Author Archives: thrivewpengine

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is one in which a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target, thereby causing denial of service for users of the targeted system. According to Netscout DDoS Threat Intelligence Report, cybercriminals launched almost 7.9 million DDoS attacks in the first half of 2023, representing a 31% year-over-year increase.

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The holiday season is quickly approaching bringing us holiday joy and cheer as well as the latest IoT (Internet of Things) smart home gadgets. With this in mind, we take a deeper dive into IoT devices and the risk they present to not only your home, but also your business. (more…)

There is a big misconception that cyber security ends when you leave your place of employment. The fact of the matter is that our new connected, and always on lives are prime targets for cyber criminals. One often ignored aspect is our home networks. (more…)

“Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

It is critical to learn from yesterday’s vulnerabilities before they become tomorrow’s hacks. It is through this lens that we look back on some of 2019’s worst hacks and vulnerabilities. (more…)

Cyber threats are currently top of mind for stakeholders in every vertical. Our consulting team is fielding many requests for Security Health Assessments (SHA) to help organizations better understand their current risk profile and identify appropriate steps to safeguard company data. These assessments cover a wide variety of company systems and processes with deep analysis of system configurations and the identification of evidence to guarantee systems functionality.The key to ensuring any cyber defense mechanism is successful is ensuring the toolsets in your security portfolio are components of an overall cyber security strategy. (more…)

Most organizations are either familiar with, or have been victimized by, a Business Email Compromise (BEC).  A BEC is a type of scam targeting organizations with the goal of leveraging a compromised email account to trick employees and executives into making fraudulent wire transfers.  However, it’s not BEC attacks which are predicted to be the largest threat to organizations worldwide over the next 12-18 months, it’s a BEC variant known as Vendor Email Compromise (VEC). [1] The US Treasury department estimates BEC attacks already cost US firms $300 million a month. (more…)

If you talk to any security expert about securing online accounts, the first thing they will tell you is “enable 2FA.” However if you start looking at the number of accounts where Two-Factor Authentication is purposely turned off or opted out of, you will be surprised at how high the number is. The reason for this is because most end users consider 2FA to be a nuisance, and don’t see the need for it when it comes to securing their accounts. (more…)

I was meeting with a company the other day, and security was naturally brought up. In their opinion, they felt that they had a good handle on security and their overall network — they perform security awareness training, they have a SIEM solution, they have AD monitoring and firewall monitoring, and a plethora of other items that would keep their business safe. Digging in deeper I started asking about what types of incidents they got notified for, and how do they get notified? That was when I realized that they were trying to do everything correctly, but they didn’t actually have the manpower to do everything they wanted. (more…)

Most people in the United States think of Halloween when they think of the month of October.  As we begin October 2019 you should also think of Cyber Security Awareness Month and training yourself to check your emails as closely as the parents do the candy that is brought home on Halloween evening. (more…)

Teams is Microsoft’s premiere communication and collaboration tool. It has now replaced Skype, which was strictly a chat and calling platform; however, Teams’ capabilities are far greater than its predecessor. It is a four-in-one shared workplace that streamlines messaging and chat, meetings and file sharing, calling, and app integration.

Businesses often utilize Teams to increase productivity, improve collaboration and enable innovation across their entire organization. (more…)