We’re adding several layers of protection to your network.
Ransomware is the infection, that isn’t an infection, that is never going to go away. It is and will be the single biggest threat to business from now on. Ransomware uses social engineering to trick you into opening a document, click on a link, visit a webpage, view an advertisement that kicks off the encryption of your documents. The ransom holder holds the key to unencrypting your files. For a fee they will give you that key so you can regain access to your files. It is a very profitable business. Estimates are that they’ve made over $30 million dollars mostly in $300 increments so far.
In 2013, Harbor developed a ransomware prevention technique that was shared the world over. We installed it on your network back then and it’s done a very good job. In 2015, Amy has updated this into a ransomware prevention kit that addresses the increased complexity of the ways that these guys can get to you. They are getting very creative these days so we can’t say this is a 100% prevention measure but it’s as close as we can get in the ever changing landscape. We look to prevent it from running rather than trying to address the methods it comes in, since those are the social engineering tactics that constantly evolve. We are currently testing these at 3 of our clients. For everyone else we expect to have it rolled out over the course of the next 8 weeks.
Again, we’ve shared the Ransomware Prevention Kit with the world and so far over 400 IT firms have downloaded the kit and are also using it to help their clients. Ultimately I expect thousands of firms to follow our lead.
As a bonus we’ve used it to raise about $7000 so far as donations for Women in IT to gain certifications. We have a big problem in IT in that less than 1% of IT people are women. There’s a problem with not enough entering the field but also those that are in their field have difficulty getting hired. As an industry we’re trying to correct this, so this is our small contribution to the effort. Our donations are staying local going through the Focus Hope, IT training program for new Interns this summer.
We are also developing an computer use education program that focuses on teaching people safety techniques and savvy. In fact, we’ve invested in a online course that we’ll be providing you a license for as part of your contract with us for no additional charge. We’ll have more on that later as Ted and I put the finishing touches on the program.
Security is our #1 concern. With the advent of Cloud technologies, your networks have gotten much more complex and the risks are multiples of times higher than the old days when everything resided in one location behind one password, it was much easier to simpler to protect. Those days are gone and things like ransomware exploit this new reality.
– Amy
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