How to Keep Your Business Servers Safe from Hackers

Backup and Recovery, Hacking, Security, Servers, Windows Server, , ,
21
May 2018

The computer servers that support your business are the backbone that keeps your organization productive, but how do you keep your business servers safe?

Every week seems to bring a new security threat and you can rest assured that the number and ferocity of these attacks isn’t going to subside anytime soon. Your business servers, of course, contain untold amounts of sensitive data that could be used to harm not only your business, but also your customers. Therefore, keeping on top of your servers’ security is paramount in protecting your data from the all too real threat of hackers.

To help you stabilize and improve the security of your business servers, we’ve put together a plan of recommendations to help you meet your security objectives.

Run an Antivirus. Regularly.

Viruses can spread from file to file very quickly and, before you know it, your entire server can become compromised. However, a piece of antivirus software can prevent the majority of existing viruses taking hold of your servers. Quarantining infected or suspicious files allows you to analyze anything that is flagged as potentially dangerous, so installing antivirus software really is a prerequisite of good security practices. And, to really maximize its effectiveness, run it regularly as an infection could occur at any point during in the day.

Update Your Server Software

Many pieces of malware work by exploiting security vulnerabilities in software such as Petya and NotPetya, but these vulnerabilities could be easily avoided by patching. Installing patches, though, can feel like a tiresome task, particularly when your organization needs to stay productive. To put things into perspective you need to weigh up the minimal downtime of installing updates against the havoc caused by an infected server. The answer’s pretty obvious, right? Install those patches and install them immediately.

Educate Your Staff on Security Threats

Your staff are the first line of defense against any cyber-attacks on your organization, so it’s crucial that they’re trained in what to look for and what to do in the case of an attack. Naturally, they’re not going to be partitioning infected servers or installing critical updates, but they can do the very basics. And this can be as simple as good password practices or understanding how to identify a phishing email.

Backup Your Data

Ransomware has become a major issue for businesses in the last couple of years and, in many cases, paying the ransom doesn’t even guarantee the release of your files. And this is why it’s vital that your organization embraces backups to help safeguard your data in the event of a ransomware attack. Backups have been a cornerstone of IT security since the dawn of the digital age and their importance should never be underestimated.

Keep Web Browsing Separate

The internet is a portal to untold amounts of information, but it’s also a gateway to untold security threats. And this is the last thing you want your business server exposed to. Providing internet access through a separate server (to your main server), therefore, allows you to minimize the risk to your most important data.

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

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Improving WiFi Security for Your Business

Network, Security, Security Threats, WiFi, wireless network, , , ,
11
Apr 2018

Wireless networks are crucial for organizations to operate in the modern business landscape, but it’s critical that your wireless network is secure.

Increased mobility, production and scalability are the three main reasons why your organization will have embraced WiFi. Allowing you to remain competitive, WiFi is a service that you simply can’t be without. Therefore, security is more crucial than ever when it comes to wireless networks.

To help you get a better understanding of how to defend your network, we’re going to look at improving WiFi security for your Business.

How to Protect Your WiFi Network

There are many ways that you can secure your WiFi network, keep hackers out and ensure that productivity remains at an all-time high:

  • Keep on Top of Updates: Your router and associated hardware will regularly receive firmware updates that improve performance and, more importantly, patch any potential security issues. Unfortunately, many people put these updates on the back burner as the install processes are considered a little fiddly. However, while the install time and necessary reboots are irksome, they pale in comparison to your WiFi network being compromised.
  • Change Default Login Credentials: In order to access WiFi devices for the first time, these devices will come with default login credentials to allow the owner to configure them for their network. These default credentials, however, represent a major security risk as they rarely differ between devices. And that means that anyone with a list of default credentials – freely available online – can log on to your WiFi devices if they haven’t been changed.
  • A VPN Can Hide Your Network: A virtual private network (VPN) is a useful service which provides additional security to your WiFi network. A VPN server will hide all the connection details of PCs and devices on your network, so this makes it significantly harder for hackers to find a flaw in your defenses.
  • Keep Guest WiFi Networks Separate: Most organizations provide a guest WiFi network for visitors or staff to access with their own devices. While this is a generous offering, you need to make sure that guest WiFi networks are kept separate to the rest of your networks. Surrounding the individual networks with firewalls also helps to ramp up the defenses between your sensitive data and external breaches.
  • Secure Ethernet Ports: Network peripherals are always at risk of being compromised by unsecured ethernet ports. By simply plugging a cable into an ethernet port, a hacker can gain a foothold into your wireless network. The solution to this problem is, thankfully, relatively simple: enclose network peripherals within locked cases and limit key ownership.
  • Enable WPA2 Encryption: If your WiFi network is not encrypted then it means that the data being transferred over it is open to external parties. As a business, it’s a certainty that the data transferred over your network will be sensitive e.g. customer details, payroll information and emails. However, by enabling WPA2 encryption on your network, it will guarantee that your data will be scrambled as it’s transmitted. As a result, anyone ‘listening in’ will be unable to exploit the data.

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

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Infected Websites Are Mining Cryptocurrency

bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Hacking, Security, Security Threats, , ,
06
Apr 2018

Hackers are now infecting websites in order to take control of your PC’s processor and help power the resource heavy activity of cryptocurrency mining.

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have been generating countless headlines in the last year due to the huge values being attributed to them in the financial world. Now, despite cryptocurrencies being purely digital, they still need to be mined to help produce new coins. Naturally, this isn’t a simple task or, otherwise, everyone would be doing it and making millions. Instead, you need plenty of time and even more computing power to carry out the mining process.

For a hacker, of course, harnessing such huge amounts of computing power isn’t exactly rocket science, so it’s no surprise that this is their latest enterprise. And, to make this task a little easier, they’ve started infecting websites to help steal your processing power and power their cryptocurrency mining.

Mining for Cryptocurrency

While leaching off the CPU of innocent users to facilitate cryptocurrency mining is nothing new, the use of websites to help capture this valuable resource is a new one on security experts. And the manner in which it’s being done is ridiculously simple.

Hackers are setting up malicious adverts on websites that run a JavaScript file directly in the browser whenever that site is opened. There’s no need for the hacker to have direct access to the victim’s PC, everything takes place in the victim’s browser. And, if the victim has JavaScript enabled, then the malicious code will automate and hand over a significant amount of their processor power to the hacker’s mining activities.

There are certainly more sensitive hacks – such as those which exploit or encrypt your data – but the real bugbear of having your CPU taken advantage of is the impact it has on your computer’s performance. Mining cryptocurrency requires significant processing power to power through the labor intensive tasks involved, so this drain on resources is going to cause your system to grind to a halt.

Is a Website Hacking Your Processor?

Organizations, in particular, do not want to see their productivity affected by a slowdown in performance, so it’s crucial that you understand the warning signs of these infected sites. If the internet is in use and your system starts slowing down then you should check the performance of your CPU by:

  • Right clicking the taskbar on your PC and selecting Task Manager. This will allow you to access the Performance tab where you can see which resources are taking up your processor’s usage.

If opening a webpage is causing your PC’s performance to rocket, then there’s a chance that this could be down to an infected webpage. The simplest way to deduce this is by closing individual webpages and monitoring the effect within your Performance tab in Task Manager.

Final Thoughts

These infected websites are not going to cause major damage to your organization, but they are going to put a drain on your resources. Understanding that any potential reductions in processor speed could be caused by this new method of hacking is vital to stay on top of your digital security.

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

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The Best Practices for Protecting Your Wireless Network

Network, Password Security, Security, wireless network, , ,
20
Mar 2018

Small and mid sized organizations find wireless networks an essential tool in running their business, but they come with a significant risk attached.

And with news reports delivering nothing but bad news regarding wireless security, ensuring that your wireless network is well protected should be a major priority for your organization. Now, hackers don’t want to work hard, they want to access your systems with the least amount of effort; that’s why they tend to target the simplest flaws in wireless security.

Luckily, remedying these simple flaws is far from complex and you can make a huge difference to your wireless defenses in next to no time. To help you get started, I’m going to walk you through the best practices for protecting your wireless network:

  • Use a Strong Password: Many routers come set up with a default password in place and this represents a major security risk if left in place. Lists of default passwords for specific routers are regularly circulated among hackers, so make sure you change your password to one that is strong and contains upper and lower case letters along with numbers.
  • Turn on the Router’s Firewall: Due to the security risk surrounding wireless networks, router manufacturers have been building internal firewalls into their devices for some time. Occasionally, though, these routers can be shipped with their firewall turned off and this immediately reduces your defenses. Therefore, always check that any new routers have their firewall turned on before installing on your network.
  • Edit Your Network Name: Routers broadcast their network name so that users can find and connect to it. However, many routers broadcast a default network name and this can often indicate the model of the router, so it indicates poor wireless security. However, by changing the service set identifier (SSID), you can demonstrate that your router has been set up correctly and cause potential hackers to move on.
  • Use WPA2 Encryption and not WEP: Older routers may have WEP set as the device’s encryption method, but this is a very bad situation for your data. WEP encryption can easily be cracked in minutes, so WPA2 is the only option you should be selecting as this provides excellent protection which will thwart most hackers early on.
  • Disable Remote Admin Access: To help boost accessibility, many routers provide remote admin access services. Now, while this is fantastic if your IT team need to log in to your router in the middle of night from their homes, it also offers a route for hackers to get deep into your wireless network and start changing settings. Restricting admin access purely to the local area network helps prevent this scenario.
  • Update Your Router’s Firmware: As with all hardware, updating your router’s firmware is one of the most crucial steps for protecting your wireless network. Firmware is often released to help combat potential security flaws, so it needs to be installed immediately to prevent these flaws being exploited.

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

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4 Tips for Choosing the Best USB Flash Drive

Flash Drive, Secure Flashdrive, Security, ,
15
Mar 2018

USB flash drives remain a crucial piece of kit when it comes to PC storage, so it’s important that you know what to look for when choosing a new one.

With more and more data involved in our day to day business, storage of this data is a highly important factor for organizations to consider. And, whilst cloud storage is an innovative and useful solution, you can’t rule out the importance of USB flash drives. Small and compact, a USB flash drive can look deceptively simple, but it’s more than capable or backing up operating systems and storing large amounts of data.

However, there are so many different flash drives available that it can be a bit disorientating to know which one is right for your needs. So, let’s take a look at four tips for choosing the best USB flash drive.

  1. What Size Do You Need?

USB flash drives come in a variety of sizes from 1GB up to a gigantic 2TB (that’s 2000GB), so there’s clearly an option for everyone’s needs. However, the costs also increase the more storage you need, so it’s important you don’t overspend on wasted storage. A Windows 10 backup, for example, requires around 8 – 10GB but if you need to store a large number of video files, this could require 100GB+ storage quite easily. Therefore, evaluate your data and determine how much space you need.

  1. USB 2.0 or USB 3.0?

For close to a decade, USB 2.0 technology was the most up to date option for all of our USB needs. However, USB 3.0 technology has now been available for several years – alongside USB 2.0 – and offers much quicker transfer rates; USB 2.0 can transfer 60 megabytes per second, but USB 3.0 transfers at 640 megabytes per second. However, not every piece of hardware in your organization may be set up to take advantage of USB 3.0 hardware. Whilst USB 3.0 hardware will run in USB 2.0 ports, the speed will not be the same. And that means you’re paying extra for nothing.

  1. USB Flash Drives Can and Will Fail

Like all hardware, USB flash drives have a limited lifespan; it’s estimated, though, that a standard USB flash drive can be written to between 2,000 to 100,000 times before failing and this should provide you with several years’ usage. However, there are a number of factors that can cause flash drives to fail such as electrical component failure and eject/mount failures where the device is removed whilst still in communication with the PC. As a result, it’s important you purchase flash drives which are made by reputable manufacturers with the best components.

  1. How Secure is Your Flash Drive?

Data stored on a USB flash drive can be highly sensitive, so security is another factor which needs to be strongly considered. To access a flash drive, all someone has to do is plug it into a USB port and they’ll have immediate access to any files on there. While it’s possible to password protect each individual file, a better option is to protect the entire device and USB flash drives are now available where a pin number must be entered on the actual device to gain access to it. And, if you value the security of your data, this is a must have when choosing a new USB flash drive.

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

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