Page 20 - Cyber Defense eMagazine - June 2018

5 THINGS EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT CYBERSECURITY

PRACTICAL WAYS TO PREVENT A CYBER-ATTACK

by Kevin Cassidy, CEO, ClearFocus® Technologies

What do you think of when you hear the word “cybersecurity”? For some, just the name

sounds ominous and somewhat overwhelming. Years ago, it was simply called IT
Security, and all you needed was a good firewall and antivirus protection software to
protect your company’s information. But in recent years, the information security
landscape has changed significantly, as the adversary has dramatically stepped up
methods for attacking a company’s vulnerable IT infrastructure. So, before you move
on to other work priorities, please read the 5 Things Everyone Needs to know about
Cybersecurity below:

1. Everyone is at risk.

It’s news we hear almost daily: another prominent company has fallen victim to a cyber-
attack. Large, well-funded companies with sophisticated cybersecurity programs like
Target, Sony, Equifax, Anthem, and eBay, have all experienced security breaches in
recent years that have compromised sizable amounts of sensitive information. Large
companies are often on the radar for hackers, but did you know 61% of data breach
victims are businesses with under 1,000 employees?[1] In fact, according to a recent
survey, 80% of organizations have been negatively impacted by a cyber-attack in the
past 12 months.[2] So, if you haven’t suffered a cybersecurity breach yet, you’ve either
been incredibly well prepared, or very lucky, since most malware indiscriminately
searches for vulnerable companies across the internet.

2. Cybersecurity is all about defense.

We will always have cyber threats, as the adversary continually looks for new methods
and ways to infiltrate your organization. The best way to prevent a cyber-attack is to
build a strong defense, by systematically and continually addressing your company’s
cyber vulnerabilities. A cyber vulnerability can be software that is not patched, a
misconfigured firewall or even a weak password. There are several cost-effective
cloud-based vulnerability monitoring solutions that can continually identify and help
resolve your company’s existing vulnerabilities. For example, vulnerability management
software can inform you about patches you absolutely need to apply today versus less
critical patches. In fact, the Wanna Cry ransomware virus that crippled many European
banks in May 2017 could have been avoided by applying a critical Microsoft patch
issued in March 2017. So, in order to build a strong defense against a cyber-attack, you
need to continually and systematically address your cyber vulnerabilities.

20 Cyber Defense eMagazine – June 2018 Edition
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