Naq Cyber’s weekly roundup: 21 January 2021
Brand new for 2021, we’re excited to bring you the Naq weekly round up. Every Thursday, we’ll share a handful of recent news covering tech, small business, cyber security, law, and wellbeing including some expert commentary plus the occasional link to an offer we think you’ll love.
The biggest threat is… google. or is it?
For big and small businesses alike, the human element is one of the biggest cyber security threats (33%). Insider threat is expected to be on the rise (8% in 2021), not in the least due to the increased practise of remote working. If it can happen to Google, it can happen to small businesses as well. We have to be vigilant and ensure our systems are protected against insider threat through access control, administrator rights that allow us to remotely wipe devices and the data contained on them and a stringent exit protocol that allows us to revoke access to systems and services that contain data. Nadia
Read the article: Trump pardons convicted ex-Google engineer Anthony Levandowski
What the solarwinds attack by russia can teach small businesses
The SolarWinds attack was a pretty sophisticated example of a supply chain attack (where hackers attack a supplier of the company they are targeting), reportedly carried out by the Russian intelligence services. Whilst very few of us are being targeted by foreign intelligence services, there are a lot of things we can learn from this attack. The most important is about trusting your suppliers and partners. Whilst we may have great security ourselves and be compliant with all the necessary laws, this is pointless if we give all of our sensitive data to a supplier (accountant, developer, IT, provider, website admin etc.) that then doesn’t protect this data. It is critical that you verify that every single one of your suppliers, even large well-known companies (some of which we know do not have the appropriate security in place) to ensure they protect your data appropriately. This is why we give all Naq customers a detailed online questionnaire to send all of your suppliers and record all of your suppliers’ security status in a processing registry. Chris
Read the article: The SolarWinds Hackers Used Tactics Other Groups Will Copy
Whatsapp is evil (according to some)
I have seen a lot of people signing up to Signal and Telegram after the news about WhatsApp changing their terms and conditions, outside the EU, by sending all metadata (the information about your messages, not your messages themselves) to Facebook. I think it is always a good thing when people start to think about their personal data privacy and security, but this doesn’t just stop with WhatsApp and Facebook. For all of these free services it is critical to remember: you are the product. This doesn’t mean you should stop using them (unless you are on the run from the NSA like Edward Snowden) but there is a personal, ethical decision you need to make: are you happy for large, private American companies knowing everything about you in return for their products? Chris
Read the article: It’s Business As Usual At WhatsApp
We love netflix and strong passwords
I don’t know about you, but the majority of my free time in 2020 was spent watching Netflix and Amazon Prime, and I expect it to continue for at least a few months. The streaming business is booming, which is great for them (and us), but also carries a risk. I hear you asking: “Who can remember all those passwords? And it’s Netflix right, so it doesn’t really matter, right?” Wrong. As these streaming services become more popular, criminals will try to find a way in to steal your account information. Now, I don’t really care if criminals know that I’m binging on Grey’s Anatomy every night, but I wouldn’t want them to go and buy whatever criminals buy with my credit card. So always have a strong and unique password and use a password manager if you have trouble remembering your passwords like I do (LastPass is great and it’s free). Nadia
Read the article: Netflix surpasses 200 million subscribers, but has more competition than ever in 2021
