Posts by Deborah Brooks
When Disaster Strikes, Will Your Backup Be Ready?
Did you know that 140,000 hard drives in the US fail each week? If you’re in charge of protecting valuable business data, this number should scare you – especially if you aren’t certain about the reliability of your backups. Disaster can come in all shapes and sizes, from end-of-life hardware failure to human error to…
Read MoreDon’t Let Your City Be Held for Ransom
CSO explains why governments are becoming an increasingly large target for ransomware attacks, and it’s no surprise why. As we discussed previously, small IT teams and small budgets set up some difficult conditions for data protection. City, county, and other municipal government offices are vulnerable for a number of reasons. They have lots of sensitive data…
Read MoreHow to Solve the Problem of Ransomware in a GDPR World
Lately, we have been engaging in a very concerted educational effort in two very important areas: ransomware and GDPR. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), of course, covers the protection and privacy of the personal data of EU citizens. Ransomware, certainly, is a nightmare. Attacks have been increasing and hitting cities with huge ransoms so they can start…
Read MoreHow Data Governance Addresses the Risks of Data Residency and Sovereignty
Do you have a solid data governance plan in place? Is it up-to-date? Do you have a process for achieving it? If not, you might be at risk aggravating the current data residency and data sovereignty rules and regulations. With your eye on IT upgrades, data management, and the constant day-to-day interruptions, data governance might…
Read MoreWhat Different Industries Need to Do to Defend Against Ransomware
By 2021, cybercrime activity is predicted to cause $6 trillion in damages – but it doesn’t affect each industry equally. Several recent articles have identified the industries most frequently hit by ransomware attacks, so if you work in one of these fields, it’s time to get vigilant. Read on to find out if your industry has…
Read MoreOntario Municipalities Still not Ready for a Ransomware Attack
I had a great time last week at the MISA Ontario Annual Conference in Niagara Falls. We chatted with visitors about privacy compliance and ransomware protection and made over 150 specialty coffees, thanks to our friends at LatteBooth. Hopefully, those who visited our booth took away more than just a complimentary coffee! Our ransomware solution…
Read MoreHow to Stay Safe From Ransomware
In the time it took for you to open this document and start reading it, a new ransomware variant has been developed. Every 18 seconds! And unfortunately, these new ransomware variants are intelligently developed and deployed. It is unlikely that your data is sufficiently protected to stop this new breed of ransomware. They first target…
Read MoreCompliance Is a Word You Are Going to Keep Hearing
If you are not familiar with the new compliance regulations, it’s time to take note. Europe (GDPR), Japan (APII), Singapore (PDPA), and recently California (CCPA) have announced sweeping regulations governing personally-identifiable information (PII). The acronyms for these compliance regulations are almost as bad as the fines attached to them. Europe’s GDPR has fines starting at…
Read MoreBackup Software and Intrusion Detection Aren’t Enough – Here’s Why
Theses are statements I often hear: “I have backup software, so my data is safe” “Our backups are secure because they are offsite” “We will know if we get hit with ransomware” Wrong, wrong, and wrong! Read on. That last statement stands out as famous last words to the tune of $3.7 million. According to…
Read MoreMunicipal IT Security Is Top of Mind at MISA Infosec, but Few Are Prepared
The rise in cyberattacks on local and municipal governments was the focus of the recent MISA Ontario Infosec conference held in October, and we at ioFABRIC learned a lot. Unfortunately, what we learned wasn’t all good. The event attracts municipal IT professionals and managers, and we talked to most attendees about their information security strategies.…
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