The fallout from the recent Kaseya ransomware attack — just weeks after the Colonial Pipeline hack — should be a reality check for any firm that has yet to take adequate steps to secure their networks and systems.
Small businesses should be paying particularly close attention to their cybersecurity exposures. According to SCORE, a nonprofit advisory organization, 71 percent of all cyberattacks occur at businesses with under 100 employees, and stakes are high: three out of five victims of cybercrime fold within six months.
To recap, the Kaseya hack was a supply-chain attack that started with the Florida-based IT service provider’s VSA software, spreading to dozens of Kaseya’s MSP customers and their clients — up to 1,500 businesses that run that software on their own networks. A major grocery chain in Sweden was forced to close hundreds of its stores. Ransom demands followed. REvil, a hacker group believed to operate out of Russia, claimed responsibility. President Biden is now talking about ransomware as a danger to our national security.
These events should surprise no one. Ransomware, along with other forms of cybercrime, has been on the rise for years. What may change as a result of the recent spate of attacks, what we hope will change, is that more small- and medium-sized businesses will take note and take stock of how they’ve been securing their own systems — and get serious about shoring up their defenses. Industry surveys show that many small businesses still haven’t invested in cybersecurity — or invested enough — believing they’re unlikely targets. For hackers, that’s low-hanging fruit, and that vulnerability extends to clients and vendors too.
$2.64 million: average cost of a data breach to enterprises with up to 500 employees, according to IBM
Vulnerabilities are likely to continue to persist within the dynamic digital landscape of our increasingly interconnected world,— challenging our ability to protect our critical infrastructure and enterprise operations. The good news is, there are solutions out there that can arm you against even the most sophisticated cyber threats.
Our LinkGuard solution locks down data streams isolating and containing data that is core to your operations. It outperforms complex and insecure solutions like firewalls and TLS or IPsec VPNs even for protecting certain U.S. national security networks operations for over 20 years with no hacks. Our AppGuard solution protects endpoints and services without relying on detection, signature, patching, or other dependencies to prevent breaches from occurring in the first place.
Visit BlueRidgeNetworks.com to learn more about how we can protect your business.