Blue Ridge Technology

Most ransomware victims would pay up if attacked again If you read much in the news — or in tech news specifically — it’s easy to grow a little numb to the constant reporting of digital threats and attacks on businesses. This is especially true if your business has yet to face a cyberattack: your policies and practices have gotten you by so far, so they must be good enough … right? The truth is, ransomware attacks are a threat, one that businesses like yours must take seriously now, not once you’ve already been attacked. How Ransomware Attacks Work Ransomware attacks can start like any other digital threat. Bad actors could go on a phishing expedition and steal the credentials of an unwitting employee. (We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: two-factor or multifactor authentication eliminates the vast majority of phishing threats.) Or threat actors could identify a vulnerability in your system through more sophisticated computer wizardry. Whatever way the bad guys find a way i...

Your building is only as strong as its weakest point of security. The same goes for your network and digital infrastructure. Your firewall is the most significant piece of your IT security system. But how strong is it, really? You’d never dream of leaving the doors to your corporate office wide open and unmonitored overnight. No, instead you take every reasonable precaution to prevent break-ins and theft. But far too many SMBs leave the “digital doors” open or very weakly secured. Is your company one of them? Many small companies don’t even have a real firewall, and if they do, it’s not configured well. Even many medium-sized businesses don’t implement a more robust UTM firewall. Or, again, if they have one, it’s not properly configured. UTM firewalls are more robust and more powerful, providing all sorts of additional security benefits. In recent years, costs have dropped significantly as well. Today, nearly every SMB can afford to implement this better technology. Not sure whether sw...