The State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2022 - PDF
The State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2022
Government Agencies Need Proactive Security Plans in Place to Defend Against Ransomware
Cyberattacks are increasing across all industries, but for state and local governments and government agencies, the threat is imminent. Attackers are becoming more sophisticated and use a wide variety of tactics to infiltrate organizations. Now, more than ever, a proactive security posture is imperative to avoid the loss of sensitive data and costly downtime.
The Stats
With 58% of local and state governments reporting a ransomware attack within the last year, government agencies became one of the most heavily affected groups – second only to academia – in 2021, according to the FBI.
It’s not cheap when government offices fall victim to a ransomware attack. Often agencies are attacked by complex cyberattacks that are difficult to detect and even more difficult to remove while keeping your data safe and your services uninterrupted.
Ransomware isn’t uncommon, but that doesn’t stop your agency from going down for an extended period of time—downtime that cost local and state government entities an estimated $623,700,000 in 2021, reports EMSISOFT in an August, 2022 article.
The Solution
A Security Operations Center (SOC) is becoming a necessity for government agencies of all levels. With the government sector being a prime target for hackers and cyberattacks, it’s imperative that proactive security is in place to protect your confidential data. With a continually increasing threat landscape, having security that can stand up to the worst of bad actors is a must. An SOC takes care of things for you.
Why an SOC? An SOC can answer threats before they slip into your network and servers—before important data has been stolen by the bad actor. Does your organization have an SOC? If not, your agency is falling behind and your security is not up to date, meaning it may not protect you from all cyberattacks that will try to injure your network.
SOCs can be expensive and complex to build, and even harder to fill with talent. Even with the short supply of talented security engineers, most entities cannot afford to compete with the money big names like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook offer, but it doesn’t mean you should go without an SOC.
Getting Help
FedRAMP certification is a long, difficult process, upon which a service provider becomes an expert in providing a secure platform to manage credentials, vendors, workforce, and more. A FedRAMP certified company can best protect your data and uphold your privacy, security, and confidentiality.
Aunalytics is proud to be one of a select few to be FedRAMP ready certified in the Midwest, meaning we have achieved compliance to meet FedRAMP security standards.
With the security standards that FedRAMP certification requires—and a proven history of working with local governments throughout the Midwest – we have tools and talent to protect your data with the most up to date security practices with our Advanced Security service. With an ever-changing landscape that always includes threats, a trustworthy security partner can help keep your data safe, using 24/7/365 threat and vulnerability scanning, allowing us to find and stop bad actors before they ever access your network.
Aunalytics to Showcase Its Portfolio of Managed Services, Enterprise Cloud, and Data Cleansing Solutions for IT Professionals at the 2022 Mi-GMIS Fall Conference in September
Leading Data Management and Analytics Company Provides the Tools Michigan IT Pros Need to Improve Operational Efficiencies and Provide the Highest Levels of IT Security to Their Organizations
South Bend, IN (September 15, 2022) - Aunalytics, a leading data management and analytics company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, announced today it will participate in the 2022 Mi-GMIS Fall Conference on September 18-21 in Boyne Falls, Michigan. The event is hosted by the Michigan Government Management Information Sciences and will bring together government IT professionals across the state of Michigan whose role is to meet the informational needs of their organization’s employees and to play an instrumental part in achieving organizational goals using IT resources. The conference program is designed to keep IT professionals abreast of best practices and industry trends, and how they can be applied to their organizations productively and economically.
Aunalytics will feature its managed services, enterprise cloud, and data cleansing portfolio. The company provides IT and security expertise to mid-market businesses in the areas of cities and local government, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. The company’s Secure Managed Services offering combines mission critical IT services leveraging zero-trust end-to-end security to ensure data is protected regardless of a user’s location. Aunalytics provides managed components that offer stability and security, and its next-generation managed services offering is powered by a data platform that provides data-driven IT answers and embedded security that focuses on people and access.
The full suite of managed IT and integrated security services empowers businesses with a complete, all-encompassing approach that includes 24/7/365 monitoring and management, a synchronized network security platform, workstation and server patching, internet protection, email filtering and security, Office 365 management and security, multi-factor authentication, data and device encryption management, and security awareness training.
The company delivers advanced security for defending against modern threats through a team of engineers and analysts with expert skills and toolsets and, in regulated industries, Aunalytics provides the additional technology and controls required to manage risk. Its team of experts is dedicated to analyzing ever-changing rules and regulations and helping users to create processes and policies for data protection and meet compliance requirements within those industries that are regulated.
Aunalytics’ Enterprise Cloud offering is comprised of infrastructure solutions that provide a highly redundant and scalable platform for hosting servers, data, analytics and applications at any performance level. With the Aunalytics® Cloud Storage and Compute solution, users are assured the highest levels of security, accessibility, expertise, scalability, and savings. Aunalytics’ data centers, located in Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan, meet the most rigorous standards for security, weather protection, temperature and humidity controls, fire suppression and more.
The company’s cloud offering has achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Ready status and is actively working toward FedRAMP certification. Certified cloud-based products help U.S. federal agencies meet increasingly complex regulations and defend against cybersecurity threats, prevent data loss, enforce compliance, and protect agency domains.
“Government IT professionals across the state of Michigan face similar challenges and opportunities, and are eager for real-world knowledge about emerging technology and management solutions,” said Steven Burdick, Vice President Sales – Cloud, Aunalytics. “Our portfolio of managed services, enterprise cloud, and data cleansing solutions provides the tools they need to improve operational efficiencies and provide the highest levels of IT security. We look forward to meeting with IT pros at the Mi-GMIS Fall Conference and demonstrating how Aunalytics can help them meet the needs of employees and advance their organizations’ goals.”
Tweet this: .@Aunalytics to Showcase Its Portfolio of Managed Services, Enterprise Cloud, and Data Cleansing Solutions for IT Professionals at the 2022 Mi-GMIS Fall Conference in September #Informationtechnology #Managedservices #Enterprisecloud #Datacleansing #Dataplatform #Dataintegration #Dataaccuracy #Digitaltransformation #ITsecurity #Securitytechnology
About Aunalytics
Aunalytics is a leading data management and analytics company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-sized businesses and enterprises. Selected for the prestigious Inc. 5000 list for two consecutive years as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies, Aunalytics offers managed IT services and managed analytics services, private cloud services, and a private cloud-native data platform for data management and analytics. The platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics and AI – unifying distributed data silos into a single source of truth for highly accurate, actionable business information. Its DaybreakTM industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI for accurate mission-critical insights. To solve the talent gap that so many mid-sized businesses and enterprises located in secondary markets face, Aunalytics’ side-by-side digital transformation model provides the technical talent needed for data management and analytics success in addition to its innovative technologies and tools. To learn more contact us at +1 855-799-DATA or visit Aunalytics at https://www.aunalytics.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.
PR Contact
Denise Nelson
The Ventana Group for Aunalytics
(925) 858-5198
dnelson@theventanagroup.com
Workstation and Server Patching Allows for Better Security, Helps Curb Cyberattacks
A “patch” is a set of changes to a computer program designed to update, fix, or improve it. Typically, patches are meant to improve the functionality, performance, or usability of a program. Patches can include everything from bug fixes for glitches in the programming to security patches for vulnerabilities.
It’s easy for something—or someone—to slip through the cracks in your security. As a result, this leaves your organization vulnerable to attack without the right security patches. In a world where ransomware costs a company an average of $4.54 million per attack—before the cost of paying the ransom—patches are essential to the security of any organization, from midsized companies to large enterprises. Undoubtedly, patches give your network the security it needs most.
Why patch?
Patching ensures your servers and workstations have thorough protection from the latest security threats—stopping threats as they emerge. Therefore, threats that would have taken out your company for an extended period are no longer a concern with proper security patching.
But patching can be difficult to manage, keep track of, and update promptly. Setting up and coordinating manual patching across an organization can feel like a nightmare, taking days to organize, schedule, and execute across your entire company.
Crucial for Company Security
Workstation and server patching is crucial, stopping devastating malware attacks, like WannaCry, in their tracks. McKinsey cites good patch management as a top proactive maintenance measure that can help your organization prevent cyberattacks.
Knowing the priority level for patch installment can be confusing, leading to poor patch management. Therefore, enlisting the help of a partner to employ security patching best-practices can be a boon to many organizations. Since Aunalytics is well-versed on patching, patch installments are timed to avoid as many bugs as possible, and patches are prioritized in order of importance. Patching keeps those who would hurt your business at arm’s length—and with Aunalytics, you don’t have to worry about patching your workstations and servers yourself, you will have a trusted partner to back you up.
We believe security is so important that we embed it into our Advanced Security offering, helping your business thrive at no additional cost to you. Gain peace of mind and eliminate technical worries with Aunalytics.
2022 Technology First Golf Outing
2022 Technology First Golf Outing
PipeStone Golf Club, Miamisburg, OH
Aunalytics is Proud to Attend the Technology First Golf Outing as Drink Cart and Hole Sponsor
Aunalytics is proud to participate in the Technology First Golf Outing benefiting the Technology First Scholarship Fund. Aunalytics is a leader in offering managed IT services and security solutions to mid-market companies in the western Ohio region and beyond, and is excited to participate in an event that benefits young people interested in information technology-related fields.
2022 Mi-GMIS Fall Conference
2022 Mi-GMIS Fall Conference
Boyne Mountain Resort, Boyne Falls, MI
Aunalytics is Proud to Attend the 2022 Mi-GMIS Conference as a Silver Sponsor
Aunalytics is proud to participate in the 2022 Michigan Government Management Information Systems (Mi-GMIS) Conference as a Silver Sponsor. Aunalytics will be sponsoring the Vendor Happy Hour on Monday, September 19th from 4-6pm, and will also be showcasing our Secure Managed Services IT offering as well as our Advanced Security solution at our exhibit booth.
4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection
4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection
When the working world went remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many never returned to the office. This created new data-security challenges for many businesses, with an increasing amount of sensitive data now being stowed in the cloud, and workers continuing to access company data from off-site locations.
How safe is cloud security, which now often relies on “zero trust” security principles based on a user’s location rather than user credentials? While some worry that cloud security is less reliable than on-premise security, that’s not actually the case, particularly for mid-market businesses. The fact is that your data is actually more secure in a remote data center managed by security experts than by your in-house IT team.
You may feel a false sense of security by having your IT department guard your servers in a closet — but this strategy is extremely risky when it comes to data protection. It’s not standard for mid-market IT departments to possess expert skills in cloud security and data security, which are needed to properly safeguard data. Many mid-market companies, particularly those not in highly regulated industries, do not currently have Security Operations Centers.
To read more, please fill out the form below:
4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection
4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection
When the working world went remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many never returned to the office. This created new data-security challenges for many businesses, with an increasing amount of sensitive data now being stowed in the cloud, and workers continuing to access company data from off-site locations.
How safe is cloud security, which now often relies on “zero trust” security principles based on a user’s location rather than user credentials? While some worry that cloud security is less reliable than on-premise security, that’s not actually the case, particularly for mid-market businesses. The fact is that your data is actually more secure in a remote data center managed by security experts than by your in-house IT team.
You may feel a false sense of security by having your IT department guard your servers in a closet — but this strategy is extremely risky when it comes to data protection. It’s not standard for mid-market IT departments to possess expert skills in cloud security and data security, which are needed to properly safeguard data. Many mid-market companies, particularly those not in highly regulated industries, do not currently have Security Operations Centers.
What’s more, it came to light at the end of 2021 that cyber-insurance renewals are becoming at times prohibitively expensive for all industries due to the exponential increase in cyber-attacks seen last year. The only way for mid-market companies in all industries to lower cyber-insurance premiums and ensure coverage is to implement enhanced data security measures.
Since data protection has become the most prevalent challenge in the cybersecurity market, it’s no surprise to see that according to Insights for Professionals, data protection is the main focus in 2022 for 85 percent of businesses surveyed; 37 percent plan to invest up to $500,000 on data protection in 2022, and 31 percent plan to invest more than $500,000 on data protection over the next 18 months. McKinsey also reports that 85 percent of midsize enterprises plan to boost their IT security spend until 2023.
All-Time High Cybercrime
Still, it would be misleading to imply that cloud security comes with no challenges. One of the biggest ongoing concerns are ransomware attacks, which increased over 105 percent in 2021. Cybercriminals continue to attain new levels of sophistication, with payment demands skyrocketing into tens of millions of dollars. According to McKinsey, the costs related to cybercrime will continue to ascend in the coming years, with a 15 percent yearly increase leading to cybercrime costs reaching $10.5 trillion a year in 2025. Looking ahead over the next decade, by 2031, Cybersecurity Ventures estimates ransomware costs alone should reach $265 billion.
McKinsey reports that there are multiple motivations for these attacks, headed by the fact that pandemic-weary companies have become ripe for security vulnerabilities. Also, as advancing digitization continues to drive connectivity and employees now log in from anywhere — including unsecured home networks — it makes life easier for ransomware hackers. The traditional smash and grab approach is now being replaced with bad actors “dwelling” undetected within victims’ environments, which gives cybercriminals the lay of the land in understanding where the highest value information resides before selling it to the highest bidder.
Another motivation for the continued attacks is their success: as more companies are forced to pay ransoms, hackers are further incentivized to build on their well-paid victories and continue innovating on this lucrative threat. Specific sectors are particularly at risk; keep in mind that in the U.S., supply-chain attacks rose 42 percent in Q1 of 2021, victimizing as many as 7 million people, while McKinsey shared that “security threats against industrial control systems and operational technology more than tripled in 2020.” The war in Ukraine has taught us lessons about attacks compromising infrastructure, utilities and government that can debilitate nations and be weaponized.
Paying Up
These massive numbers can seem overwhelming, and can also make it difficult to tell how much a ransomware attack can affect an individual company. To give you some perspective, consider these stats:
- NPR reported that Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom after the company shut down operations.
- CNBC reported that global meat producer JBS paid ransomware hackers $11 million.
- Insider reported that global insurance provider CNA Financial forked over a reported mind-blowing $40 million post-cyber-attack.
- The Washington Post reported that a ransomware attack on U.S. software provider Kaseya targeted the firm’s remote-computer-management tool and endangered up to 2,000 companies globally.
These costs are also just the tip of the iceberg for the companies victimized by ransomware hackers. Additional costs of such an attack include everything from paying third parties (like legal, PR, and negotiation firms), not to mention the opportunity costs of having executives, staff, and teams disconnected from their day-to-day roles for weeks or months to deal with the attack’s aftermath. Perhaps the biggest unaccounted-for expense is the resulting lost revenue.
Ask These 4 Questions
What can mid-market companies do in the face of these threats to their data’s safety? They should focus on strategies that address ransomware prevention, preparation, response, and recovery. Since this is an ongoing journey, threats continue to evolve and improve — so it’s critical to keep up to date with new threats of increasing sophistication, while being ready with cybersecurity strategies and best practices. The goal is to continue to build cyber maturity that creates a resilient approach. You may not be able to stop attacks from occurring, but when they do, they won’t have the same impact if you’ve prepared in this way.
As a starting point, these are four questions that every mid-market company should ask itself to determine the organization’s readiness for data defense:
- When it comes to our people, do we have security focused IT leadership, trained cloud security experts, and data security experts?
- When it comes to our process, do we have defined IT security processes for proactively managing the security posture of our environments?
- When it comes to our technology, are we 100 percent confident in our security tech and our ability to actively monitor and detect threats around the clock?
- When it comes to our cloud architecture, are we confident that it allows for scalability without sacrificing security assurances?
If the answer is “no” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, it is time to get your house in order — you are at risk. To stay alive, compete, and drive value, mid-market companies should shift their focus to data analytics, data management, security, and compliance. This requires a cloud-based data center, a cloud-native data management platform, and cloud-native analytics. Ensuring the right infrastructure to maximize the capabilities of data centers — and how they are able to manage and store data — is crucial to effective mid-market digital transformation.
Aunalytics Selected for Inc. Magazine’s 5000 List of the Nation’s Fastest-growing Private Companies for Two Years in a Row
Leading Cloud Data Management & Analytics Company Demonstrates Continued Momentum With its Focus on Helping Mid-market Businesses Accelerate Their Digital Transformation
South Bend, IN (August 18, 2022) - Aunalytics, a leading data management and analytics company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, has been named by Inc. magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies included in its annual Inc. 5000 list. This marks the second consecutive year that Aunalytics earned a spot on the prestigious ranking, representing a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.
“The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.”
The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 500, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144 percent. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years.
Aunalytics offers a robust, cloud-native platform built to deliver enterprise data management, powerful analytics, and AI-driven answers. From the onset, Aunalytics has been dedicated to empowering enterprise and mid-sized businesses located in secondary and tertiary markets, with advanced data management and analytics tools. Typically in these markets, the technical talent needed to use, maintain, and achieve value from the solution is scarce. Aunalytics provides its technology as a managed service paired with the expert talent needed to achieve ROI.
The analytics portion of the platform represents Aunalytics’ unique ability to unify all the elements necessary to process data and deliver AI end-to-end, from cloud infrastructure to data acquisition, organization, and machine learning models – all managed and run by Aunalytics as a secure managed service. Aunalytics continues to gain traction in industries such as financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing where companies are challenged with undertaking the digital transformation required to succeed in the modern world.
“We’re thrilled to be selected for the Inc. 5000 two years in a row – this truly demonstrates the accelerated growth Aunalytics has experienced as a result of providing advanced talent and tools that are typically not affordable for mid-market businesses,” said Rich Carlton, President of Aunalytics. “Our goal from the very beginning has been to address the midsize business sector and we remain committed to serving the best interests of our customers in this category because it is so critical for both innovation and the economy.”
Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.
Tweet this: .@Aunalytics Selected for Inc. Magazine’s 5000 List of the Nation’s Fastest-growing Private Companies for Second Consecutive Year #Inc5000 #Dataplatform #Dataanalytics #Dataintegration #Dataaccuracy #AdvancedAnalytics #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Masterdatamanagement #MDM #DataScientist #MachineLearning #ML #DigitalTransformation #FinancialServices
About Inc.
The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
For more information on the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, visit https://conference.inc.com/.
About Aunalytics
Aunalytics is a data platform company delivering answers for your business. Aunalytics provides Insights-as-a-Service to answer enterprise and mid-sized companies’ most important IT and business questions. The Aunalytics® cloud-native data platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics and AI while unifying disparate data silos into a single golden record of accurate, actionable business information. Its DaybreakTM industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI to ensure access to timely, accurate data and answers to critical business and IT questions. Through its side-by-side digital transformation model, Aunalytics provides on-demand scalable access to technology, data science, and AI experts to seamlessly transform customers’ businesses. To learn more contact us at +1 855-799-DATA or visit Aunalytics at https://www.aunalytics.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.
PR Contact:
Denise Nelson
The Ventana Group for Aunalytics
(925) 858-5198
dnelson@theventanagroup.com
Aunalytics Extends Its Presence in Greater Columbus Area
Leading Data Platform Provider Joins One Columbus Organization to Help Foster Economic Development in the 11-County Region, and Is a Featured Presenter at a Cybersecurity Forum in Sydney on August 19
South Bend, IN (August 17, 2022) - Aunalytics, a leading data platform company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, announced today its membership in One Columbus, the economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus, Ohio region. With an office in Bellefontaine, Aunalytics is committed to contributing its resources to foster the economic well-being of the broader Columbus region.
Working with local and state partners, One Columbus serves as the business location resource for companies across Central Ohio and around the world as they grow, innovate, and compete within the global economy. Its mission is to lead a comprehensive regional growth strategy that develops and attracts the world’s most competitive companies, grows a highly adaptive workforce, prepares its communities for the future, and inspires corporate, academic and public innovation throughout the greater Columbus area.
“As with other regions of the country, the organizations in the Greater Columbus area are interested in increasing their competitive advantage through digital transformation,” said Robert Lizotte, Ohio Local Market Leader for Aunalytics. “As a member of One Columbus, we look forward to demonstrating how this shift can be accomplished in a more secure and efficient way to drive a higher return on business initiatives.”
Aunalytics also announced that its Chief Security Officer, Kerry Vickers, will speak in Sydney, Ohio at the Sydney Shelby Chamber of Commerce cybersecurity forum, “Do You Have a Plan?” on August 19, at 8amET. Vickers is one of nine subject matter experts who will outline the threats and the measures that can be taken to mitigate cyber invasions which occur on a daily basis, to organizations large and small.
Tweet this: .@Aunalytics Extends Its Presence in Greater Columbus Area #Cybersecurity #FinancialServices #Banks #CreditUnions #Dataplatform #DataAnalytics #Dataintegration #Dataaccuracy #AdvancedAnalytics #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Masterdatamanagement #MDM #DataScientist #MachineLearning #ML #DigitalTransformation #FinancialServices
About Aunalytics
Aunalytics is a data platform company delivering answers for your business. Named a Digital Innovator by analyst firm Intellyx, and selected for the prestigious Inc. 5000 list two years in a row, Aunalytics provides Insights-as-a-Service to answer enterprise and mid-sized companies’ most important IT and business questions. The Aunalytics® cloud-native data platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics and AI while unifying disparate data silos into a single golden record of accurate, actionable business information. Its DaybreakTM industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI to ensure access to timely, accurate data and answers to critical business and IT questions. Through its side-by-side digital transformation model, Aunalytics provides on-demand scalable access to technology, data science, and AI experts to seamlessly transform customers’ businesses. To learn more contact us at +1 855-799-DATA or visit Aunalytics at https://www.aunalytics.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.
PR Contact:
Denise Nelson
The Ventana Group for Aunalytics
(925) 858-5198
dnelson@theventanagroup.com
