Why Healthcare Organizations Need Strong Cybersecurity

Hospitals and medical practices house a goldmine of valuable patient information for hackers. Personal information such as birthdays, credit card information and medical history are entered into a database after visiting the doctor’s office. For this reason, medical practices are one of the largest targets for data breaches and should uphold strong cybersecurity measures.   Education Cybersecurity starts with the people who use the network most frequently: the employees. If employees are uneducated or not properly trained on cybersecurity procedures in the medical practices, mistakes will be made. For instance, the Utah-based company HealthEquity reported that 23,000 accounts were compromised in a data breach earlier this year. According to SC…

Cyber Security, Data Breach, Data Security

Cybersecurity Tips for Accounting Firms

Accounting firms are ethically and legally obligated to keep their clients’ information and data protected. Due to a recent increase in cyber attacks, accounting firms need to be prepared to defend their valuable information against sophisticated breaches. According to Accounting Today, there are many preventative measures that can be taken by accounting firms, but three actions in particular help create a sufficient plan against major cyber attacks. Beyond implementing data protection software, knowing how to use the software properly is necessary to ensure utmost protection.   Educate Employees The first step to any problem is acknowledging the situation. It is important for large accounting firms that employ thousands of employees…

Computer Security, Data Breach, Data Security, IT Managed Services, Security

Why Business Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Cyber Attacks

Large organizations used to be the main targets hackers due to the massive volumes of sensitive financial and customer data they possessed. As cyber attacks become more advanced, attackers are starting to feed into the valuable data that’s held by smaller businesses. A recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey, conducted by the U.S. Department for Culture Media & Sport, reported that 45 percent of micro/small companies have experienced a breach in their system and 66 percent of medium/large businesses have suffered attacks as well. This information warns small business leaders to be prepared against a breach and to protect their customer’s data. Public awareness of cyber attacks has helped the battle…

Cyber Security

When Disaster Strikes: The Importance of an Off-Site Data Backup Program

Have you ever been working on something, and all of a sudden your screen goes blank? You can’t remember the last time you hit save, and now, you’ve lost your work and have to start over. What if this were to happen on a larger scale in your office? Off-site backup options keep your data safe and secure in case something happens to your mainframe or data collection tools. Online backups can’t be ruined by floods, fires or tornados. Since the backups take place over the internet, if something happens in your office or to your data, you can easily recover files and necessary information from the off-site storage. You…

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Kansas City Law Firms Face Growing Threat of Cybersecurity

ALM Intelligence‘s second annual Law Firm Cybersecurity Report found that vulnerabilities in law firms’ data and cyber security present an unprecedented existential threat. As news of massive ‘hack attacks’ and cyber security breaches have often dominated the headlines in recent years, corporate demand for legal expertise in information security, compliance and incident response has grown dramatically. As a consequence, the revenue opportunity for cyber security firms has grown as well. Foreign actors have targeted transactionally oriented firms in an effort to obtain confidential, market-moving information and trade on it. Daniella Isaacson, co-author of the report, assessed the situation and said, “Many firms’ confidence in their own cyberattack preparedness seems misguided.…

Cyber Security

Kansas City Managed Services Company Reviews Importance of National Cyber Security Awareness Month

The Department of Homeland Security has declared October National Cyber Security Awareness Month. In its thirteenth year, the program seeks to educate the public and private sector about Cyber Security threats and ways to guard against them with a focus on protecting our digital borders. Attacks in 2016 have hit major companies. From 500 million hacked accounts with Yahoo! to 100’s of Eddie Bauer stores being inflicted with malware. The most common cause of breaches are employees misusing access privileges, according to TripWire. Whether employees do this accidentally or maliciously, training employees on security practices is crucial. Additionally, here are a few tips from Open Forum on how to prevent…

Cyber Security

Yahoo! is the Latest Victim of a Data Breach

Data breaches have become all too common. Today’s headlines are littered with stories of cyber theft and security failures. Yahoo! is the latest victim. With over 500 million user accounts compromised, this could be the largest data breach in history. But Yahoo! is far from alone. So far in 2016, we’ve learned about security breaches at Linkedin, the U.S. Department of Justice, Oracle, Dropbox and many others. Is there anything that can be done to stem the tide?   According  to cybersecurity expert Por Thorsheim, the Yahoo! breach “will cause ripples online for years to come.” In a statement from Yahoo! addressing the issue, they provided some information about the…

Data Breach

MDL Technology Examines How OPM Could Have Avoided a Giant Data Breach

In a breach that was first publicly announced mid-2015, the U.S. House Oversight & Government Reform Committee has finally came to a consensus on the root of the issue. With a 241-page analysis of the data breach, they have found that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) exposed fingerprint data and background investigations on millions of Americans.   Data breaches can be a giant deficit to a company. Not only did someone hack into their system, but also losing trust of employees and business partners. Inverse said, “It all could have been prevented very easily.” Cyber security may seem like a small part of your overall operation, but giant…

Data Breach

Kansas City-Based IT Company Explores Why the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Has Yet to Endure a Major Cybersecurity Breach

  The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have had their fair share of problems leading up to and during the games including unsold tickets, green swimming pools, the Zika virus and more. However, one daunting issue they have successfully prevented is a major cybersecurity breach.   According to Business Insider, a report from August 2, 2016, showed that the volume of malicious and phishing artifacts in Brazil is on the rise. Moreover, the country saw an 83 percent increase in malicious URLs, compared to a mere 16 percent worldwide, and Brazil has been attacked by phishing attempts more than any other country, with the main targets being…

Cyber Security