Blue Ridge Technology

That long password isn’t keeping you better protected Conventional password wisdom says the longer the password, the better. But that’s only partly true. An unusual new finding from Specops Software is that even 15-character passwords are cracked fairly often: it’s the eighth-most common length of password to be compromised. Here’s what this new research shows, what it means for you, and the steps you can take to keep your business safe. The Findings The company evaluated over 4 billion unique compromised passwords for the study, so it’s pretty safe to trust their findings. Of those 4 billion cracked passwords, 67.7 million were 15 characters or longer. Eight-character passwords are still the most commonly compromised (the company thinks that’s because Active Directory, an older but still active Microsoft product, defaults to eight-character passwords). The Limits of the Findings Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s worth noting that these findings do have some significant l...

How to protect your webcam from spies A few years ago, news rumbled through the tech press that Mark Zuckerberg, leader of Facebook (now Meta), was doing something unusual with his MacBook. It showed up first on Twitter , and was quickly picked up by numerous outlets, eventually reaching general news markets like The New York Times and The Guardian . So, what’s the weird thing Zuck was doing? Taping over the webcam on his MacBook Pro (and the microphone, too). The reason is straightforward enough: someone as powerful as Zuckerberg doesn’t want to be caught on camera or on audio discussing trade secrets, future products, or even his personal life. And he knew then that there was at least a possibility that his webcam and microphone could be weaponized against him without his knowledge. Paranoia or Something More? So what was going on here? Did Zuckerberg know something the rest of us didn’t? Maybe. But if so, he’s never come out with it. In all likelihood, Zuckerberg didn’t know of any...

Phishing Emails: How Well Do You Trust Your Team? And Is Trust Enough? As we enter a new year, many of the digital threats targeting small businesses aren’t changing drastically. They’re just getting more sophisticated. Phishing was a top threat to your business’s cybersecurity last year, and it’s going to be this year, too. With attacks getting more and more believable and harder to detect, just how much should you trust your team to get this right? We believe business leaders should leave their digital security up to chance. Now is the time to go on the offensive. Phishing: a Refresher In case the term phishing isn’t quite ringing a bell, here’s a quick refresher. Phishing describes email-based attacks where people or groups send an email that looks like it’s coming from somewhere official (like Microsoft, a big bank, or a prominent supplier in your industry). They send you an urgent message and ask you to click a link (and usually log in). The link is malicious, though: clicking co...

You’ve probably seen the stats by now: data breaches can be massively expensive. The average cost of a breach in 2021 was $4.24 million globally, and for US companies that figure shoots up to $8.64 million (in 2020). No matter the size of your business, the financial costs of a data breach are concerning enough to get serious on your digital security. But the financial costs aren’t the sum total of what you’ll deal with in a breach. In fact, they’re only a small piece of the puzzle. Data breaches cause far more damage than just the monetary sort. Consider these hidden (and not so hidden) costs that you’ll face if your company goes through a data breach this year. 1. You Will Lose Clients First, if you encounter a data breach, you will with near certainty lose some of your clients. Your clients are expecting you to keep their information secure, and some of them will take a breach as serious enough to move on to a competitor. As a result, you’ll have to deal with the monetary costs of...

Workers are more mobile than they’ve ever been at many office-oriented businesses. Your business likely pivoted hard to a virtual or work-from-home environment thanks to the pandemic. That move was crucial at the time as it was the only way to keep work moving, even though it created its own set of security concerns (which we’ve discussed here before). Now, as the world starts to open back up, many businesses are keeping more relaxed policies in place regarding where employees work. And employees are taking advantage, working from wherever they happen to be. If you or members of your team are working on the go, being Wi-Fi aware is also crucial for your company’s security. Here’s what mobile employees (executives, too) need to know about the potential dangers of unfamiliar Wi-Fi. Be Cautious About Connecting to New Networks The first step in being Wi-Fi aware is simply to be cautious when connecting to new Wi-Fi networks. It may seem like a Wi-Fi connection is merely a way to access th...