industry needs to adhere to the strict framework put in place by HIPAA regulations. Regardless of the industry or regulatory framework, the aim of compliance remains the same. By demonstrating adherence to compliance, you’re underlining the fact that any sensitive data you hold is protected and handled correctly. If your organization fails to hit the benchmarks laid out by external bodies, then you run the risk of some eyewatering financial penalties.

Improving Your Data Security

The best way to maximize your compliance and governance is to enhance your data security. You can achieve this in the following ways:

Employee training: one of the most common causes of data breaches is your employees. These are the individuals who are most at risk of falling victim to social engineering, phishing emails, and malvertising threats. Accordingly, you need to implement a robust training schedule for new starters and, for all staff, follow up with refresher courses.

Limit data access: it’s important you only allow data to be available to those who need it. After all, there’s no reason why your marketing team, for example, need access to your clients’ financial data. Therefore, you need to identify the data you hold and the individuals who need access to it. By restricting access, you’re safeguarding this data against being mishandled unnecessarily.

Internal audits: to ensure you’re adhering with data governance, it’s a good idea to carry out regular data audits. These are crucial for ensuring data accuracy, compliance, and security. Also, an internal audit is the best way to identify vulnerabilities in your data systems and put procedures in place to mitigate these.

Final Thoughts

With the rise of big data in business, it’s clear that good data governance practices should be a priority for any business. This will allow you to build a strong foundation of data governance to protect both your organization and your customers.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Scammers Hijack SOHO Routers to Steal User Information

Internet, Office IT, Office Network, Repairs and Upgrades, Security, Servicesd-link, dns, internet, micronet, privacy, router, security, soho, tenda, tp-linkOphtek, LLC

Apr 2014

TP-Link is among the vendors affected by the SOHO pharming campaign.

Recently, it was discovered that several hundred thousand routers fell victim to a hijacking scheme that could become a prevalent problem to many internet users worldwide. The attack, dubbed as a ‘small office/home office (SOHO) pharming campaign,’ was targeting Vietnam, but according to a report by Team Cymru, the SOHO pharming campaign also made its way into regions like the US and Italy.

The criminals behind the pharming campaign took advantage of exploitable security holes in various consumer-grade routers, and from there they were able to redirect users to malicious websites to steal login credentials and/or dropped malware onto the users’ computer. The scary part about this SOHO campaign is that more than one type of routers are affected. According to Team Cymru, the compromised routers could be a brand name like D-Link or and off-brand like TP-Link.

A diagram depicting the ‘man-in-the-middle’ hijacking scheme from Team Cymru.

Cyber security experts found that once the attackers had control of their targeted routers, they changed the devices’ Domain Name System (DNS) settings to force users to send out requests to the 5.45.75.11 and 5.45.75.36 IP addresses. The new DNS settings then acts as a ‘middle-man’ and redirect users to malicious sites instead of legitimate ones.

While it is easy to point the fingers directly at the people manufacturing the routers, it’s not completely their fault. There’s no such thing as a ‘hands-off’ policy when it comes to protecting yourself from intrusions by cyber criminals. That said, there are a few things many router owners can do to lessen their chances of becoming victims to the router hijacking scheme.

Disable router’s remote user-mode and graphical user interface. Disabling remote access will help keep users who aren’t directly connected to your network from accessing your routers’ admin properties. Disabling the GUI will, reportedly, mitigate the likelihood that someone can find a hole in the routers’ software. Instead of making changes to the routers’ setting via a graphical interface, try to change the settings via command lines.
Corporate networks may want deploy tracking systems (i.e. an HTML code on the externally facing servers) to detect possibly malicious IP addresses.
All SOHO router settings (especially DNS) should be controlled at the host level.
Admins must proactively monitor router settings periodically to ensure that the router’s DNS is pointing at those that belong to their internet service providers (ISP).

These are just a few of the basic security measures you must consider if you or your organization is using a SOHO router. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the recent SOHO pharming campaign or what you should do tighten up your network security, contact our IT professionals.

Windows 8: Bing Records Sensitive System Commands Publicly

Security, Softwarebing, privacy, search, security, system command, windows 8Ophtek, LLC

Feb 2014

System commands saved by Bing, will show up as ‘search suggestions’.

Windows 8 users need to be aware that Bing will record system commands inputted locally. This is a big problem for businesses (and even individuals) if the commands are unique and track-able, as the commands are publicly displayed for anyone using the Bing via the ‘search suggestions.’

Pros and Cons

Companies like Google and Microsoft will, one way or another, find ways to track your user data, and it’s crucial that people are aware of what is being extracted from a computer console every time the power switch is flipped on.

By integrating Bing into the OS itself, the results may be beneficial as well as detrimental. When users search for something on a computer, those same keywords are recorded so that Bing can help other users find things on the internet quicker. For sensitive and private data (in this case system commands pointing to your network), the threat of hackers obtaining such information can become a major problem.

How to Disable

How to disable it

To prevent Bing from recording your system command inputs, go to your Search options in Windows 8 by pressing Windows + C, clicking on “Settings”, then “Change PC Settings”, “Search and Apps” and sliding the ‘Use Bing to search online’ to ‘Off.’

For more tips on how you can keep your information safe while using a connected device, contact your office IT professionals.

Tag Archives: privacy

Pros and Cons

How to Disable