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Posts published by: Tom Callahan



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Cybercriminals are Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Fears

March 18, 2020 • Published by
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With an immense amount of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) circulating regarding coronavirus/COVID-19, cybercriminals are playing on those emotions and have already begun to alter their attack methods, patterns and content. We have received multiple reports from our customers, along with threat identification in our SOC, of attackers using coronavirus-related messaging in their phishing attempts for email compromise and malware/ransomware infection.

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DoppelPaymer: Not Your Average Ransomware

March 9, 2020 • Published by
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A ransomware variant, DoppelPaymer is showing some interesting new features that have morphed it into what we call “extortionware.” It is infecting systems and performing not only data encryption for ransom, but also exfiltrating data back to the attackers to be potentially released to the public if payment for the ransom is not made.

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Don’t Wait Until Ransomware Has Your Business Locked Down

March 3, 2020 • Published by
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In my daily scan of the security news headlines, I’ve been noticing that more and more frequently, companies hit by ransomware are paying up. A more recent example is the City of Cartersville, Georgia, which paid a whopping $380K to its attackers. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Read on for 3 ways to avoid a ransomware lock down.

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Security Patching: How Fast is Fast Enough?

October 3, 2019 • Published by
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October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (#NCSAM), and one of the topics I like to bring up is security patching. Just about every IT leader will tell you that timely security patching is a priority for their organization. So why did our latest ControlScan research find that 43% of IT teams are taking more than a week to implement even the most critical of security patches?

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Tales from the SOC: Surprise! You’ve Got Active Malware.

June 28, 2019 • Published by
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Late in the day on a recent Friday, a new customer began installation of the ControlScan Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service to their end user systems. This customer is an SMB (small to mid-sized business) that relies on personal computers to keep their business running. Sound familiar?A few hours after the customer’s implementation was complete—at 12:05 a.m. Saturday to be exact—our MDR service blocked an attempted execution of malware that was present on one of their remote office computers.As it turns out, this active malware had been on the remote office machine since October 2018. With each user login, the malware was executing and performing data harvesting, as well as making attempts at lateral movement and propagation.

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How Much Security is Enough?

May 20, 2019 • Published by

Every diligent company or organization understands cybersecurity is needed, but often doesn’t know how to budget for the appropriate protection. It’s not always a clear-cut number, but there is a way to develop a return on investment (ROI) or return on expense (ROE) equation that you can share with your budgeting team and C-level executives who are looking to you for answers.

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3 Cybersecurity Functions That Should Not Be On ‘Autopilot’

April 25, 2019 • Published by
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When cybersecurity coverage gets slim—whether it’s due to a lack of internal expertise or technology capabilities, or both—key business functions tend to go on what I call “autopilot.” Firewalls run using outdated configurations, legitimate security threats go unnoticed, and everyone is just hoping today isn’t the day an employee clicks a bad link and unleashes a crippling malware attack. Learn about the three business functions that should never be put on cybersecurity autopilot, and how to proactively address your organization’s expertise and manpower challenges.

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SMB Data Monitoring: Yes, It’s a Thing.

January 29, 2019 • Published by
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A lot of data runs through your business’s network. Data is coming and going, and moving rapidly, as systems and applications “talk” and pass along information to each other. Most SMBs pay no attention to these internal workings and conversations, unless there is a functional failure that requires someone’s review of the system logs to determine where the breakdown occurred. The rapid increase in malware, however, is causing many executives to choose a more active IT security strategy.

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