Catalyst University 2023
Catalyst University 2023
Radisson Plaza Hotel, Kalamazoo, MI
Aunalytics to Attend 2023 Catalyst University
Aunalytics is excited attend Southwest Michigan First’s Catalyst University 2022 in Kalamazoo, MI. Aunalytics is participating as a speaker sponsor and is pleased to present Mitch Albom, who is a best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster, and musician.
Poor Document Sharing Strategies May Share Too Much Information with Bad Actors
To share documents across your organization, it may be as easy as making a single click—but that doesn’t mean they are protected from malicious actors with bad intent. One mistake and you could be leaving holes in your security fabric, allowing hackers to access your company’s shared documents.
While file storing systems are a popular and useful solution, it can be dangerous to allow everyone in your company unimpeded access to everything they contain. Important company information, and many different files, live within document sharing applications—everything from job applications and budgets to employees’ personal information—which can make them a target for hackers. Document sharing applications can be risky if your company’s security and security training are not up to speed.
How can your organization ensure shared documents remain secure?
When looking to keep your document sharing application secure there are rules you and your employees should follow to ensure quality cyber security. A few of these rules include:
1. Use a password manager
A password manager can users track a multitude of passwords, allowing for a different, complex password for each work (or personal) login and account the user maintains. Utilize this idea to organize your passwords, maintain difficult to guess passwords, and keep track of each one in a secure digital location.
2. Enable multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) requires you to perform a secondary action to finish logging into an account. MFA sends a message to a phone, or another device, providing you with a code that is needed to successfully log into your account. Without this code, anyone who has attained access to your email account cannot succeed in logging into your company’s network, even if they change your password and attempt to log in again.
3. Be choosy
Take the time to choose who can, should, and needs access to specific files and folders. If access is not essential to someone’s job, consider limiting their access to non-relevant portions of your document sharing solution. Removing access to HR or accounting files from someone who is in marketing may be a good choice to make. If someone needs a file from a location they do not have access to, many document sharing solutions allow you to create a link that expires after a certain amount of time. This link will only allow the receiver to view the file they need access to while they need access to it. After the link expires, the receiver will no longer be able to view the file.
4. Provide regular security awareness training
Regular cyber security awareness training sessions allow your employees to learn about new security concerns, kinds of attacks, and now to keep your organization safe from bad actors. Training employees to look for the signs of phishing, malware, ransomware, hackers, and security holes helps keep document sharing applications safe and secure.
When done right, document sharing is incredibly useful to every business, and can be done successfully by putting a little bit of extra effort into your cyber security planning. An experienced security partner can help keep your business safe from outside threats, allowing you peace of mind that your important files are secure and encrypted from bad actors.
Aunalytics, a secure managed services partner, can help you with everything from managing your IT services, to functioning as your SOC, and also provides advanced security services. With a focus on helping mid-market clients, Aunalytics works with you, step-by-step, to help you succeed your security goals.
How To Improve Your Company’s Security Awareness in 2023
We’ve almost made it through 2022, and with every year that passes cyberattacks become more targeted and deceitful. If your organization does not have a Security Awareness Training program in place, you may not know there’s a lot in the digital world that can cause severe distress to you, your coworkers, and your day-to-day operations. Long gone are the days where all we had to be wary of was an email asking you to help a Nigerian prince with their boatloads of money. Technology has come a long way—and so have bad actors trying to get access to your data and disrupt your business operations. Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate these risks.
Social Engineering Attacks
Spam and phishing calls, texts, and emails are everywhere we look—or hear—and these individuals craft their messages in the most believable ways. A relative in the need of some help or your supervisor asking you to buy some gift cards are some of the most common forms the phishing and spam messages might take. The constant barrage of threats requires you to keep a vigilant and informed eye on them. Before a bad actor can get access to the entire company’s vital data, an individual working in that company usually experiences an attack. The victim could be the CTO of a company, a receptionist, or the new intern—anyone is under the risk of a social engineering attack.
Scammers, hackers, and all other types of bad actors in this era of information technology are getting smarter, and we need to pull up our socks and get informed. It’s predicted that, by 2025, there will be an average of 10 devices per person, all connected to the internet and at risk of cyberattack. These devices need to be guarded—not only by cybersecurity services, but also by individual employees.
There are several types of threats out in cyberspace that bad actors deploy to gain access to an organization’s valuable data. The most common and widespread attacks are phishing, spear phishing, vishing, and smishing. Don’t be fooled by the names— these kinds of attacks pose a great deal of trouble unless they can be spotted before they have a chance to coerce or convince someone to unknowingly hurt their organization.
Phishing happens in the form of an email with malicious links or attachments that, if clicked, could give bad actors access to your system or persuade someone to divulge personal information in the form of passwords or credit card numbers. Spear phishing is a highly targeted form of phishing, aiming to attack and exploit one specific person. Spear phishing attacks typically include personal information about you that bad actors can find on social media or other online public forums. Smishing and Vishing are also phishing but in the form of a text message or a phone call.
Employees Can Fight Back By Getting Informed
Employees will need to be able to spot certain indicators that should make them pause before making a decision that might cause a security breach. Often, something will seem out of place with a phishing message, but your employees cannot know what to look for if they aren’t trained to see signs of malicious intent. Vigilance is critical in this scenario because bad actors are making sure that these markers are very difficult to spot. The information below can help employees begin to spot red flags:
- Phishing through emails is the most common form bad actors choose to work with. The following points might not seem like much at first glance, but, if combined, these are a sure sign of a phishing attack:
- Subject lines that have a sense of heightened urgency;
- From unknown and/or unexpected email addresses;
- Different ‘reply-to’ and ‘from’ email addresses;
- Unusual days and times for the email to have been sent—like after work or extremely early on a Saturday;
- Clearly noticeable grammar and spelling mistakes;
- Unnatural wording;
- Unexpected or suspicious links or attachments; or
- An offer for a reward in the form of money or gift cards in exchange for an action that that needs to be taken.
- Text messages also open organizations and people to the same security risks as emails, even though they are a different format. In the case of smishing, most of the red flags for phishing apply, but there are a few more that individuals should take note of:
- The sender claims to be a company executive or direct report with an urgent need;
- The number is different from the number that you might have saved;
- Enquiring about personal information;
- Requesting to follow a link or send money.
- Vishing attacks, or phone call scams are very prevalent and commonly tend to prey on the elderly. These are mainly seen outside the workplace, but they do still pose a threat. The following are some common signs people need to look out for in the case of a vishing attack:
- Unexpected calls from unrecognized numbers;
- Caller requesting access to a digital device to solve an issue;
- Caller threatening legal action and claiming to be from a government body, like the IRS;
- Caller claiming you are a prize winner;
- Caller requesting money in the form of gift cards or asking for personal information like bank details and credit card numbers;
- Caller impersonating an executive, co-worker, or even a family member has found themselves in deep, generic trouble—like getting into a car accident or being arrested—necessitating immediate cash transfers, money wires, and more to get them out of trouble or harm’s way.
Organizations should put a Security Awareness Training program in place to help their employees gain knowledge and experience a behavioral transformation, which would further impact their ability to avoid causing breaches in your organization’s network. Such initiatives ensure everyone in the company is aware of the risks that exist in the digital landscape, and they make decisions that are in the best interests of the organization’s overall security. Each employee is responsible for their organization’s cybersecurity, and if they treat all the information they have access to as a section of the overall information system, the overall system will have significantly higher chances of being secure. If your organization would like to learn more about implementing a Security Awareness Training program, contact Aunalytics today.
Cyber Insurance Continues to Skyrocket—Do You Have a Security Strategy in Place?
Cyber Insurance Continues to Skyrocket—Do You Have a Documentable Security Strategy in Place to Show You’re Prepared?
Cyber risk is a growing critical concern for organizations of all sizes and public entities globally, as we continue to rely on information technology and digital devices. But in the wake of steadily rising digital threats, cyber insurance is getting increasingly expensive—and difficult—for companies to procure.
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Cyber Insurance Continues to Skyrocket—Do You Have a Security Strategy in Place?
Cyber Insurance Continues to Skyrocket—Do You Have a Documentable Security Strategy in Place to Show You’re Prepared?
Cyber risk is a growing critical concern for organizations of all sizes and public entities globally, as we continue to rely on information technology and digital devices. But in the wake of steadily rising digital threats, cyber insurance is getting increasingly expensive—and difficult—for companies to procure.
Increasingly Difficult Security Requirements Complicate Cyber Insurance Renewal
Have you received a cyber insurance renewal notice with a shocking sticker price? With an ever-increasing number of security incidents involving data breaches, ransomware, phishing scams and more, the cyber insurance landscape has changed. It’s no longer possible to get premium discounts for implementing certain security controls—more is now required. And, without enhanced security measures, you may not get cyber insurance at all.
Threats evolve over time, meaning your security posture needs to evolve in order to not only remain operational, but also be compliant to qualify for most insurance policies.
Insurance companies are now requiring more precautionary measures than ever before due to the constant—and costly—increase of threats. Premiums are increasing and coverage is being denied even for companies that have no history of breaches or claims—cyber insurance renewal rates have increased by up to 200% over the past two years, even for companies who have not made any claims.
The average cost of a data breach has raised from a massive $3.86 million in 2020 to a staggering $4.24 million in 2022.
The Solution
With the risks of operating in an increasingly digital world, cyber insurance is essential for your business to function and remain protected in the event of an attack. Aunalytics’ Advanced Security experts have the talent and technology to audit your security and discuss precautionary measures an insurance company may want you to take before renewal. With a dedicated team, your business can avoid costly data breaches, ransomware, and get your security up to snuff.
Are you ready to assess your security before your company is the victim of a bad actor, costing you upward $4.24 million dollars? See if an audit by our security experts makes sense, and whether your insurance company has outright dictated (or hinted by their renewal questionnaires) new precautionary measures that they expect your enterprise to adopt to obtain coverage.
Aunalytics Brings Its Portfolio of Managed Services, Enterprise Cloud, and Data Cleansing Solutions to Taste of IT Conference in Ohio
Leading Data Management and Analytics Company to Join More Than 400 IT Professionals for a Day of Networking and Learning
South Bend, IN (November 15, 2022) – Aunalytics, a leading data management and analytics company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, will feature its managed services, enterprise cloud, and data cleansing portfolio at the Taste of IT Conference on November 16, 2022. The one-day event, which will be attended by more than 400 IT professionals, will be held at the Sinclair Conference Center in Dayton, Ohio.
Aunalytics provides IT and security expertise to mid-market businesses in the areas of 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.
As data continues to expand exponentially, the challenge of data cleansing is rapidly becoming more difficult, as well as expensive. Aunalytics’ Aunsight™ Golden Record turns siloed data from disparate systems into a single source of truth across the organization. Powered with data accuracy, the cloud-native platform cleanses data to reduce errors, and Golden Record as a Service matches and merges data together into a single source of accurate business information, giving users access to consistent, trusted data across the organization in real-time. With this self-service offering, users can unify all their data to ensure enterprise-wide consistency and better decision making.
“IT executives want practical, real-world knowledge about business changing technology and management solutions that are absolutely critical to drive their businesses forward,” said Robert Lizotte, Local Market Leader, Columbus Region, Aunalytics. “As digital transformation continues to be a high priority for many organizations, our portfolio of managed services, enterprise cloud, and data cleansing solutions provides the tools they need to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We look forward to participating at a Taste of IT and demonstrating how Aunalytics can help IT professionals advance their business success.”
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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. Aunalytics’ data management 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
Don’t Ghost Your Network—Begin Your Security Maturity Journey
Is your security keeping up with the rapidly changing threat landscape? If not, your security is becoming more obsolete by the day—and more vulnerable to scary things like hackers and ransomware by the second. When a company is fully protected with the most up to date hardware, software, monitoring, and consistent patching it begins to reach security maturity.
Security maturity is a consistent state of awareness concerning your network security and can only be achieved when you:
- Have an SOC to monitor and remediate threats
- Have looped vulnerability management
- Employ active defense with security intelligence from multiple sources to protect applications, networks, servers and workstations
- Are willing to adapt your security environment to new and changing threats on a constant basis, and more.
Be Proactive
Instead of relying on a passive security model—or worse, waiting until after a companywide infection—take an active role in your company’s security. The main goal of security maturity is to avoid or reduce the number of security incidents haunting your network. It’s kind of like painting San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. As soon as the painting crew gets from one end to the other with a fresh coat of paint, it is time to start again to repaint the bridge. Security maturity requires constant action and change as your organization adapts to protect against the latest evolving threats.
We all observed remote work access change security and IT on a mass scale in 2020, and security changes continue to become more necessary as bad actors and threats become more and more dangerous to your business as it continues to grow and change—and more dangerous for your customers to do business with you.
October WSJ headlines highlight a Chicago healthcare system, one of the largest in the U.S., being the victim of ransomware that is forcing it to shut down electronic records, systems, and cancel patient appointments. It is now working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity experts to remediate. A security maturity journey is hard to make on your own, and a good partner can ensure you are meeting the highest security standards possible. Here at Aunalytics, we include security in everything we do because we believe it is a basic building block of IT.
Find A Trusted Security Partner
Without a secure network, you cannot even begin to consider moving further into a security maturity journey. Fortunately, a partner can give you the peace of mind that you will be working with a talented security team that is watching your network 24/7/365, helping to ensure bad actors are caught and eradicated before your company is compromised.
A standard, one size fits all security solution simply doesn’t work anymore—it often leaves cracks, holes, and even chasms for hackers and cyberattacks to slip through. You can improve your journey from cybersecurity to security maturity with a trusted partner.
Click here to learn more.
