Ask the Experts

Cybersecurity Awareness Training is an important part to both protecting your business and  your staff. We here at Black Bottle IT perform awareness training and phishing campaigns every month. The reason you want to do both on a monthly basis is because it gets your users use to identifying phishing emails with the phishing campaign. Awareness training keeps your users engaged and keeping your staff educated on different ways malicious actors try and compromise them to steal their data or company data. People often dislike Cyber Awareness training, but that training can help you both in the workplace and outside of the workplace. So I think it is a valuable tool that can be used to help protect you and your business

Black Bottle IT actually worked with a payroll company on a tabletop exercise.  Knowing who to call first when a breach happens is extremely important.

Preparedness: It helps organizations prepare for potential cyber incidents. Teams can identify weaknesses in their incident response plans, procedures, and personnel skills by simulating various scenarios. This preparation is essential because cyberattacks can happen at any time.

Risk Mitigation: Conducting tabletop exercises allows organizations to identify and mitigate risks proactively. They can identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their systems and processes and take steps to address them before a real incident occurs. 

No surpise, Black Bottle IT receives this question quite often.  

Antivirus software is an essential component of cybersecurity, but it’s not a comprehensive solution on its own. While antivirus programs are designed to detect and remove known viruses, malware, and some types of threats, they have limitations:

1. Limited to Known Threats: Antivirus software primarily relies on signature-based detection, meaning it can only recognize and protect against threats for which it has known signatures. It might not detect new or unknown forms of malware or sophisticated attacks that haven’t been previously identified.

2. Doesn’t Cover All Threat Vectors: Cyber threats are diverse and can come through various channels—emails, websites, removable media, network connections, and more. Antivirus software might not cover all these entry points, leaving gaps for attackers to exploit.

3. Inability to Protect Against Advanced Threats: Advanced persistent threats, zero-day exploits, or targeted attacks often bypass traditional antivirus software. Sophisticated malware can be designed to evade detection by such software.

Zero Trust is a security model that assumes no one, inside or outside your network, can be trusted by default. It emphasizes verifying every user and device trying to access resources, applying the “least privilege” principle to minimize access rights. This model is growing in popularity because of increased remote work, cloud services, and the frequency of insider threats. Organizations are shifting to Zero Trust to better protect data, especially in environments where perimeter-based security isn’t practical. 

How can I protect my business from supply chain cyberattacks?

Answer: Supply chain attacks occur when attackers infiltrate systems through third-party vendors or software providers. To protect your business:

• Vet your suppliers: Ensure they follow stringent cybersecurity protocols.
• Monitor for vulnerabilities: Regularly audit vendor software and integrations.
• Use Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Track unusual behavior on all devices and endpoints.
• Adopt a Zero Trust framework: Restrict vendor access to the minimum required. By keeping your suppliers accountable and enhancing your security posture, you can reduce the risk of being compromised by a supply chain attack.

With increased remote work, ensuring cloud security is vital. Key steps include: Implement Identity and Access Management (IAM): Ensure proper access controls for cloud resources, and enforce multi-factor authentication. Encrypt data: Use encryption both in transit and at rest. Monitor cloud usage: Utilize cloud-native monitoring tools to detect unusual activity, like unauthorized access or data exfiltration. Conduct regular audits: Ensure compliance with security standards and address any vulnerabilities. Training employees on secure cloud usage is also critical in minimizing human error, often the weakest link in cloud security.