Ransomware in the age of AI

Ransomware may seem like old news, but AI has thrown up new threats. How are you defending against ransomware in the age of AI?

This insight from Barracuda into the current ransomware threat landscape is a good starting point. It includes what you can do to safeguard your data from bad actors putting AI to use for new and more damaging attacks.

This eBook gives you:

  • The ways generative AI is being used for good and bad when it comes to cybersecurity
  • Strategies to protect your email, network, applications, and data from AI-powered ransomware
  • How to leverage AI to help prevent and remediate breaches
  • And much, much more to protect your business from evolving attacks

Want to learn more?

Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.

To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.

Are your employees “phish prone”?

Did you know that 91% of successful data breaches started with a spear phishing attack?

Find out what percentage of your employees are Phish-prone™ with your free phishing security test. Plus, see how you stack up against your peers with the new phishing Industry Benchmarks!

IT pros have realised that simulated phishing tests are urgently needed as an additional security layer. Today, phishing your own users is just as important as having antivirus and a firewall. It is a fun and an effective cybersecurity best practice to patch your last line of defence: USERS!

Here’s how it works:

  • Immediately start your test for up to 100 users (no need to talk to anyone)
  • Customise the phishing test template based on your environment
  • Choose the landing page your users see after they click
  • Show users which red flags they missed, or a 404 page
  • Get a PDF emailed to you in 24 hours with your Phish-prone % and charts to share with management
  • See how your organisation compares to others in your industry

The Phish-prone percentage is usually higher than you expect and is great ammo to get budget.

Start phishing your users now. Fill out the form, and get started immediately!

Want to learn more?

Complete IT Systems have a team of KnowBe4 specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.

To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.

 

Spear phishing remains a constant threat to British firms, with attacks becoming all-the-more creative.

Tap into this report – “Spear phishing: Top threats and trends” –  from Barracuda to:

  • Gain the most recent trends in social engineering.
  • The latest methods attackers are using to trick their victims.
  • The best practices to protect your business from these evolving threats.

Find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Why cybersecurity always requires a layered approach

Ransomware is an increasingly complex challenge for IT departments to solve. With attacks doubling in the last year in the UK alone, there is still clearly a huge amount of work to do until organisations can consider themselves secure – even with the most robust backup strategies in place.

The need for a layered approach

Veeam Software works with partners such as Blocky for Veeam to provide customers with a multi-layered approach to defend customers against ransomware.

During a keynote at the The Channel Company NexGen+ Conference 2021, John Alexander, Veeam Cloud and Service Provider aggregation manager, stressed that Veeam recognises the importance of working with partners in the cybersecurity realm because data recovery and cybersecurity go hand-in-hand.

A last line of defence

In a recent article for CRN, senior editor Gina Narcisi highlights key points from the session where John added that:

“To address ransomware we have to go down through the layers, working with multiple partners to provide a comprehensive solution. With data protection as the last line of defense, it‘s critical that businesses and partners have confidence in that solution.”

A weak point exists because Veeam Software backups stored locally on Microsoft environments lack any native immutability for Veeam Backup and Disaster Recovery volumes.

To close this gap, Blocky for Veeam provides immutable Veeam Backup and Disaster Recovery volumes using application fingerprinting technology. This represents a vital security layer for all Microsoft Windows based Veeam Software installations.

Want to learn more?

As Blocky for Veeam Certified Partners, Complete IT Systems have a team of specialists on hand to demo the solution. We can discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation. We also offer FREE trials.

To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.

blocky for veeam

Ransomware in numbers for UK SMBs

ransomware

With the recent spate of ransomware attacks in the UK proving that the threat hasn’t subsided, it is likely a good time to re-think your company’s IT security plan. To this end, we’ll be blogging over the coming weeks about the extent of the problem, the increasing creativity of hackers, the risks and exposure businesses face if ill-prepared, and some practical measures you can adopt to asses and safeguard your business against such a scenario.

What’s the impact of ransomware?

To kick off our series, we start with 10 key stats about how ransomware affects small businesses in the UK.

  1. Ransomware remains the most prominent malware threat to SMBs, with 83% reporting it as the most common security threat
  2. In the first half of 2019 alone, 61% of MSPs report attacks on their clients, with 19% reporting multiple attacks in a single day.
  3. On average, 2 in 5 SMBs report that they’ve fallen victim to a ransomware attack. SMBs with in-house IT teams are at greater risk
  4. When it comes to the ransomware threat, there is a disconnect between service providers and SMBs. 82% of MSPs are “very concerned” about the ransomware threat and 8% report their SMB clients feel the same.
  5. Phishing emails are the leading cause of successful ransomware attacks.
  6. Lack of cyber security education, weak passwords, and poor user practices are among the other top causes of attacks
  7. The aftermath of a ransomware attack can be a nightmare for any business. Almost 50% of victimised clients experienced business-threatening downtime.
  8. The average ransom requested by hackers is increasing. The average requested ransom for SMBs is now £1,990.
  9. And this as downtime costs are up by 300% year-over-year, and the cost of downtime is 53X greater than the average ransom requested in 2019.
  10. 81% of SMBs with backup and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions in place are less likely to experience significant downtime during a ransomware attack. And victimised SMBs with BCDR in place recovered from the attack in 24 hours, or less.

This data is taken from a 2019 Datto study into how ransomware is affecting SMBs in the UK.

In our next article, we’ll look in more at how UK SMBs can plan for and prevent ransomware attacks.

How can I find out more?

As Datto Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Datto

What do eBay, Uber, LinkedIn and Superdrug all have in common? 🔒 🚩

Spoiler warning – they have all experienced cyber attacks in recent years.

British Airways and Marriott International are the latest organisations to have made unwanted headlines this week with a total of almost £300 million in fines handed out to the pair by the ICO.

It prompted us to think back to some of the other big security breaches that have occurred in recent years, and to again question how prepared the majority of businesses really are for cyber attacks.

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but it’s some of the big names that either affected UK firms or UK consumers (or both).

Superdrug
20,000 customer details breached, and hackers attempted to blackmail the pharmacy chain.

Equifax
Personal data from 145 million people stolen from the credit reference company.

Yahoo 
Every single one of Yahoo’s 3 billion accounts worldwide was hacked in 2013 (and details emerged in 2017).

WannaCry
The famous global ransomware attack affected more than 150 countries and 300,000 devices, targeting companies running outdated Windows software.

Uber

In 2016 hackers stole the data of 57 million Uber customers, and the company paid them $100,000 to cover it up. The breach wasn’t made public until the following year.

LinkedIn
Over 160 million accounts were compromised, and the leak was found to have been occurring for 4 years up to 2016.

eBay
145 million members’ personal details stolen in 2014. eBay’s response caused almost as much concern as the hack itself.

You can read more of the hacks in this excellent article from the BCS.

Secure your business

While these are all household names and therefore make the headlines, don’t be lulled into thinking that small and medium sized business aren’t also at risk.

Email is the leading source of modern cyber-threats which makes selecting the right enterprise email security is critical to your business success – this is vital even if you’re using Microsoft Office 365 as we discuss here.

Don’t miss what Forrester Research is saying about enterprise email security – Barracuda has been named a leader in the recent Forrester Wave Enterprise Email Security report.

 

 

Request your copy of the complimentary report now to read more!

How can I find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Make sure your emails don’t let you down

With cybercrime on the rise and more and more employees and contractors working “on the go”, it’s more important than ever to have the right email security in place for your business.

From your inbox to your employees, you need to know that every avenue a hacker could take is blocked. But with increasingly sophisticated attacks, that’s easier said than done.

Barracuda Total Email Protection ensures your organisation is secured against email-borne threats. Its multi-layered approach combines the most advanced protection available with the radical simplicity and ease of use that Barracuda’s known for.

How easy is it to deploy?

From the IT department’s perspective, you can also avoid the integration chores, uncertain support, and risk that come with building your own solution using point products from unproven startups. The full portfolio of data protection capabilities provides resiliency, and easy recovery from ransomware and accidental data loss, leaving your firm’s email security in the very best hands.

 

 

Want to give it a try?

If you would like to try the solution for yourself, please click here to request your free evaluation.

Further information

The below assets are available to make sure your business is well informed – and safe.

Whitepaper: When Reputation is Not Enough
Whitepaper: Comprehensive Email Filtering
Infographic: Know Your Threats

As Barracuda Diamond Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Chocolate bars or ransomware attack?

According to new research by Sophos, a whopping 54% of organisations were hit by ransomware last year, and on average companies reported two attacks.

Within the companies that do get hit, the attack is not only limited to a small number of employees either, with 46% of a company’s devices on average affected by each attack.

And on to the key question – how much financial impact can a ransomware attack have on a business? According to Sophos it’s around $133,000 USD, which is the cost of around 150,000 chocolate bars.

If you’d rather have the chocolate bars, pay off some of your mortgage or buy new car(s) than face the prospect of a ransomware attack, you can download your copy of the Sophos infographic to read more ransomware facts and figures and why your company should consider an antivirus solution.

As Sophos Gold Solution Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

Request your no-obligation free trial via this link or call us on 01274 396 213.

 

 

Live Webinar: Datto Intelligent Business Continuity Demo (28th June 2017)

Wednesday 28th June @ 11:00 BST

In these uncertain times of ransomware attacks and broader cyber security threats, your business can achieve data backup, recovery and business continuity for local, virtual and cloud environments – all within a single platform.

Are you currently providing the highest level of business continuity? If your company is not running Datto’s Intelligent Business Continuity, you could be missing critical pieces of the larger puzzle.

Our live webinar will explain the components of the solution and offer the opportunity to ask questions of the Datto and Complete IT Systems team.

How to attend: 

1. Please join my meeting.
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/765392965
Scheduled meeting time:
11:00am BST on Wednesday 28th June 2017

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

United Kingdom: +44 330 221 0088

Access Code: 765-392-965
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 765-392-965

Ahead of the live webinar you can also click here to view a short video of the Datto SIRIS 3 solution and how it can help your business ensure full continuity and data protection.

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to welcoming you to the event on Wednesday.