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Cyber Security – Mitigating Risks

In order to find how serious the cyber threats have become, all we have to do is to look at the timeline of the series of attacks that have taken place around the globe over the past 5 years. Computer viruses along with malware and hacking attacks have become more complex and difficult to anticipate.

The numbers are staggering. Number of reported incidences have skyrocketed from around 5,500 in year 2006 to over 48,500 incidences in 2012 according to US-Cert.

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So what can organizations do to better safe guard there networks? As emerging technologies such as cloud computing, mobile and big data become more wide spread, it is imperative for organizations both small and large to formulate a strategy to minimize the risks of such attacks. Here are some guidelines:

1.) They can start by collaborating and developing secure information sharing.

2.) They need to implement real-time awareness to determined different types of threat levels and risks.

3.) With in the organization, they need to define clear usage policies for data access and ownership.

4.) More often then not, they need to review as well as test systems to assess vulnerabilities.

5.) Organizations need to train their staff as well to understand compliance requirements to keep systems secure.

According to study conducted by Ponemon Institute’s 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime, on the average a company in the US gets more than 100 successful cyber attacks each year at a cost of $11.6 million. That’s an increase of 26% from 2012.

The good news is that study further showed that companies that implemented and were enablers of security technologies reduced losses by nearly $ 4 million. Furthermore, those companies that even practiced employing good security governance reduced costs by an average of $1.5 million.

The security professionals at Silex Systems can help your company plan a strategy to safeguard its data assets against cyber threats. We at Silex Systems can provide a total turn key solution based on both the latest hardware and software. Call us today and sleep stress free tonight!

 

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IoT – Connected Devices and Security

At this point, one can only imagine what life would be like with self driving (autonomous) cars on streets every where. Let’s not forget all the devices including home appliances and electronic items connected via the internet and passing information to one another. Together as a whole also known as Internet Of Things (IoT), all the devices connected together are suppose to make our lives more efficient, automated while being more economical.

But with added benefits of automated homes and offices comes the downside of these devices  getting hacked and bringing down the rest of the network with them. Cyber security companies are rushing to bring out products and services to the market to address these vulnerabilities. Even the IoT device manufacturers send out patches for protection but very few folks actually apply them. There has to be better way, a standard that can protect these IoT devices from external threats.

The fact of the matter is that most manufacturers of these IoT devices intentionally allow remote access for patching, administration, upgrades and bug fixing just to name a few. Most of the users of the these devices on the other hand do not know about these backdoor vulnerabilities.

The manufacturers of these devices along with security companies are trying to find different ways to better protect as well as update these devices. Firewalls are not just for offices anymore. As more and more appliances at home such as our CCTV cameras, TV sets, washing machines and refrigerators get connected on world wide web and become available “online” in addition to the laptops, iPads and smart phones,  placing SOHO (small office home office) firewalls would be a good start to guard against these ever so evolving cyber threats. Talk to the professionals at Silex Systems to get free assessment of your home and office networks against cyber threats today.

 

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Cyber Security – Time to Act Is Now!

Let’s just stop what you are doing and think for a second. Basically, security is defined as state of being free from danger or threat. In a similar manner, having well thought out cyber security strategy gives a person or an organization for that matter confidence to conduct tasks and gives them the edge to succeed in a fast changing global environment.

Today’s organizations, not matter what size, require a proactive approach in “real time” to constantly assess, analyze and fight new cyber threats generating every day. Gone are the days where organizations would wait for threats to appear and then take appropriate action based on them. World class cyber security companies in partnership with local governments have setup cyber threat monitoring centers that are constantly scanning web traffic. As a result, organizations are better prepared for cyber threats even before they are struck.

Due to spike in cyber threats in recent years, whether they are related to computer and/or network intrusion, ransomware, corporate security breaches, spear phishing or social media fraud, former President of the United States, Barack Obama issued an Executive Order 13636 “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security” in February, 2013. Basically, this Executive Order established United States policy to further improve its critical infrastructure and to maintain a cyber environment that promotes creativity, efficiency and economic well being while at the same time assisting safety, security, business confidentiality, privacy as well as civil liberties.

As more and more devices are connected online and vast amounts of data both confidential and otherwise is moved on to the cloud, it is imperative for organizations as well as individuals to start re-assessing their cyber security infrastructure in place. As cyber security professionals dealing with such threats the last 20 years, the team here at Silex Systems can provide you and your organization both hardware and software based customized solutions to meet every budget.