Quick Intelligence Blog

ZeroFox announced yesterday that Quick Intelligence will be their Canadian Partner to extend their delivery of critical threat intelligence, digital risk protection, and adversary disruption services in Canada.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have announced the arrest of a 31-year-old Ottawa man in connection with a number of ransomware and cyber security attacks in Canada and the United States. Matthew Philbert was arrested on November 30 after a 23-month investigation that involved the OPP, RCMP, FBI and Interpol.

If you are thinking that your business is too small to be targeted by cyber criminals, think again. Many hackers think of small businesses as “low hanging fruit,” or as easy targets, since they don’t have big cyber security budgets to prevent an attack. The statistics also prove this to be true.

Scams on social media are not uncommon, but when it comes to LinkedIn, people tend to be more willing to share personal information in the hopes of acquiring a new job or business lead. This is why you need to be even more vigilant about protecting your personal information when using LinkedIn.

For most users, passwords are all that is protecting your files, data, and apps from unauthorized access. Yet, people still tend to use passwords that are too easy to guess, and even easier for software tools to crack.

When it comes to running your business, you know that you need to be prepared. Just like we all know what to do in the event of a fire because we practice our escape plan, it is important for your business to plan and prepare for a ransomware attack.

The CBC News has recently reported on a scam targeting job seekers. The scam works by offering desperate job seekers an amazing “work from home” opportunity. They are also told that the company will send them a cheque to purchase office supplies from a third party and are instructed to e-transfer the money to that third party. The problem is that the job offer isn’t real, the cheques are bad, and once the cheque bounces, you are on the hook for the money.

The Calgary Herald has reported that the Calgary Police Service, along with the RCMP, have helped arrest members of international cyber crime family Sodinokibi. Police agency Europol says that the Sodinokibi family was responsible for 7,000 internet infections worldwide, 600 of them in Canada.

Business buzz words like “digital transformation” get thrown around a lot in conversation, but what does it really mean? Bill Schmarzo in an article for CIO Magazine defined digital transformation as the “application of digital capabilities to processes, products, and assets to improve efficiency, enhance customer value, manage risk, and uncover new monetization opportunities.” As business owners, we all want to improve efficiency while enhancing customer value, managing risk and monetizing new opportunities.

A survey by data management company, Cohesity, found that 40% of American consumers don’t want businesses to pay ransomware demands to cyber criminals. The study elicited responses from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older. Moreover, 23% of those surveyed said they'd stop doing business with a company that paid a ransom. Further 48% would consider not doing business with a company that paid a ransom.