Cyberattacks, Ransomware, and Remote Work: Is Your Organization at Risk?
Our clients are increasingly concerned about the rise of cyberattacks, and not without reason! As an expert in ERP and CRM business management systems, JOVACO constantly strives to optimize the security of our clients’ data and systems. This is why we’ve established a partnership with Team Microfix, specialists in IT management and security. Stephane Auger, Team Microfix Vice-President and CTO, tells us more about cyberattacks, ransomware, and remote work.
What’s ransomware?
Over the past few years, the number of cyberattacks has been on the rise, and they’ve become more complex and aggressive. Originally, the purpose of these attacks was data theft or sabotage. But with the advent of cryptocurrency, attacks have turned into ransom demands: an individual or firm’s data is encrypted, and the hacker provides the decryption key only after having received a certain amount of money in cryptocurrency. These transactions are then almost impossible to trace.
Ransomware has cost Canadian companies billions in 2019, and target public organizations like the STM as well as large corporations. IT security was not seen as a priority in the past. But now, with this new global situation and the rise of cyberattacks, it’s essential to review your security and invest in the proper resources to keep your environment safe for your critical data.
How do hackers attack organizations?
Ransomware and other cyberattacks are usually carried out with an infected file run by the user, or by a hacker that has obtained the login information necessary to connect to an existing account. With the pandemic, organizations have had to restructure quickly for remote work, which has led to security shortcomings to accommodate users. The main cause is often a lack of expertise with the management of IT infrastructure.
Unfortunately, most companies are not completely protected and often have no valid data backups, or their backups can be accessed by hackers, who can then delete them before encrypting live data. Afterwards, the only option is to pay the ransom or start from scratch, which is usually not an option for companies. Moreover, to increase the pressure, hackers are often not content to encrypt data, but also steal a backup of critical data and threaten to upload it on the Internet if the ransom is not paid. For most, this can cause just as much or more damage than losing the data.
How to avoid these cyberattacks?
It’s important to have a good insurance coverage for cyber risks and to team up with an IT partner who can safeguard and monitor your firm’s IT infrastructure. Several measures can also be put in place to make your system secure: multi-factor authentication, dark web monitoring to find any corporate data on sale, antivirus and monitoring software such as EDR and SIEM, online backups that are secure and monitored, and many more solutions.
It’s also important that your firm or partner do not use an RMM (remote monitoring and management system), as they can be used as an entry point for cyberattacks. Make sure to have offline data backups to ensure the integrity of your data and safeguard against ransomware. By partnering with an IT partner that does not use any RMM like Team Microfix, you can increase the security of your firm’s data.
A future blog post will discuss these measures in more detail. In the meantime, communicate with JOVACO or Team Microfix if you have any questions or concerns.
About the author
Stephane Auger is Vice-President and CTO at Team Microfix. With more than 15 years of experience with IT and connectivity solutions, he has developed an expertise in several sectors of IT management, namely network and server administration, infrastructure design, and IT management and security. At Team Microfix, he is in charge of technical operations, technological management, and business growth.