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covid workplace
Posted on By Author DSM Group Categories blog, Business Continuity

How confident are you that your business can survive the Covid-19 infection?

So, we are now faced with unprecedented circumstances. A global pandemic is affecting almost every aspect of our lives – including our businesses.

As a DR and BC recovery supplier DSM Group has been inundated with calls regarding anything from team splitting to working from home but is it too late to be considering this? Should your BC plan have been tested and operational by now?

Our advice would be it’s never too late and you certainly shouldn’t bury your head in the sand. You’re not alone. In our experience even those who have the most refined plans are finding themselves in unknown territory at this time.

Here are a few things to consider:

  1. Keep up to date with the advice from Public Health England: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
  2. Reduce none essential travel to business critical only.
  3. Consider splitting your team and working at an alternative site.
  4. Consider working from home where possible (this is not suitable for all businesses).
  5. Ensure effective communications with staff, clients and suppliers.
  6. Cross train employees, especially in essential functions.
  7. Begin creating or amending your Business Continuity Plan to include pandemic responsewhile always considering the 4 main points; Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery.

Developing a plan is not a fast or simple process but will pay dividends in the future. Once created it should be tested regularly. Allocate responsibility to keeping the plan up to date to key personnel.

Lastly, businesses should consider this an opportunity. While we cannot underestimate the impact this Pandemic can have on businesses, consideration of alternative revenue sources to ensure business survival is always positive.

If you need any help and guidance or would like to consider possible recovery options please feel free to contact us direct support@dsmgroup.co.uk

pen testing
Posted on By Author DSM Group Categories blog, Cyber Security

A quick guide to effective pen-testing

Do you want to uncover vulnerabilities before a Cyber hacker exploits them? Maybe you are already aware of your network’s vulnerabilities, but need a third party to argue that your network security needs additional investments? Or does your Business need penetration testing services to comply with a certain security regulations.
Here is guide that explains the best practices to be used before, during and after network penetration testing.

 1.)  Pre-Test Stage

This section lists the activities to pay attention to before penetration testing.

  • Define the scope. Regardless of the pen-test type, list the number of networks, the IP address range within one network, subnets and computers to avoid any misunderstanding. Otherwise, pen testers might leave some network systems unattended or worse, hack some third party systems.
  • Define the time frame. Penetration testing shouldn’t disrupt your company’s everyday operations. Imagine if a pen tester used a technique involving heavy network traffic. If used at peak times, it could overload the network and crash it.
  • Decide if you want your IT security and technical information to be in the know. Unannounced penetration testing is good to assess the status of your security team. Yet, it may slow down the process or even block it, for example, by cutting access from internet for pen testers.

2.)  Test Stage

This section covers practices followed by pen testers while conducting network penetration testing.

  • Gather as much customer information as possible. Pen testers use the customer’s website, WHOIS databases and web search engines.
  • Conduct a network survey. This process provides pen testers with server names and domains, the range of IP addresses owned by the organisation, information about closed and open network ports, running OS and services.
  • Determine existing vulnerabilities. At this stage, pen testers scan the network looking for vulnerabilities to use for penetration attempt. Vulnerability scanning can be automated and manual. A combination of the two methods will boost the effectiveness of the process considerably.
  • Identify suitable targets. Pen testing will always be conducted within a time frame set by you. So, out of the list of vulnerable targets on your network, it’s essential to choose the proper ones not to waste time and effort doing unnecessary job. It would be sensible to choose the servers, as the primary targets for penetration testing.
  • Attempt penetration. To exploit vulnerabilities, pen testers use specialist, customised tools. These tools categorise vulnerabilities based on the severity. This helps to provide a customer with a report of vulnerabilities that need to be fixed immediately.

3.) Post-Test Stage

Network penetration, as such, is over. But the penetration testing procedure isn’t. Two stages are left: cleaning up and report generation.

  • Report generation. A well-structured report is a welcome hand in risk management. It should start with an overview of the penetration testing process followed by the most critical network vulnerabilities that need to be addressed in the first place. Afterwards, fewer critical vulnerabilities should be highlighted.
  • Cleaning up. Pen testers’ code of practice doesn’t allow to leave any surprises in your network. To keep it clean, pen testers should maintain a detailed record of all actions performed throughout the stages of penetration testing.
man in the middle
Posted on By Author DSM Group Categories blog, Cyber Security

What is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack and How Can You Prevent It?

 

This type of cyber crime is very common and on the rise, so here’s what you need to know about MITM attacks, including how to defend yourself and your business against them.

What is a man in the middle attack?
The idea behind a man-in-the-middle attack is straight forward: Intercept traffic coming from one computer and send it to the original recipient without them knowing someone has viewed, and potentially altered, their traffic.
MITM attacks give the perpetrator the capability to steal funds, redirect a browser to a malicious website, or steal information to be used in later cyber crimes.

These are three popular types of MITM attacks your business will most likely encounter:

1. Email Hijacking
Hackers target and gain access to important email accounts, they will then monitor activity and transactions to make their eventual attack a lot more convincing. For example, they could wait for a scenario where the customer is sending money and respond, spoofing the company’s email address, with their own bank details instead of the company’s. Unfortunately, the customer thinks they’re sending their payment to the company, but they’re really sending it right to the hacker.

2. Wi-Fi Eavesdropping
Most MITM attacks rely on Wi-Fi connections. Hackers will set up a Wi-Fi connection with a legitimate-sounding name and all the hacker has to do is wait for you to connect and they’ll instantly have access to your device. Alternatively, the hacker can create a fake Wi-Fi device disguised as a legitimate Wi-Fi access point to steal the personal information of everyone who connects.

3. Session Hijacking
When you log into a website, a connection between your computer and the website is established. A hacker will then hijack your session with the website through various ways. One option they use is stealing your browser cookies. Your cookies store small pieces of information that makes web browsing convenient. It can be your online activity, login credentials, pre-fill forms, and in some cases, your location. If hackers get hold of your login cookies, they can log into your accounts and assume your identity.

“Who is the typical target of a man in the middle attack?”

Any person or any business could be the target of a MITM attack.

How do I prevent man-in-the-middle attacks?
There’s no simple ‘quick fix’ to protect yourself against MITM attacks, however here are a few to help you:

  1. Only connect known, trusted devices to your Wi-Fi networks. Don’t allow devices to automatically connect.
  2. Make sure all access points are secured and encrypted. Attackers that rely on physical proximity can be kept off a network by good security.
  3. Keep an eye out for phishing emails that request you to click to log in to a website.
  4. Train your staff to become a ‘Human Firewall’
  5. Make sure operating systems are patched and updated to prevent attacks that exploit weaknesses.

How would your business stand up against a Cyber attack?

business data
Posted on By Author DSM Group Categories blog, Cloud Backup, Cloud Computing, Hosting & Colocation

Data: The basis of your entire business

Businesses are struggling with the deluge of data flooding their systems and need to find an effective solution for managing it. Adding to the challenge is the amount of old and inactive data that must be kept for legal and/or legacy reasons. Many organisations are still using expensive primary storage systems for their old data which eats up vast amounts of their annual IT budget. The time and effort needed for IT teams to manage overloaded and expensive traditional storage solutions is an unnecessary waste of valuable resource.

So what should you do with all those terabytes of data?

Things to consider when making decisions about storage management are:

Data Storage Solutions Vary With Business Size
Only 20% of businesses store a petabyte or more of data while 40% of businesses have less than 50 terabytes of data. Recognising this, most IT managers and business owners consider that, if they are in the SMB sector, an enterprise storage solution would be an overkill. In reality the best solution for them is likely to be based on enterprise technology but tailored to fit their data storage requirements.

Tape Storage Is Not The Answer
Tape storage is still being used by many organisations who believe this is a cheap option however, in reality it is very demanding in management, highly unreliable and when needed, rarely leads to complete recovery of data.

How Important Is All That Data?
Studies have shown that almost 60% of data stored is old or inactive and is unlikely to be used ever again. Therefore, considering the cost of storage, it would be financially worthwhile to invest time in cleansing this data and weeding out duplicated or obsolete information.

Public Cloud Storage Can Be Risky
Studies suggest that many businesses have suffered unauthorised cloud access using storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive. This is often caused by individual employees using the cloud to store their data without the security precautions of a corporate storage solution. Most organisations do not adequately consider the implications of what measures their service provider has made to enable recovery of customer data in the event of a system failure – or worse, if their service provider goes out of business altogether.

Storage Will Remain A Business Challenge
It is apparent that business data will continue to grow at a rapid rate and therefore storage management is always going to be an important consideration. By being proactive about creating long-term solutions, organisations can save time and money, which is better invested in developing their core business.
It is important to evaluate the overall needs of the business when deciding which way to go in enterprise data storage. Price, technology, SLAs, disaster recovery, security and compliance are only a few of the factors that must be considered.

DSM Group have experts on hand to discuss your specific storage requirements and help you to find the best solution for your business.

key cyber security trends look out for 2021 1024x440 2
Posted on By Author DSM Group Categories blog, System Security

12 Steps To Secure Your IT System

Online criminals are increasingly targeting SME’s instead of large corporate entities, so it’s more important than ever to take steps to protect your IT and data.
Let’s look at how you can do that in 12 easy steps:-

  1. Make IT security a priority. Technology is integral to every small business, even those with just one computer so don’t fall into the trap of ‘it won’t happen to me’!
  2. Make someone responsible for IT security and ensure they have the time and resources to create new security processes. If not, it’s easy for things to get overlooked.
  3. Assess the risks to your IT system. Look at how you and your employees use IT to identify vulnerabilities. For example, your internet connection should be protected by a robust security package that includes virus and malware protection, plus a firewall.
  4. Take care of IT security basics. Simple precautions like not opening email attachments from unknown sources, education on threats like phishing and changing passwords regularly can significantly reduce the risks.
  5. Draw up an IT security plan. Once you have identified the risks your IT system faces, write an IT security plan. This should set out general rules to minimise the threat of hacking, theft and data loss.
  6. Be prepared to invest time and money. Good security software with regular updates usually costs money. It also takes time to identify what precautions you need to take.
  7. Perform regular backups and test that you can restore your data from your backups. At some point, every business will suffer a data loss – perhaps a result of accidental file deletion or a failed hard drive. Having a good backup system enables you to recover important data and carry on working.
  8. Protect lost property. One of the quickest ways for someone to access your data is through lost or stolen laptops, smart phones or USB memory sticks. Mobile equipment should be password protected and encrypted. Implement a remote wipe system so your data does not get into the wrong hands if a device is lost or stolen.
  9. Be aware of staff-owned devices. If employees are using their own smart phones or tablets for work then make sure this doesn’t create additional security risks.
  10. Train your staff. Ensure all employees are familiar with your security plan. Explain security procedures clearly, both during training and in employment contracts. For example, make it compulsory for staff to change their passwords regularly or to encrypt sensitive emails.
  11. Make it easy to be secure. One of the biggest threats to good security is employees who circumvent rules because following them makes their jobs difficult. It’s important your security measures don’t place an unreasonable burden on staff.
  12. Secure your website. Your website could be one of your weakest spots if hackers target you, particularly if it is the main point of contact for customers. In particular, make sure your online shop is secured by an SSL etc.
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