How AI Will Impact Cyber Attacks and Security

Within cyber security, the integration of Artificial Intelligence is a game-changer, enhancing the ability to detect and respond to threats swiftly and efficiently.

AI's role extends from automating complex processes to identifying patterns in data that may indicate potential security breaches.

The importance of cybersecurity for AI integration cannot be overstated; as AI systems become more integral to business operations, ensuring these systems are secure is paramount to prevent malicious exploits that could compromise sensitive information or disrupt services.

The Dual Nature of AI in Cyber Security

Artificial Intelligence in cyber security embodies a dual nature, serving both as a powerful ally and a potential adversary.

AI significantly bolsters cyber security defences, automating threat detection and response, and providing advanced analytics to predict and mitigate potential breaches. But at the same time, technological advancements empower cyber attackers, enabling them to devise sophisticated threats that can learn and adapt, making detection and prevention increasingly challenging.

This duality underscores the evolving landscape of cyber threats and defences.

Potential Cyber Threats Facilitated by AI

Artificial intelligence represents a shift, possessing a dual nature that both fortifies defences and elevates the sophistication of threats. AI's capability to automate attacks marks a significant evolution in cyber threats, enabling malicious actors to execute large-scale operations with unprecedented speed and efficiency. These automated systems, powered by AI, can swiftly adapt to countermeasures, making them formidable enemies against traditional security protocols.

AI Social Engineering

AI's prowess in mimicking human behavior and communication has revolutionised social engineering tactics.

By leveraging natural language processing and machine learning, AI can craft highly convincing phishing emails and messages that closely mimic legitimate communications, making it increasingly challenging for individuals to discern malicious intent.

This level of sophistication in phishing attacks not only enhances their success rate but also signifies a shift towards more personalised and targeted cyber threats.

Large Scale Data

AI-driven tools can analyse vast datasets to identify potential vulnerabilities and craft attack vectors that are highly tailored to their targets. This capacity for personalised threat creation makes AI an invaluable asset in the arsenal of cybercriminals, necessitating a corresponding leap in the sophistication of cybersecurity defences to mitigate these advanced threats effectively.

The AI Cyber Attacks That Could Impact Your Business

The integration of AI into cyber operations has significantly altered the risk landscape for businesses. This evolution presents both opportunities and challenges in safeguarding digital assets. Traditional cybersecurity approaches, which often rely on predefined rules and historical threat databases, are increasingly inadequate against AI-driven threats. These threats are characterised by their adaptability, speed, and the ability to learn from and circumvent conventional defence mechanisms.

The dynamic nature of AI-driven threats necessitates a reevaluation of cyber security strategies. Businesses must now contend with attacks that can rapidly evolve, using AI to analyse defences and devise new infiltration methods. This constant arms race between threat actors and defenders underscores the need for adaptive, intelligent security solutions that can anticipate and neutralise threats in real-time.

Case studies highlight the tangible impact of AI-driven cyber attacks on businesses. For instance, sophisticated phishing schemes using AI to mimic trusted contacts have led to significant financial losses and data breaches.

AI-powered ransomware attacks have become more targeted, leveraging machine learning to identify and encrypt the most critical business data, thereby increasing the pressure on organisations to pay ransoms.

To navigate this enhanced risk landscape, businesses must invest in advanced AI-driven security tools and adopt a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to cybersecurity. Emphasising continuous monitoring, threat intelligence, and predictive analytics can help in identifying potential vulnerabilities before they are exploited, thereby fortifying defences against the ever-evolving threat posed by malicious AI applications.

Defending Your Business Against AI Cyber Attacks

To effectively defend your business against AI-driven cyber threats, it's important to build a cyber security strategy that leverages AI-powered threat detection and response systems, integrate AI into your cyber security strategies, and enhance training and awareness programs.

AI-Powered Threat Detection and Response Systems: Implementing AI-driven solutions can significantly improve the ability to identify and mitigate threats in real time. These systems analyse vast amounts of data to detect anomalies that may indicate a security breach, enabling quicker and more accurate responses than traditional methods.

Incorporating AI into Cybersecurity Strategies: Integrating AI into cybersecurity frameworks involves not just deploying AI-based tools but also rethinking security protocols and infrastructure to support dynamic and intelligent defence mechanisms. This integration allows businesses to stay ahead of sophisticated cyber threats by continuously learning and adapting to new attack vectors.

Training and Awareness for Recognising AI-Driven Threats: Educating employees about the nature of AI-driven threats and the tactics used by attackers is crucial. Regular training sessions can help in developing a security-conscious culture, enabling staff to recognise and respond to potential threats effectively.

Type of Cyber Threat/Attack	AI Advancement	Defence Mechanism
Phishing Attacks	AI can generate more convincing fake emails by learning from vast datasets.	Implement advanced email filtering that uses AI to detect sophisticated phishing attempts. Conduct phishing simulations & security awareness training to help your users spot phishing emails.
Ransomware	AI algorithms can identify the most critical data for encryption to demand higher ransoms.	Use AI-powered anti-malware tools that adapt to new ransomware signatures.
DDoS Attacks	AI can optimise attack strategies in real-time, targeting the most impactful areas.	Deploy AI-enhanced DDoS mitigation services that dynamically adjust defences.
Insider Threats	AI can mimic legitimate user behavior, making malicious activities harder to detect.	Employ AI-driven user behavior analytics to identify subtle anomalies indicative of insider threats.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)	AI can automate complex attack strategies, continuously adapting to evade detection.	Leverage AI-based continuous monitoring and intrusion detection systems to counter adaptive APT tactics.

How Will AI Cyber Threats Change?

The future of AI-driven cyber threats is poised for significant evolution, with these threats becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect.

As AI technologies advance, so too will the methods employed by cyber criminals, leveraging AI to automate attacks, personalise phishing attempts, and develop malware that can adapt to countermeasures.

Emerging technologies like quantum computing could further impact cybersecurity by potentially breaking traditional encryption methods, necessitating the development of quantum-resistant cryptography.

The integration of AI in cybersecurity strategies will be crucial, requiring continuous innovation and adaptation to stay ahead of threats.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) - Ultimate Cyber Security for Struggling IT Teams

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services have become a popular solution for IT teams who need to improve their cyber security strategy without hiring multiple highly skilled professionals. But what exactly is MDR and how does this service protect organisations from the latest security threats?

Having a robust approach to cyber security is the cornerstone of any IT department worth its weight in salt. As we predicted earlier this year, 2023 has seen a continuation in the rise of complex and targeted cyber attacks on organisations across the UK. Most recently, the NHS became the latest victim of criminals when two ambulances were left without access to patient records due to hackers compromising one of the health services’ key suppliers.

No matter how big or small your organisation is, cyber security is having to become more complex simply to keep up with the ever changing threats coming from cyber criminals, which in turn is creating a massive headache for IT managers, especially those with limited resources.

So how can you address the gap in your cyber security operations without needing to hire a team of highly skilled (and highly paid) security professionals?

Well if you can’t do it in house, your next best option to achieve around-the-clock threat monitoring and remediation would be to explore making use of a robust Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service.

What is MDR?

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is a fully managed security solution that organisations can use to bolster their security operations. An MDR service gives you access to a team of experts who will continually monitor your network, endpoints and cloud infrastructure to hunt down any signs of cyber threats on a 24/7 basis. As soon as any threats are found, the MDR team will act immediately to respond.

How does MDR prevent security threats?

A Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service effectively provides customers with the functions of a Security Operations Centre (SOC), delivered remotely by a team of experts, taking the pressure off of already stretched IT teams and delivering the peace of mind that your cyber security is being fully taken care of.

There are a range of key features which come with the most reputable MDR services, and are delivered by many notable names in the industry, such as Sophos and Crowdstrike. These features include:

Threat detection & monitoring
Endpoint visibility & protection
Network traffic analysis
Threat hunting and investigation
Incident response & remediation
24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC)
Threat intelligence integration
Reporting & analytics
Continuous improvement & collaboration

The key aspect that sets MDR apart from other security solutions is the approach that is taken towards gathering security insights. By gathering comprehensive telemetry from across the entire security environment - including signals and alerts from endpoint, firewall, cloud security solutions and third-party security technologies - this ensures the team of MDR cyber security analysts are fully informed so they can prioritise, detect and actively respond to any suspicious activities before they can cause damage.

What are the key benefits of using an MDR service?

Reduces risks and costs associated with remedying cybersecurity incidents and breaches

Organisations that look to build their own security operations programme will quickly realise the difficulty and cost of building a true security operation centre (SOC) in house. Even a mid-sized organisation would need at least four cyber security analysts to maintain 24/7/365 coverage. Larger organisations would need several more highly paid team members. Organisations still need to factor in the cost for team managers and engineers to customise and maintain the team’s tools. And this is just the cost of hiring team members; the budget would still need to allow for the tools the team will need, such as endpoint protection, network protection, endpoint detection and response (EDR), SIEM, workflow processing (SOAR), intelligence feeds, and more.

Frees up internal IT resources

Most organisations already struggle to conduct their own threat hunting, incident response, and security health checks. By outsourcing detection and response operations, an MDR service allows internal IT teams to focus on the tasks that match their skill set. For more advanced organisations, the addition of MDR also allows teams to offload much of the day-to-day security operations tasks.

MDR integrates with your existing cybersecurity tools

A robust MDR solution will also integrate with the tools already present within an organisations’ existing security operations. Many MDR service providers will either provide the necessary technologies or make use of telemetry and data from security solutions that are already deployed, such as in the example below demonstrating the integrations between Sophos’ MDR solution and Microsoft Defender:

sophos vs microsoft defender — Credit: Sophos

Improves threat detection and response times through consistent monitoring

MDR services should have the required expertise to detect and respond to any type of attack. Not only are they staffed with professionals who are notoriously hard to hire, train, and retain, a properly staffed MDR service should also offer continuous coverage. This means that they’re constantly monitoring your environment and can respond to any potential threat at any time. This includes weekends, holidays, and the middle of the night.

Who provides Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services?

Over the past few years, MDR services have rapidly increased in availability, with some of the top names in cyber security now providing a range of comprehensive Managed Detection & Response services.

According to Gartner, in 2023 the top 5 best rated Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service providers are:

1) Sophos Managed Detection and Response

Comprehensive threat detection and response services.
Integration with their security ecosystem for seamless operations.
24/7 monitoring and real-time threat analysis.
Proactive threat hunting and AI-driven insights.

2) SentinelOne Vigilance Respond

Advanced AI-powered threat detection and response.
Continuous monitoring and rapid incident response.
Automation and autonomous endpoint protection.
Extensive threat intelligence for proactive defence.

3) ReliaQuest Managed Detection and Response

Unified threat detection and response across various tools.
Enhanced visibility and optimised security operations.
Continuous security improvement through proactive threat hunting.
Integrated platform for streamlined incident management.

4) Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response

Concierge-style MDR with a dedicated security team.
Real-time threat monitoring and incident response.
Customised security recommendations and risk reduction.
Proactive threat detection and compliance support.

5) CrowdStrike Falcon Complete

Cloud-native MDR with AI-driven endpoint protection.
Real-time threat intelligence and behavior-based detection.
Immediate response and containment of security incidents.
Scalable security services for diverse business environments.

What to look for when choosing an MDR provider

With all this choice comes wide variation, so it’s important to know what to look for so you can pick the best provider for your specific needs. After all, watertight cyber security is crucial to protecting your organisation's sensitive data and infrastructure. Here's a few steps you can take to help you decide:

1) Assess Your Requirements:

Before starting your search for an MDR provider, conduct an internal assessment to identify your organisation's specific security requirements, such as the type of data you handle, your industry's compliance standards, and the size and complexity of your IT environment.

2) Expertise and Reputation:

Look for MDR providers with a strong track record of successful cyber security services and a team of experienced professionals. Research their reputation in the industry, read customer reviews, and seek referrals from trusted sources to gauge their reliability.

3) 24/7 Monitoring and Response:

Cyber threats can occur at any time. Ensure the MDR provider offers 24/7 monitoring and response capabilities. Real-time threat detection and immediate response can significantly reduce the impact of potential breaches.

4) Threat Intelligence and Analysis:

An effective MDR provider should have access to up-to-date threat intelligence and advanced analytics tools. Their ability to analyse and understand emerging threats is crucial for proactive defence.

5) Incident Response and Remediation:

Inquire about the provider's incident response process. They should have a clear plan for containing and remediating cyber security incidents promptly, minimising damage, and restoring normal operations.

6) Scalability and Flexibility:

Your business is likely to grow, so choose an MDR provider that can scale their services to meet your evolving needs. They should also be flexible enough to adapt to changes in your IT infrastructure and security requirements.

7) Integration and Compatibility:

Ensure that the MDR provider's services can integrate seamlessly with your existing security infrastructure and tools. Compatibility and interoperability are essential for optimising cyber security operations.

8) Compliance and Certifications:

If your organisation operates in a regulated industry, verify that the MDR provider complies with relevant industry standards and holds necessary certifications. This ensures they follow best practices and meet strict security requirements.

9) Transparent Reporting and Communication:

Clear communication is vital when dealing with cyber security incidents. Choose an MDR provider that offers transparent reporting, regular updates, and easy-to-understand insights to keep you informed about your security status.

10) Proactive Threat Hunting:

Beyond detection, a proactive MDR provider will actively hunt for potential threats, even if no alarms have been triggered. Proactive threat hunting can help identify hidden or sophisticated attacks.

11) Cost and Value:

Finally, consider the overall cost of the MDR service and the value it provides. Remember, investing in a comprehensive cyber security service is an investment in your organisation’s long-term security and reputation.

What's the best way to determine if a Managed Detection and Response service is right for your organisation?

Whether you’re already considering an MDR security solution or you’re just getting started, choosing to outsource your security operations can at first seem like a daunting task - but you don't have to do this alone. Our team of friendly and experienced security consultants can support you with selecting the best service for meeting your specific security needs and objectives. Give us a call or drop us an email and we’d be more than happy to help you secure your organisation - and your peace of mind - with a robust Managed Detection and Response solution.

5 Reasons Why Your WiFi Is Woeful - And How To Fix It

In today’s age of wireless technology, a strong and reliable WiFi connection is essential for working, recreation and communicating with friends and family. However if you’re experiencing slow speeds, drop outs, or dead zones in your spaces, it can be a frustrating experience trying to get connected again.

Here we explore 5 common reasons as to why your WiFi connection may be poor, along with a few tips and tricks to help you stay connected. Hopefully these tips may help, however if your WiFi is causing you repeated issues, it may be worth obtaining a more comprehensive overview on the state of your network by conducting a WiFi Audit.

1. Interference

bluetooth-zoom — Image credit: GSM Arena

The major source of poor WiFi performance we see in the wild is interference from other devices making the airspace overly busy and congested. This can slow your device down, and in some cases even stop you from connecting.

Often the cause of this interference is a misconfiguration on either your own, or your neighbours WiFi equipment. If you can imagine a music festival with one stage, and no one running the show, you’d end up with all the bands playing at the same time, in the same place and it would sound awful. What this festival needs is someone in charge who can schedule the bands, and if needed make sure there are more stages for them to play on. This is very much similar to WiFi- your WiFi equipment needs to be told what to do to make sure it’s playing sweet, sweet music to your device, rather than a garbled racket. Most WiFi equipment will have “someone in charge” and assess the noise around it and try to find the right space to play. The issue is though that if just left to defaults then frequently the system will make poor choices and as such it needs to be reviewed and configured to avoid other channels, and to only select the right channels.

Make sure that you are using non adjacent channels in 2.4Ghz radios, 1,6 & 11 and avoiding other devices. On 5Ghz make sure your channel width is sensible- just because you see a bigger number when it comes to width, doesn’t mean it will run any quicker!

With seemingly everything being “smart” these days, make sure that you check if your new tech, be it a TV, speaker, washing machine (seriously we’ve seen this!), has its onboard WiFi disabled if it’s not being actively used. If left on it’s just unnecessary noise, as well as a potential security vulnerability.

Interference can also come from anything using radio frequencies or creating electromagnetic interference, even things that don’t have WiFi- devices such as turbines , motion sensors and microwaves can all cause interference to your WiFi.

To minimise interference, it’s recommended that these devices are either identified, isolated or switched off when not in use.

2. Distance and Positioning

wifi-audit-heatmap-ekahau — Image credit: Ekahau

When planning a WiFi deployment, it’s very easy to not give it much thought and place a few APs dotted around and say “that’ll probably do”. When in actual fact, it probably won’t do. Good configuration can’t overcome bad design and as with any design it’s vital that you make sure you work to be validated and well thought out; whilst there isn’t always a single best way, there are unfortunately hundreds of wrong ways.

Every environment is different, which is why every wireless design needs to be bespoke to it’s environment and it’s needs. Think of it like an architect designing a building; even when a building looks similar, there’s a whole load of differences in how it actually fits into its environment. Some factors which are essential to consider are:

Walls- What are they made of? How thick are they? Are they removable, and if so how often? Each and every wall will have a different attenuation level which impacts how well radio frequencies travel through them.
Users- Where are the users going to be working? How many users will there be? In the case of a school, if you know the study rooms are often packed with students then it may be logical to place an access point within that room. As an alternative, the swimming pool changing rooms may not require WiFi and therefore it would simply be illogical to place an access point within them.
Devices- Whilst we all do our best to move away from it, there may be cases where legacy hardware is required and therefore it’s important to understand that this hardware may not quite have the wireless reach other devices do. In this case, it would be logical to position an access point nearby for it to associate with.

By taking these points into consideration, you can help ensure optimal coverage and performance.

3. Congestion

device-overload-congestion — Image credit: Enginess.io

These days almost everyone carries a smart phone with them. In addition to that you may find, for example, an office worker always has their laptop on them, plus their smart watch on their wrist, plus… The point being, it’s very likely that one user could easily equate to 3 or 4 devices requiring an internet connection. So that densely packed office floor with 20 people on it actually requires a wireless access point which supports 90+ devices.

You need to make sure that you have enough Access Points to support the number of devices, but the balancing act is ensuring that you don’t end up with too many access points that leads to interference- this comes back to our last two points around design and avoiding interference.

4. Firmware updates

update-software-blue — Image credit: NCSC

Without the proper care and attention, your wireless equipment can be left behind in regards to firmware updates. Regular updates often contain features and improvements that will benefit not only your wireless connectivity but also the security behind it. In many cases, it is imperative to update firmware due to potential fixes for current exploits & threats. Always make sure your devices are running the latest, manufacture recommended firmware, and avoid updating devices during peak use hours as it will cause an element of downtime.

5. Outdated Hardware

old-routers — Image Credit: Helpdesk Geek

Old, legacy, hardware can be a common reason for poor WiFi. If you’re using an older router or access point, it may be holding back your current devices. Older devices may only support up to the likes of WiFi 3 or WiFi 4 (otherwise known as 802.11g and 802.11n respectively). In today’s world most devices support at a minimum WiFi 5 but more commonly WiFi 6 (801.11ac and 802.11ax). This can mean that your shiny new tablet/ smartphone/ laptop is being slowed down to the speed of a device from 2007!

When selecting new wireless equipment it is important to consider many factors, these include but are no limited to:

Applications used onsite
Scale of building and coverage requirement areas
Makes and models of WiFi devices used onsite
Density and quantity of WiFi device

Features such as beamforming, MU-MIMO and 6Ghz radios are all features which you may want to consider when choosing your equipment.

What's the best method for uncovering what's causing your WiFi woes?

Taking the time to go through each of these steps will hopefully help you to find the quick fix you need to make that WiFi work. There is also an array of tools available that can help with troubleshooting. Wireless auditing equipment such as Ekahau A.I. Pro - partnered with the Ekahau Sidekick 2 - are absolutely brilliant at ascertaining everything you need to know about your WiFi. But the downside is these are expensive tools that require specialist training and experience to wield effectively.

So instead of forking out on thousands of pounds worth of testing gear, spending a lot of time with your head in books learning theory, you could look at working with WiFi specialists (like us!) to run a WiFi Audit on your behalf. Using over 15 years of our expertise, and our market leading Ekahau equipment, we can provide a comprehensive analysis of your wireless network. We can identify sources of interference, potential security vulnerabilities, and produce a detailed report of your network which can help you to make the right decisions to improve your wireless environment. Overall, our WiFi Audit can be a brilliant investigation tool for overcoming your WiFi woes.

If you’d like to book a WiFi Audit, click here and our team will be happy to help.

Different Types Of Hackers – And what we can learn from them

(We'll get through this without using an image of someone wearing a hoody)

Historically, we have not advocated our Cyber Security services and how thoroughly we can test your business for cyber weaknesses - and for good reason.

There are so many specialists and professionals who possess the skills to analyse your security vulnerabilities, but what is needed is more customer education around cyber security threats. We believe that educating our customers is the first step in empowering them in the war against cyber crime. In this way, we help you make informed decisions about who you feel would be the best fit to help protect your business.

No doubt you have heard about mass data breaches in top household brand names, and while we will look at some of the most infamous and nefarious breaches, we'd like to highlight the 'types' of hackers on the market (those who stand in broad daylight and those who operate in the underbelly of society).

The types of hacker are often referred to as wearing different coloured ‘hats’, with each one having a different implication for their target. To illustrate, here’s a list of what each 'type' of hacker does, and what that might mean for your business.

Black Hat

The stereotypical ‘hacker’ – the kind you hear about on the news.

Motives: Financial gain.

Aims: To break into your business and steal bank details, money or confidential data. They usually use these stolen resources for their own gain, to sell on to the black market (the Dark Web) or to extort your business.

What That Means for You: Black Hat hackers are at the top of the business risk list. Their methods are varied and range from complex to basic, so they can potentially be protected against. But if their attacks are successful, the results could be devastating for your business and your customers.

White Hat

The polar opposite of the Black Hat - the 'White Knights', if you will

Motives: A desire to help, along with a passion for finding holes in security networks.

Aims: To protect organisations and people and support them in the ongoing battle against cyber threats. A White Hat hacker is someone like us – a company or individual who will help you protect your business. They can help you put effective protections in place, find vulnerabilities and provide solutions to solve them, before other hackers find them. There is even a qualification and organisation specifically for them – the CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) from the EC Council.What That Means for You: A business that is well protected from every angle of attack in the digital world, and ongoing support in case of a breach.

Grey Hat

Out for mischief.

Motives: Personal enjoyment.

Aims: Grey Hat hackers have all the skills of a Black and a White Hat hacker. The difference is, they don’t care about stealing from people, nor do they particularly want to help people. Instead, they like to play with systems and enjoy the challenge of finding gaps, breaking protections and generally just find hacking fun.

What That Means for You: Despite their skill set and the fact that they do break into systems, Grey Hat hackers will rarely do anything harmful. They break into things because they can, and then move on. Grey Hat hackers actually make up the majority of the hacking community, even though it’s the Black Hats most people know about.

Blue Hat

Vengeful and aggressive in every way- but only if you create them.

Motives: Revenge.

Aims: Blue Hat hackers often take existing code for malware and viruses they find online, then modify it to meet their needs. They will use this code to target the business or individual they feel has wronged them and inflict their revenge.

What That Means for You: Generally, only a problem if you’ve made someone very, very angry (check your Twitter feed, TrustPilot and Google reviews!). This could be a customer, supplier or employee – anyone who might be so angry that they want to ‘make you pay’.

Red Hat

The caped crusaders of the cyber world.

Motives: Vigilante justice.

Aims: To put a stop to people they know to be Black Hat hackers. But they are downright scary in how they go about it. They essentially take the Black Hat’s arsenal and turn it back against them. Using malware, DoS attacks, viruses and Trojan Horses to destroy their machines from the inside out. It’s a pretty effective way of stopping them from attacking anyone else

What That Means for You: Nothing really. Red Hat hackers are similar to White Hat ones, in the sense that they are working to put a stop to Black Hat attacks on your business. But you probably won’t know about it.

Green Hat

New hackers honing their craft in the cyber world.

Motives: Learning to be Jedi level hackers.

Aims: Green Hat hackers are all about the learning and experience of hacking. They are new to the world of scripting, coding and hacking in general, so you probably won’t find one attacking. Instead, they join online message boards asking questions of the hacker community, honing their skills.

What That Means for You: Green Hat hackers don’t really represent a threat to businesses. They are still ‘green’, and more interested in learning how to hack than actually doing it.

Script Kiddie

This is something of an odd one out, since it’s neither a hat nor a colour! Be warned, a Script Kiddie can still cause problems, no matter how innocent the name sounds.

lego gremlin — Script Kiddie, just don't call them that.....this type is not to be messed with

Motives: Causing chaos and disruption.

Aims: Script Kiddies have no interest in things as mundane as theft. Or, as it turns out, script. They don’t tend to develop their own software – instead they download existing malware development software and watch videos on how to use it. When they’re confident, they’ll attack. A typical Script Kiddie attack would be a DoS (Denial of Service) or DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service). This basically means they flood an IP address with so much useless traffic that it collapses. Think most retail websites on Black Friday. It causes chaos and prevents anyone else from using the service.

What That Means for You: While they might not present as a direct financial risk, Script Kiddies can be a pain and cause indirect loss of income. They can cause disruption to your business that can damage your reputation or lose you customers, and it can take some time to get everything back online afterwards.

So there you have it.....

While the media might do a good job of making all hackers out to be these malicious people who meet after dark and conspire to steal from innocent businesses, the reality is that there are lots of different kinds of hacker out there. Each have their own motives, skills and plans for your business, but that’s exactly the crucial point - “their” plans for “your” business. No-one should have plans for your business other than you.

So hopefully this article gives you a bit of an insight into the world of hacking in all its different natures. At Haptic Networks, we do offer penetration testing (by our Certified Ethical Hacker) as one of our cyber security services. We don't claim to be experts, but I'm confident we can help your organisation increase awareness and security. If you'd like a free consultation, just ask!

DIY Network Security Testing Checklist

In recent years businesses have been subject to exploitations of their lackluster digital security, and with technology changing and the way we work shifting, companies facing more threats than ever before.

With the frequency of hacking, cyber attacks and digital crime on the up and up, companies need to ensure they are secure from these new risks.

Needless to say, it is the case with any business that when you scale you are even more vulnerable, everytime a new user, application, device or guest is added to your network, you increase your risk.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes can be affected, so everyone needs to consider their network’s security; often this is an afterthought and the vulnerabilities can be addressed to keep this from happening at all.

Understanding the ways you are at risk is a great start to keeping your network secure, this is part of the reason we decided to create a quickfire self-help document to expose these weaknesses.

With all of the aforementioned thoughts and trends in mind, we have created the “DIY Network Security Testing Checklist” to allow you and your organisation to check your network security and to help you identify any weaknesses or potential breach points.

The importance of highlighting the areas within your organisation’s network that are vulnerable is paramount to ensuring a secure network moving forwards into the future.

This Do-It-Yourself Network Security Testing Checklist has been created to help IT professionals assess your network for any potential vulnerabilities, threats or risks.

The aim of this comprehensive list is to help you evaluate your network’s security and allows you to highlight any weak spots proactively, not reactively.

Here at Haptic Networks we have worked with countless clients across the world to ensure they have the most effective solutions tailored to their unique needs, speak to one of our expert team today!

Haptic become CrowdStrike Partners

Haptic are ecstatic to announce an official partnership with CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike have been announced as being the highest in execution & furthest in vision, in the visionaries quadrant of 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. 12 of the 20 Fortune Largest Global Companies have deployed CrowdStrike and they have a vast amount of positive industry recognition.

The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform is pioneering cloud-delivered endpoint protection. It both delivers and unifies IT Hygiene, next-generation antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), managed threat hunting, and threat intelligence — all delivered via a single lightweight agent. Using its purpose-built cloud-native architecture, the Falcon platform collects and analyses over 1 trillion endpoint events per week from millions of sensors deployed across 176 countries.

CrowdStrike® Falcon Insight™ eliminates silent failure by providing the highest level of real-time monitoring capabilities that span across detection, response and forensics. This ensures nothing is missed, leaving attackers with no place to hide. Falcon Insight provides organizations with state-of-the-art endpoint detection and response (EDR), following an approach recommended by top analyst firms such as Gartner.

What If You Could Find Answers To Important But Hard Questions? What endpoints - physical, virtual and EC2 instances - are on my network? Where are administrator credentials being used in my network? What applications are my users running? Which ones are mine and which ones are "rogue"?

Falcon Discover can help to deliver this visibility without having a performance impact on the end device.

We are excited to work with such a prestigious company, further strengthening our security capabilities and offerings to end users.

IT Security - 5 Usual Suspects....

We promise to get through this whole piece without throwing in 'that' acronym (you know the one....)

DDoS, Data breach, Ransomware, Malware, Social engineering attacks.

IT security is the topic, without doubt currently at the forefront of every IT leader's mind today. However most companies are still more reactive than proactive.

The single biggest threat to companies today is risk management. The brutal truth is that most IT teams are not trained security experts, and may not even be following a comprehensive security strategy that provides the protective measures for the organisation as a whole.

If you are looking to employ a more comprehensive IT security strategy, here are the 5 top considerations for your IT team, and your company as a whole.

Firewall, Antivirus and Endpoint protection.If these aren't in place already,get in the sea.
Take the time to plan out a complete risk management strategy, this is the blueprint.
Acquire some DDoS protection, this helps you avoid brute force attempts
Obtain the very best threat detection suite you can afford, remember this....

EXPENSIVE = CHEAP CHEAP = EXPENSIVE

5. Take the time to really scrutinise your identity and access management. The ability to manage the process revolves on your Log management.

Let's be frank, there's no such thing as a perfect IT security mousetrap. Everyone is vulnerable, it's not a question of if you get attacked but when. It's all about how easily you "hand over the....keys"

Ruckus Acquires Cloudpath Networks

Ruckus have announced that they have acquired Cloudpath Networks, a privately held company that provides a leading easy-to-use, secure, Wi-Fi onboarding solution for schools and universities. Cloudpath pioneered Wi-Fi onboarding self-service in 2006 and is a leader in certificate-based Wi-Fi security with over 300 deployments, from the largest universities to smaller primary and secondary schools.

Ruckus and Haptic Networks are very excited to integrate Cloudpath into our Wi-Fi portfolio for education. Schools need to be able to easily and securely onboard a wide range of different devices and users, and Cloudpath is a comprehensive, easy to use platform that enables schools to readily design and implement custom, self-service workflows that reduce the impact on IT support resources. Furthermore, Cloudpath includes industry-first support for Chromebook devices, the fastest-growing in-classroom platforms.

With the addition of Cloudpath, Northamptonshire WiFi specialists Haptic Networks continue to strengthen our portfolio and provide you with solutions to address emerging and critical market requirements. Cloudpath will be available from November 2, 2015.

Read the full press release here

If you'd like to find out more about the ruckus wireless range of products click here to view our dedicated microsite

5 ways to help prevent a PCI compliance audit failure...

Cybercrime and identity fraud are big business…worldwide.

If your organisation processes credit/payment card information it becomes your duty to protect their data. In the wake of the recent prolific UK Bank hacks it demonstrates that even those with high security focus can be caught short.

It is essential for companies that accept and process payment cards to be compliant with the PCI Council’s latest payment card industry (PCI DSS) compliance requirements.

Working with organisations as varied as banks, legal firms, gambling companies and council offices has given us a wide experience of the various different ways you could possibly fail a PCI compliance audit.

Here are the 5 ways you can help avoid one…

1.Physical or Primary Security. A relatively lo-tech starter, your company must secure the environment where payment card information is kept. For example, in order to gain access every single entry point, someone must be required to ID themselves through at least one if not multiple physical barriers, a badge-in requirement, a key, or an admin area that is constantly manned. CCTV systems are also a basic requirement of the PCI Council (ask us about our HD IP CCTV solutions)

2. Network security. Your company needs to have a secure network that is able to protect customers’ data. Sadly a firewall alone won’t cut it, it’s important to have strong ACLs (access control lists) on all network devices to prevent breaches by would-be hackers. An additional level of security – like a separate area inside your network (a DMZ or similar structure) – would create a secondary level of access control to ensure that connections to internal sources are legitimate and access is restricted to rogue clients.

Haptic provide world leading, fully patented network security scanners and WiFi devices that give your company full visibility on any attempted rogue activity, whilst giving you the ability to ‘in-house’ your PCI Audit procedure.

3.Your processes. Focused heavily on policies and procedures achieving PCI compliance, is more than just physical/tech related your company must draft a detailed Information Security Policy this should contain documentation for antivirus, network configurations, physical security etc. Ultimately this should be signed off by IT Director, Network Manager Security Officer) This can appear daunting, however the majority is common sense and good organisation.

4. Encrypting Data. The PCI audit focuses heavily on the encryption for credit card data as it moves around your organisation. The PCI Council requires the use of high levels of encryption; these are incredibly valuable as they require a complex decryption protocol or methodology, usually a decryption key that must be used by the authorised party to receive the credit card data.

5.Talk to us. Aside from being able to assist with your pursuit of PCI Compliance, we can consult and demonstrate the tools and technology we deploy to not only aid your PCI audit but also to give you a fully protected wired and wireless network.

Give us a nudge, we’d be happy to tell you more.