Zinc Blog

On Friday, July 18th, a global update—codenamed “Falcon”—to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike’s software triggered events that brought major infrastructures and societal needs to their knees… despite affecting less than one percent of all Windows systems.

Now that about one and a half weeks have passed, let’s check in and see what happened, both leading up to this event and in the days since.

When it comes to network security, there are many common suggestions from IT professionals, like utilizing robust firewalls and antivirus measures. However, it’s easy to overlook some of these practices, especially if you are not necessarily a trained IT technician. We’re here to provide a short guide to three of the most common security pitfalls organizations like yours will likely face during normal everyday operations.

Ensuring that your computer's software stays up to date is always crucial for security and for the performance of the software. Outdated operating systems, web browsers, or other essential applications can result in malfunctions and expose you to potential threats. It's important to be aware that hackers can disguise malware as critical web browser updates.

As business computing goes, ransomware poses the most significant threat. That’s why it’s imperative for organizations to proactively address this menace head-on. Today, we propose a comprehensive three-part strategy that can help your organization sidestep ransomware.

Ransomware is a real problem; I mean, a real problem. Not only does it create serious problems for any organization that is victimized by it, it is about to be a completely pervasive problem for everyone. It is extremely important for your organization to take the threat of ransomware seriously by implementing a strategy to keep it from being an issue. Today, we offer a three-pronged approach to doing just that.

It’s easy to think of email as something that just works. You open up Outlook or log into Gmail and your mail is there. Most people aren’t even aware of the vast, complex set of systems required for email to even work—and we don’t blame you. It’s extremely complicated.

That being said, if nobody is actively managing your email, providing protection for the underlying technology, and making sure that it was and remains configured properly, it’s possible that your email could be working fine while opening you up for unseen threats.

Cybercriminals aren’t looking to play fair against businesses. They don’t care how big or small you are, they don’t care about what services you provide, or what good you offer for the community. You could be a children’s hospital or a single mother selling homemade mittens out of your dining room, you could be a school, an assisted living facility, or a Fortune 500. Either way, your organization is an equally viable target for cybercriminals.

With Cybersecurity Awareness Month just around the corner, now seems to be the appropriate time to consider your own business’ cybersecurity. While there are many, many factors that contribute to how protected your business is against threats, one of the most impactful and insidious is how receptive your employees are (or aren’t) to security-centric behaviors.

Cybersecurity is a complicated beast. Not only do you have to be sure that you’re protected from threats coming from outside your business, there are also a few very real threats that can originate from inside your business, too. Both are critical to prevent, which can be quite effectively accomplished via a zero trust approach to your security.

A VPN—or virtual private network—is something that we recommend any business implementing any form of remote or hybrid work to have in their cybersecurity arsenal. Let’s explore why this is by examining what a VPN does, and what any business should seek out in the one they use.

Is your business prepared to handle the many challenges that come from remote work, chief among them security? If you aren’t, then the transition to remote or hybrid operations is going to be a rough one, to say the least. Let’s discuss how you can implement secure remote or hybrid work policies that are sure to protect your business now and in the future.

Network security is a constant problem for many organizations, and it’s mostly because of the many advanced threats that make their homes on the Internet. Businesses who don’t have dedicated IT resources or security professionals do not know how to handle network security or appropriately protect their assets. Let’s examine some of the more common threats that your business should be prepared to address.

It’s easy to see the headlines and think that a major data breach cannot happen to your business, but this is a dangerous mindset to hold. If you aren’t taking cybersecurity seriously these days, then you’re making a huge mistake. You need to implement security measures now before it’s too late.

Believe it or not, someone can actually purchase access to your organization’s network under the right circumstances. This is the unfortunate reality that we live in, where the commoditization of data and network access has become a real problem. According to a study from KELA, hackers can sell access to compromised networks for a pittance compared to the amount of work you have invested in building your business. Therefore, you must do everything in your power to protect your network and prevent this from happening.

The term firewall is not a new one, and it’s not as old of a term as you might think. Before it became commonplace in the computing environment, it was first introduced to the world in 1983 when it was used in a movie titled WarGames. Nowadays, it is used mostly in regard to network security. Let’s take a look at what a firewall does and what the different types of firewalls do.

Ransomware has taken over the security industry, as we are sure you have seen from the endless headlines associated with it. All business owners must remain cognizant of the dangers that ransomware represents. A new study has found that organizations infected by ransomware that wind up paying the ransom are not necessarily better off--in fact, paying the ransom could have disastrous consequences.

Cyberattacks are spending less time on their victims’ networks before they are discovered, which sounds like good news, but the reality isn’t so straightforward. Let’s take a few moments and dig into the situation at hand, and what it means for your cybersecurity.

Based on how the rest of the year has gone, it should come as no surprise that 2020 has come to an end with the news that the United States was targeted in the largest cyberespionage attack ever. Let’s go into what this attack signifies, and what we should all take away from it.

One of the most valuable things for a business to know, in terms of its cybersecurity, is how vulnerable it is to breaches and exploits. This kind of information can be gathered via a process called penetration testing, or “pen testing.” Let’s go over how the average pen test is conducted to see how these insights are collected.

We’re pretty outspoken in our support of VPNs (virtual private networks) as an indispensable tool for your online security. However, considering that there are things that a VPN can and can’t do, we thought it would be helpful to specify what a VPN is really for.