By: Joseph Imperato, Sr., Partner, XSolutions Consulting Services, LLC Introduction Meet business owner Harry. Like most owners, Harry wears many hats during the day. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to think about cybersecurity. Instead, Harry is laser-focused on taking care of his customers—nothing else. Harry heard a lot about ransomware. It seemed to be hitting companies of all sizes, and the costs were astronomical. So, Harry asked his insurance broker about it. Then, he signed up for cyber insurance. Harry was distraught when he saw the cyber insurance questionnaire. It was over five pages long with IT-related questions. Just Tick The Boxes—What Can Go Wrong? Harry knew he needed to make some upgrades, so he asked his computer guy for help. Harry soon had new workstations, antivirus, firewalls, etc. He spent a lot of money. After, the IT guy told Harry he needed to have his network monitored. This, of course, came with a monthly charge—Harry refused. Enough was enough! So, Harry answered the insurance questionnaire as best he could. He responded truthfully to those areas he knew he was covered. He fudged those where deficiencies existed. Who would know? Then, one day Harry came into his office and turned on his computer. Staring at him was a prominent notice. His files were encrypted, and to get them back had to pay the hackers in Bitcoin within 48 hours. If he didn’t comply, he’d never see his files again. With A Data Breach, Comes Responsibility And Loss As soon as Harry saw the ransom message, he called his IT guy, lawyer, insurance broker, and accountant. First, his IT guy told Harry his backups were corrupted. Harry never checked if his backups were viable, and he refused to pay for the service when offered by his IT guy. Second, the lawyer said that Harry would need to report the incident since client data was stolen. He must also provide credit monitoring to affected customers. Third, since Harry’s backups were not viable, he would have to pay the ransom to get his data back. His accountant mentioned that the Bitcoin ransom was equal to 20,000 dollars! Harry paid the ransom and recovered most of his data. He also put in a claim to the insurance company for reimbursement. After all, he had cyber insurance! Harry’s Insurance Refused To Pay Before paying claims, all insurance companies investigate. The investigation showed that some protocols and systems were not in place. As a result, they concluded that Harry lied on the application. The insurance company: 1. Refused to pay Harry’s claim. 2. Immediately canceled the cyber insurance policy. 3. Was considering filing charges against Harry for insurance fraud. Harry had to bear the breach’s total cost and faced possible criminal charges as well. Conclusion The above story is not based on a real person. But, the circumstances can be very real. Some are looking to “tick off the boxes.” But, unfortunately, they’re not serious about cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is a commitment, a very real one. It has dire consequences if not done well. Don’t be like Harry. Make this year one in which you commit to a complete cybersecurity program for your business. Be safe. XSolutions is an IT Services Provider serving New York (NY), New Jersey (NJ), and Connecticut (CT). We provide Managed IT Services | Managed IT Security | Backup & Disaster Recovery| Cloud Data Protection | Security Awareness Training. Call (845) 362-9675 for a free consultation.
0 Comments
By: Glenn Laga, Founder & President, Guardian Data Destruction While some businesses don’t suit a work from home (WFH) structure–healthcare, retail, service, hospitality/travel, manufacturing, it seems that everyone else is either evaluating or arguing about the benefits of hybrid or permanent remote work structures. LinkedIn’s Jake Perez compiled reactions to the WFH debate in Should the office become extinct? in response to Chris Herd’s viral positioning: work-from-home pros: wider hiring pool opportunity, more productive use of time without commuting, interruptions and office banter, greater personal satisfaction with life balance and time management. work-from-home cons: impaired non-existent company culture, difficulty training and indoctrinating new hires, monitoring employees who are not motivated or communicative, creating personal relationships and cohesive teams. How will you retrieve IT hardware from furloughed or remote workers? Consider an IT Asset Self-Pack and Ship program to return employee equipment. It’s a customizable, easy, inexpensive solution for packing up offsite office IT equipment and shipping it to a processing center for serial # verification, grading, refurbishment and its next home. A computer Self-Pack and Ship program perfect for any office hardware whether it’s lease return, redeployment, recycling or reselling. Self-pack and ship programs generally work this way: sized to meet the destination equipment, packing materials, instructions and a box (sometimes two) are sent to a provided list of people. The included prepaid return label ensures that employees ship their designated hardware to the correct place with tracking and without excuses. Program management including monitoring and reporting are the features that make these outsourced programs really helpful. Security options for self-pack programs
Self-pack and return ship anything It’s not just laptops! Verify, sanitize, retrieve and inventory all company IT property (see 30 common places your company data is stored and waiting for a breach for even more for even more) including:
Remote work is here to stay While an estimated 20% of the American workforce telecommuted prior to COVID experts are predicting that 50% or more will remain working from home in a full-time or hybrid model. That trend will absolutely definitely change how offsite employee hardware will be managed. Talk to Guardian Data Destruction or your VAR or ITAD to explore self-pack and ship programs that can be customized to meet your in-house IT asset management goals. By: Joseph Imperato, Sr., Partner, XSolutions Consulting Services, LLC Introduction It’s human nature to separate things. Unfortunately, many people think their backup system is separate from their cybersecurity plan. This is not true. Cybersecurity tools and a sound backup system are mandatory for survival. Breach Detection And Prevention Are Key Tools such as SOC, SIEM, and EDR are all needed to fight today’s cybercriminals. Your IT department or Managed Services Provider (MSP) will:
60% of businesses will fail after a catastrophic data loss within six months. Don’t be one of them. The Type Of Backup Will Determine Your Survivability We’ve been preaching about the type of backup system businesses should use for many years. But, unfortunately, many look at only cost when purchasing systems. For instance, data-only backup systems are cheap. You can buy solutions from cloud providers. They have their place, but not as the sole solution for a business. Data-only backup systems limit what they backup, and recovery is slow. Recovery is also dependent upon internet bandwidth. The more data you have, the longer the download will take. During recovery, time is your enemy. The longer it takes to recover, the less chance your business has to survive. Harsh—but true. Business Continuity Should Be The Goal A Business Continuity Solution is the ultimate protection against downtime. Unlike data-only backup, Business Continuity will provide:
Cybercriminals are smart. They find out how to breach even the most sophisticated systems. If breached, your backup systems will determine whether your company survives or not. Conclusion Never operate without cybersecurity systems and appropriate backup. If you do, your business is in danger. XSolutions is an IT Services Provider serving New York (NY), New Jersey (NJ), and Connecticut (CT). We provide Managed IT Services | Managed IT Security | Backup & Disaster Recovery| Cloud Data Protection | Security Awareness Training. Call (845) 362-9675 for a free consultation. By: Coryanne Mansell, Strategic Services Representative, Center for EcoTechnology (CET) The unavoidable surplus food at your business — be it produce scraps or uneaten catered meals — never has to go to waste. Forming a strong partnership with a food rescue agency, donation site, or organics processor can prevent the nutrient-rich and calorific substance that is food from decomposing where it shouldn’t. The amount of perfectly-good, edible food that goes to waste each year when there are millions of hungry people is a systemic and humanitarian nightmare. To immediately address the 1 in 10 children in New Jersey facing hunger, edible food should be directed to pantries and donation sites whenever possible. Starting a food donation program, however, can seem logistically daunting and costly for businesses, some strained for resources themselves. Some relieving news: resources exist to make the prevention, donation, and source separation processes easier and help your business find a partner that fits into its existing flow. If you’re worried about liability, here is a fact sheet that explains your legal protections. Contrary to popular belief, most categories of food can be donated, and there are federal tax incentives that can make the effort more financially feasible. Sending inedible wasted food to composters and anaerobic digesters also creates biofertilizer and renewable energy; a diversion decision that minimizes environmental impacts, realizes sustainability goals, and benefits local communities. By providing wasted food to facilities specialized in harnessing the value of this input, businesses have the power to expand the surplus food recovery marketplace that is needed to combat climate change and environmental degradation. In 2020, New Jersey introduced a food waste recycling law to stimulate a shift from the traditional disposal methods towards more sustainable waste management practices. The law requires businesses that generate over 52 tons of pre-consumer food waste per year to source-separate and process, or recycle, this material. Those affected by the law include food wholesalers, distributors, processors, supermarkets, restaurants, schools, and hospitals, and are subject if located within 25 miles of an authorized food waste recycling facility. Whether a program is adopted to comply with the law or on a voluntarily basis, the Center for EcoTechnology (CET) understands that wasted food solutions must be customized to each unique business. With over 40+ years of experience, CET’s Wasted Food Solutions program offers no-cost waste assistance to help businesses and institutions reduce, recover, and recycle wasted food. CET has a robust toolbox of resources for businesses interested in evaluating their waste stream or implementing a recycling program, including guidance in source separation of waste and food waste estimation. Although some of these documents reference the state of Massachusetts, they are public and may be applicable region-wide. Wakefern Food Corporation, has exemplary food donation and recycling programs in place, and was recently highlighted in a FAQ document by the New Jersey Composting Council. In a single year, Wakefern diverted nearly 20,000 tons of organic food waste from disposal, and its subsidiary ShopRite stores donated more than 5,000 tons of food to local food banks. Wakefern’s surplus unfit for human consumption is sent for recycling into pellets for animal feed, or for composting through processors such as Ag Choice. Ag Choice, located in Andover, NJ, is the longest-running food waste composter in the state. Ag Choice’s operation yields high quality, custom compost materials which it sells wholesale to landscapers and garden centers. Wakefern and Ag Choice model a mutually-beneficial partnership that powers a sustainable food lifecycle. Contact CET to learn more about how they can help meet your sustainability goals at (888) 813-8552 or e-mail [email protected]. |
Guest Blog
Archives
July 2024
Categories |