Quick Intelligence Blog

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.

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.

Multifactor authentication uses a combination of two or more methods to authenticate who you are. These methods include something you know, something you have and something you are. To break it down further, the something you know could be a password or security questions, the something you have could be a token or code sent via SMS, and the something you are usually involves biometrics (fingerprint or facial recognition).

You’ve seen some of the headlines regarding big cyber security breaches. Colonial Pipeline paid a huge ransom to get their data back and get the gas flowing again. JBS Meat also suffered an attack that shut down production for days.

One of the biggest stories of 2021 has been the big increase in ransomware attacks. While not a new phenomenon, it seems that attacks are happening more frequently, with Barracuda researchers on reporting that they’ve identified and analyzed 121 ransomware incidents so far in 2021, a 64 percent increase in attacks. The ransom demands also keep getting bigger, with Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 reporting an 82% increase in the amount of the average ransom.

Just about everything you do online requires a password. Passwords make sense in that you don’t want someone to access, say, your bank account. But what is the best way to create a strong password?