Justin Huffaker has an objective for 2020 Cybersecurity Education. And that's protecting others from the storm.

“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.” – columnist Dave Barry

The VP of Strategic Technology already has several public presentations lined up in East Texas, D/FW and Arkansas designed to help business people make sound technology security decisions.

It's undoubtedly important. Our job is to have our eyes on the weather radar.

But hackers, like thunderstorms, are indifferent to where they strike. They can land unceremoniously anywhere, at any time, including (of course) our own shelter. When the storm arrives, we've got to keep our tent dry, too.

“You’ve constantly got to be watching things, keeping things up to date, keeping new technology in place,” Stew Campbell, Internal IT Manager, says. “I talk to people constantly. I get emails from Microsoft, Cisco, and engineers I know send me updated information regularly.”

As thought leaders in the arena of technology security, some employees often feel a false sense of security. But that's simply not the case. According to Datto’s 2020 Ransomware Report, 4 in 5 Managed Service Providers (MSPs) agree that MSP businesses are being increasingly targeted by Ransomware attacks.

3 Practical Datamax Security Best Practices:

1. Watch what you’re opening in emails.

If the request seems suspicious, or there’s an unusual sense of urgency, look closer at the actual email address to test its legitimacy. If in doubt, call the person who sent it and ask, “Hey, did you send me this email?”

2. Update your passwords.

Often. Every 90 days is a good rule of thumb. Resist the temptation to include a dictionary word, and include symbols and numbers to your password.

3. Be mindful of your online activity (social media included).

Cyber criminals use whatever they can glean from your public profiles. Think twice before posting. When spammers follow you or send you links, don’t just ignore it. Report it as spam.

The Datamax IT Security team has laid out a safe, secure home base for us to trek across the Internet landscape every day. It’s important to be mindful. Be cautious. Keep the tent dry.

Secure Your Shelter: A few Common Methods of Attack:

Before guarding against attacks, one must first understand them. A leading attack today socially engineering – the art of tricking people into giving their confidential information or manipulating them to do something. Below is a briefing on common methods:

Phishing

It's the leading tactic leveraged by today’s ransomware hackers, typically delivered in the form of an email, chat, web ad or website designed to impersonate a real system and organization. Often crafted to deliver a sense of urgency and importance, the message within these emails often appears to be from the government or a major corporation and can include logos and branding.

Baiting

Similar to phishing, baiting involves offering something enticing to an end user in exchange for private data. The “bait” comes in many forms, both digital, such as a music or movie download, and physical, such as a branded flash drive labeled “Executive Salary Summary Q3 2016” that is left out on a desk for an end user to find. Once the bait is taken, malicious software is delivered directly into the victim’s computer.

Quid Pro Quo

Similar to baiting, quid pro quo involves a request for the exchange of private data but for a service. For example, an employee might receive a phone call from the hacker posed as a technology expert offering free IT assistance in exchange for login credentials.

Pretexting

It's when a hacker creates a false sense of trust between themselves and the end user by impersonating a co-worker or a figure of authority within the company in order to gain access to private data. For example, a hacker may send an email or a chat message posing as the head of IT Support who needs private data in order to comply with a corporate audit (that isn’t real).

The Security Shelter.