Directive Blogs

The world’s largest ticket retailer is in hot water after their parent company, Live Nation Entertainment filed an 8-K filing with the Security and Exchange commission admitting that they had been hacked to the tune of 1.3 terabytes of information. That amounts to 560 million customers’ personal information that has been stolen from the company’s servers. Today, we take a look at the hack and what it means for consumers.

Technology is a major part of today’s business. It’s fair to say anyone that works in business today is at least semi-proficient with the technology needed to complete their tasks. Unfortunately, for many people, however, the fact that their business requires complicated technology is problematic. This is because at any given moment there are people looking to undermine their job, seeking access to accounts that will allow them to siphon money and data from organizations. 

It can be challenging to deal with failure in any context, but in the case of your workplace projects and other efforts, it can be particularly harsh. This makes it all the more important to frame such failures as opportunities to grow in the future.

Let’s discuss six reasons an initiative may fail and the lessons that can be learned from these situations.

Cyberthreats are increasingly sophisticated, and businesses have to do what they can to address these issues. Since cyberattacks can have a massively negative impact on your business, it stands to reason that you need a platform in place to enhance your employees’ awareness of Internet-based threats. This month we look at the top three IT security concerns businesses face and what should be done to confront them.

Unfortunately, cyberattacks will only continue in the weeks, months, and years to come, making it increasingly essential that businesses have access to cybersecurity expertise. Even more unfortunately, professionals with this level of expertise are becoming harder to find. Globally, we’re short almost four million people, and those we have are prone to make mistakes in their first few years. This comes from a report by Kaspersky, entitled “The Portrait of Modern Information Security Professional,” Let’s review what the cybersecurity developer found and what we can take away from these findings.

It was very recently revealed that a global law enforcement effort took down a massive botnet that was in action for almost a decade. In light of this, we wanted to review what a botnet is and how it works, drawing from these events for some context.

We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing ransomware's impacts on different subsets. First, we discussed how a ransomware attack impacts the customers of the infected business, and then we touched on the infected business itself. To end, we want to touch on ransomware's impacts on society, specifically regarding economic health and geopolitical security, known as third-order harms.

Data is extremely important in the way that most businesses conduct themselves. This results in other people wanting that information, too. Today’s blog will look at how seemingly everyone online is out for your data. 

Have you ever heard of the “man-in-the-middle” attack or MitM? It’s a situation where your data is stolen by an onlooker who situates themselves in the right place at the right time. Data interception is a very real thing that your business should be prepared to fight against. Let’s discuss some strategies you can use to counter these sneaky attacks.

Last week, we discussed the many impacts your business suffering from ransomware has on “second-order harm,” downstream businesses, and average, ordinary people. This time, we wanted to return to “first-order harms”… those the impacted business has to deal with itself.

Hackers are always on the lookout for personally identifiable information, or PII, as it’s an immensely lucrative resource. You’ll need to protect it if you want your business to continue operating safely and efficiently. Let’s go over what PII entails and what kinds of data you might find under this term.

It can be too easy to look at ransomware as a business problem. After all, it attacks businesses, locking down their data for ransom, often selling it or spreading it, and sometimes altering it for the business if returning it at all. It can be too easy to overlook another impacted target in all the mess.

What happens to the people whose data a business has collected and uses?

You might see encryption as a major benefit to your cybersecurity strategy, but it’s often used in a way that might have you guessing whether you really understand it. Let’s take a closer look into what encryption does to your data, as well as why it is essential for any business to ensure maximum privacy and security.

We discuss phishing often on this blog, and one method that often flies under the radar is smishing, or phishing that is conducted through SMS messages. Although email phishing is perhaps the most common method of conducting these scams, you should also be prepared to take on smishing, as it comes with its own share of unique challenges and dangers.

Safeguarding your online accounts is an important part of maintaining network security. With the increasing number of cyber threats, relying on strong, unique passwords is no longer optional—it's a necessity. Remembering complex passwords for numerous accounts can be challenging, however. This is where password managers come in handy, offering a secure and convenient solution to managing your credentials.

Today, cybersecurity is everyone's business. It's not just the IT department's job anymore. When a hack happens, it can feel like a personal violation. It's scary, confusing, and you might not know what to do next.

Microsoft's cybersecurity vulnerabilities have been making headlines recently. These lapses in security are causing concern for customers worldwide. The impact of these vulnerabilities is far-reaching. It affects network security and increases the risk of data breaches, causing somewhat of a ripple effect.

Phishing is a pervasive threat nowadays, with businesses of any size or industry serving as prime targets. Understanding phishing and implementing effective prevention strategies is crucial for your entire team.

Let's explore how to reduce the effectiveness of phishing schemes against your business—in other words, how to prevent phishing from having an impact.

While the word “audit” can easily be a scary thought for businesses, there are certain cases where an audit serves an organization’s direct benefit. Take, for instance, the ones that occur internally to identify and correct security issues and vulnerabilities. These audits are not only a positive endeavor for businesses; they’re extremely important to carry out.

Let’s talk about why this is and review a few standard practices you should prioritize as you go about this process.

There are many parts of running a business where you cannot be too careful, one of which is the realm of cybersecurity. Many of the preventative measures you can implement aim to keep issues from making their way to your infrastructure in the first place, which makes sense from an operational standpoint. With an endpoint detection and response solution—or EDR—you’ll take an important step toward keeping most threats off your infrastructure.