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Bit-Wizards Stresses Importance of IT Security in Light of Cybersecurity Awareness Month


Fort Walton Beach, Oct. 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Managed IT Services provider Bit-Wizards is urging businesses of all sizes to prioritize security in response to Cybersecurity Awareness Month. With the average cost of a data breach in the United States reaching $9.48 million in 2023, up from $9.44 million in 2022, Bit-Wizards emphasizes the importance of businesses taking proactive measures to protect against cyber threats.

High-profile companies such as T-Mobile, MGM, Activision, and many others have already suffered financial losses due to cyberattacks this year, and with the holiday season approaching, Bit-Wizards warns that cybercrime tends to spike during this time. Businesspeople often let their guards down, and more employees are traveling and working remotely, making organizations more vulnerable to security risks.

“There’s an increase in activity for cyber threats this time of year because hackers know that people are not being as vigilant as they normally are,” says Jason Monroe, Director of Solution Consulting at Bit-Wizards.  “By nature, we’re relaxed, we’re happy, and we don’t think anything can touch us.”

To combat this, Bit-Wizards urges businesses to implement:

  • Employee training: The main problem with employees is that they simply don’t know that they’re doing anything wrong, or they don’t know what to look for. Training your employees to be skeptical about every external email should be ongoing training that happens regularly. Your employees are your last line of defense before a cyber-criminal can get into your network, but they are also the reason why the doors are left unlocked and opened. Training on computer security best practices, passwords, phishing, ransomware, and other threats should be frequent and ongoing.

  • Cybersecurity measures: Taking cybersecurity measures such as undergoing regular penetration tests is a smart way to help defend your network. A penetration test is an authorized attack on a network to evaluate its security posture. When you undergo a pen test, you’re hiring a company to ethically hack your system. The main focus of this exercise is to attempt to find a vulnerability in a company’s system and then exploit…

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Penn State Berks holds Cybersecurity Awareness Month events


WYOMISSING, Pa. — In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, three Penn State Berks degree programs — cybersecurity analytics and operations, security and risk analysis, and information technology programs — will join forces to host events to increase awareness about cybersecurity issues and best practices. These events are free and each event is for a different audience, including students, faculty, staff, K-12 students and educators, senior citizens and the community. Preregistration is required for some events. 

What is Quantum Information Science?   
 

Monday, October 9, 12:15 – 1:15 p.m., Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building, Room 248 
This event is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required

During this presentation, Robert Forrey, distinguished professor of physics at Penn State Berks and program director for Quantum Information Science, Division of Physics, National Science Foundation, will describe the Quantum Information Science (QIS) program at the National Science Foundation. He will provide an introduction and overview of quantum computing and discuss opportunities in the emerging fields of quantum information science and engineering (QISE) and quantum information science and technology (QIST).   

Cybersecurity Career Pathways Panel 

 

Wednesday, October 11, 12:15–1:15 p.m., Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building, Room 247 
This event is open to Penn State Berks students, faculty and staff, and K-12 school counselors and administrators.  

Alumni from the college’s information sciences and technology majors will discuss their background and experience working in cybersecurity careers. Participants include Amie Croteau, A/AI machine learning product owner, Lockheed Martin; Antonio Esposito, associate insider risk detection engineer, Pfizer; Michael Ference, systems architect, network / firewall administrator, PPL; and Allison Piech, enterprise information security ITLDP, CVS Health. 

Cyber Lions visit Phoebe Berks Retirement Community   
 

Friday, October 20 
This event is open only to residents of Phoebe Berks Retirement Community. 

Cyber Lions, a Penn State Berks…

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Infosec products of the month: July 2023


Here’s a look at the most interesting products from the past month, featuring releases from: BreachRx, Code42, ComplyAdvantage, Darktrace, Dig Security, Diligent, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Hubble, Netscout, Panorays, Privacera, Regula, SeeMetrics, Tenable, and WatchGuard.

infosec products July 2023

WatchGuard expands identity protection capabilities with AuthPoint Total Identity Security

AuthPoint Total Identity Security enables MSPs to offer their customers credentials monitoring, on-demand dark web exposure alerts, and password management to reduce issues related to credential compromise with an all-in-one mobile authenticator app for iOS and Android.

infosec products July 2023

NETSCOUT enhances its AED with ML-based Adaptive DDoS Protection

Deployed at the internet edge in front of any firewall, AED screens incoming and outgoing traffic using stateless packet processing, global DDoS threat intelligence, and ML to block inbound cyber threats, including DDoS attacks and other bulk malicious traffic. It protects and reduces the load on firewalls, load balancers, or VPN concentrators and stops the proliferation of malware within an organization.

infosec products July 2023

Fidelis Active Directory Intercept enables identification of AD issues

Fidelis Cybersecurity released the new Fidelis Active Directory Intercept, a capability that combines network detection and response, deception technology, and Active Directory (AD) security, as part of their Fidelis Network and Deception 9.6.1 product release.

infosec products July 2023

Hubble Aurora empowers businesses to gain insights into their technology ecosystems

Aurora builds on the foundation of Hubble’s existing Asset Intelligence platform, providing users with asset visibility and insights into their cybersecurity posture, with new features such as a no-code dashboarding interface and a rich, open schema and SDK for integrating Hubble Asset Intelligence into third-party applications.

infosec products July 2023

Regula enhances document examination capabilities to help forensic experts fight identity fraud

The update of the Regula 4306 is centered around light sources that are indispensable for thorough document examination, including relief and various security features, especially those invisible to the naked eye. The redesigned device boasts of…

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Two hospitals, pharma company hit by ransomware attack in a month | Ahmedabad News


AHMEDABAD: When a team of experts from the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) checked the logs of the ransomware files at a city hospital after a cyberattack, they were surprised – the execution of the file, which took place at 2am, had been sitting pretty in the system since March!
“The latest attack was found to be of the ransomware of Phobos class, which has been around since 2018 and evolving continuously. According to our information, in the past one month, there have been two major attacks on hospitals and a major pharma company. Of the three cases, an FIR has been filed for only one,” said a senior cyber cell official.

ransomware attack

“There could have been more such attacks, but the companies are often afraid of reporting such incidents fearing infamy and change in the company safety perception,” he added.
Sources privy to the investigation said that a delayed cyberattack is not uncommon, but fewer such cases have been reported in Gujarat so far.
“Such tactics are used by the attackers when they want to cover a very large ground and infect lateral systems. As seen in this case, even the backup servers were infected. It’s possible when the root directory is controlled by the attackers and the cyber security does not detect the impending attack,” said a cyber security expert.
NFSU sources said that while the system is up and running after a few days of the incident, the decryption of data is still going on. In a majority of the cases, decryption poses a major challenge.
The hospital administration has been advised to adopt cloud storage to safeguard against such incidents in the future.
Sunny Vaghela, CEO of a city-based cyber safety firm, said that healthcare has remained a major target for country-based and international hackers because of the huge database the hospitals and pharma companies maintain.
“They often threaten to release the data on the dark web or sell it for a price. Prevention is better than cure, and here also, the demand for penetration testing is on the rise. Firewall breaches and delayed activation of the ransomware ‘payload’ indicate that active cyber safety measures remained ineffective. There could be many reasons for it including pending system updates to…

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