VLCM IT Industry News

Unless you live under a rock or have your head in the sand, cybersecurity is a big ol’ deal right now. We don’t even have to tell you that - just look at this Wired article and try not to throw your computer out your three-story window (not recommended). There’s a lot of talk about sophisticated hackers getting smarter and constantly evolving to beat out security solutions - and the proof is in the 6 trillion dollar pudding.

The number of credential harvesting breaches that could have been prevented by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) is staggering. Verizon’s 2017 Data Breach Investigation report indicates that 81% of hacking-related breaches leveraged either stolen and/or weak passwords. Yet less than 10% of Gmail users enable two factor authentication and less than one-third of people use 2FA. For companies that are required to comply with PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, etc. enabling 2FA could mean the difference between a failed hacking attempt or being subjected to substantial fines and penalties.

Just when you think it is safe, another global hack hits the headlines, and the cycle of frustration and worry begins anew. Are my systems safe? What would I do if our data was compromised? Is my IT prepared for a full-scale hacker attack? 

If you care about your business, you’re asking yourself these questions. And you should be. 

Cyber attacks are growing in quantity and sophistication while virtualized environments are more connected with more endpoints resulting in a larger attack surface. To keep pace with these threats, organizations need advanced security that spans across physical and virtual environments.

The recent WannaCry and NotPetya attacks have highlighted not only how quickly ransomware actors are growing in sophistication, but also how the interconnectedness of today’s world puts all organizations at risk. In the education sector, ransomware is becoming a major headache for IT managers, making the back-to-school season is a good time to revisit ransomware protection policies.

Too often, a company’s approach to cyber security is reactive, with the IT support team focusing on vulnerabilities and improving security systems after an incident has occurred. It’s an ineffective method and leaves the organization susceptible to further attacks. 

Taking a proactive, network wide cyber security approach allows the organization to pull together plans, policies, and tools to better anticipate and prevent cyber attacks from happening or mitigating them before damage is done. The first step in putting together a proactive approach is to take steps to truly understand the steps of the cyber kill chain.  

IT research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. has named Fortinet’s Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution a Magic Quadrant Leader again. Just like they did last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and…well, for the last 8 years.