Cyber Attacks
‘Burglar-Proofing’ Computer System By Lee Allen If there’s a computer in your life, chances are you’re going to get hacked and it’s not a matter of if or when, but how badly. “You’re not going to stop it. It’s inevitable. It will happen,” said Phoenix Special Agent Patrick Cullen, part of the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Division. Cullen was the presenter at a Sept. 29 breakfast at the Arizona Inn sponsored by Silverado Technologies. “If you have a computer that’s online, it’s going to happen,” Cullen said. “In the business world, the equation involves companies that will soon be hacked, have already been hacked or are being hacked repeatedly.” And it’s not just the big guys who get victimized, organizations as large as the federal government and familiar retail names like Target, Yahoo, Costco, Amazon and Walmart. With increasing frequency, it’s the little guys who fall victim to the insidious attacks – and frequently don’t even know it. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the lead federal agency for investigation of cyber attacks and notes, “The threat is incredibly serious – and growing. Cyber intrusions are becoming more commonplace, more dangerous and more sophisticated.” Dell computers’ latest Security Threat Report notes: “In 2015, we saw a 73 percent increase in unique malware samples compared with 2014 (and) more than triple the 2013 number.” “Problems with cyber breaches are increasing at a dramatic rate and it’s time folks understand the risks involved,” said Gene Hechler, president of Silverado Technologies. “Companies with 10 to 100 employees are the center of the target and that means most Tucson businesses are in the bull’s-eye. These 126 BizTucson
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Winter 2017
are companies large enough to have data the bad guys might want, but typically are the least prepared to defend themselves against an attack.” Data provided by Silverado Technologies showed that small businesses were in the crosshairs when it comes to targeted attacks. One newspaper headline shared with business audiences read: “Firms worry about breaches from hackers, not terrorists.” Dell further states: “In 2015, a massive number of breaches succeeded against organizations who thought they were doing everything right. The solution is for companies to approach security as an end-to-end problem – from data creation and storage to its consumption and every transit channel in between. Like architecture’s most fundamental stable shape, the arch, if all pieces are in place, it’s unshakable. But if one piece is missing or flimsy, the arch will crumble. Likewise, if security is weak at any point, the whole system risks collapsing.” For small businesses in particular, internal resources generally aren’t there to fix a data breach when it happens. “A company with only a dozen or so employees probably doesn’t have a dedicated IT department to keep a consistent eye on things,” Cullen said. And while there is no 100-percent guarantee against hacking, no totally impenetrable firewalls, no infallible encrypted codes, there are some protective measures that can be taken. “Some systems have holes the size of a pickup truck that make it easy to enter and steal data,” Cullen said. “The secret is how hard to make it for the bad guys to achieve entry and how do you fix it once entry has occurred. It’s like burglarwww.BizTucson.com