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Rising Cyber Attacks – What You Need to Know

by | Jan 17, 2019 | News

Cyber Attacks

Rising cyber attacks and what you can do to protect yourself and your small business.

Cyber attacks can come at any moment, in any form. It could be a scam collection call from a “loan servicer”, trying to get you to give up personal information, or it could be a spam email from “your boss” at work asking you to take action on something. Recently, a local police department in Illinois sent a warning on Facebook that several residents had reported receiving phony Apple support calls early in the new year. Per the post, they mention that scammers had been spoofing real Apple store phone numbers and notifying individuals that their Apple product was defective and needed to be replaced. 

What Information is Being Gathered?

According to CNN Business, about 1 million NEW malware threats are released every single day. Many of these cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses like yours and many are struggling to fend off these attacks as hackers get faster and more creative.  Earlier this month, Marriott reported that 500 million of their customers’ data were stolen in a breach. It is “one of the most significant data breaches in history given the size…and sensitivity of the personal information that was stolen”. Sensitive information gathered were:

  • Name
  • Mailing Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email Address
  • Passport Number
  • Account Information
  • Date of Birth
  • Gender
  • Arrival and Departure Information
  • Reservation Date
  • Communication Preferences
  • Payment Card Numbers (Encrypted)
  • Payment Card Expiration Dates

What Can be Done to Protect You and Your Small Business?

7 Critical Security Protections Every Business Must Have in PlaceThe Illinois police department shared an article on Facebook from Apple’s support site that provides tips on how to avoid these scams and to learn what to do if you think your Apple ID has been compromised. The Computer Center in Janesville, WI created a useful report that is FREE called The 7 Most Critical IT Security Protections Every Business Must Have In Place Now To Protect Themselves From Cybercrime, Data Breaches And Hacker Attacks. If interested in receiving your copy, just fill out a form to have a copy sent to you.

As a business, if you are covered under The Computer Center’s Comprehensive Care service, they will roll out updates and restart routers as needed to address the malware. If you are not covered, they recommend that you schedule preventative maintenance be performed on your router. This will take approximately 1 hour; they will install the latest firmware and ensure that the correct settings are in place to keep you safe. For more information, contact The Computer Center at (608) 755-1524.