02 Jun Taking Action – Comments from SOS Support’s CEO

Welcome to Summer! Kids are out of school. Long nights ahead for those of us with teenagers. Any of you that know me have always told me to “enjoy them while they are young ’cause it doesn’t get any easier, and they grow up so fast.” I’ve got two teenagers and their lives revolve around TAKING ACTION. I just wish that taking action in their chores, responsibilities, etc. was as well-intentioned as taking action with their friends!!! My wife keeps track of their schedule and is a calendar connoisseur with each of the 4 kids being color coded on the calendar.

The theme here though is TAKING ACTION.

I mentioned in a prior newsletter how COVID accelerated cyber-security by 10 years, in a matter of 9 months.

I didn’t make up that statistic.

Ransomware remains a huge topic. Here is the latest trends:

[Source: Forbes] ….”the number of ransomware victims announced in March 2023 was nearly double that of April 2022 and 1.6 times higher than the peak month in 2022. Other key findings from April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, include:

• The top targeted industries were Manufacturing (19.5%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (15.3%), and Educational Services (6.1%).
• The United States was the top targeted country, accounting for 43% of victim organizations

How to “TAKE ACTION” when it comes to Ransomware?

The first thing I have noticed myself:

• I am getting dozens of phishing TEXT messages a week
• It isn’t just email
• Phone social-engineering scams
• Calendar invites from random unknown contacts
• Social media scams
• App scams
• Classified scams
• Linkedin scams
• Snail mail
• Artificial Intelligence scams (AI)… More on this another time!

We always think of phishing as email – but it’s just a form of social engineering. These things have always been there. In fact, 20+ years ago phones, snail mail, impersonations, and classified scams were the ways. But now these old ways are making a resurgence. It’s not just the Internet. The criminals have gotten very smart. They are now taking a MULTI-FACETED approach to get you. And when they have you, you might not know it. They might be planted within any one of these approaches for days, weeks, or even months learning your behaviors and waiting for the right time to take over. Your name, numbers, and emails are being sold daily on the dark web. The social security numbers, Drivers license numbers, etc are being sold at premiums.

So, to dumb it all down, and go back to some suggestions we have been putting in place for a few years, here are a few high-priority things we can do as businesses to protect ourselves from Ransomware

1. Backups Backups Backups
2. Unified Threat Managed Firewalls
3. Security Awareness Training / Phishing Training
4. Patch Management
5. Maintain cyber-insurance
6. Enterprise Spam Filtering Services
7. Proactive Maintenance!!!! (This just DOESN’T HAPPEN for most!)
8. Use a MULTI-LAYERED DEFENSE strategy – like the one in the image at the bottom of this email

I can’t stress #7 and #8 enough. With a qualified I.T. provider that is always seeking to be on the cutting edge – your always going to be recommended a solution like this.

BUT – it’s not the EASY solution. The EASY thing to do is to deploy one or two “security services” and tell yourself that “I’m good…” and to ASSUME that your backups are working.

If there are any holes in your I.T. that you think MAY exist or want a second opinion on, reach out, and let’s set up a time to do an IT Audit and see truly where you are sitting today. TAKE ACTION. There is no benefit to complacency. Being “cheap” doesn’t cut it anymore. Working within a budget strategically is the way to go – and aligning your needs with Best Practices.

SOS Support used to focus on helping other companies be efficient and productive with their I.T. But in the last 3 years, this has shifted to SECURITY FIRST.

If you’re feeling lost, or even if you feel like all is good but you want a confirmation – then TAKE ACTION and just reach out to us for an IT Audit / Technology Review. Let’s make sure you are in the best situation possible for your size company, the data you hold, the risks you have, the cyber requirements you must meet, etc.

Mailing Address Change:

Please send all mail correspondence to the following address and no longer to the Draper PO Box.

SOS Support

1098 W South Jordan Pkwy #106

South Jordan, UT 84095

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For the latest cyber-attacks reports, follow these links:

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/current-activity

https://www.csis.org/programs/strategic-technologies-program/significant-cyber-incidents