Cybersecurity Challenges: A Year in the Life at a Managed IT Provider

Cybersecurity Challenges: A Year in the Life at a Managed IT Provider

Where do we even begin with this one. The past year has been a roller-coaster for Niten Technologies. With the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, our job has never been more challenging, or more rewarding. This blog post details some of the main cybersecurity challenges we've faced over the last twelve months.

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1. Phishing Scams – The Classic Threat

Phishing scams are not new, but they are evolving. In the last year, we observed an uptick in spear-phishing attempts targeting our staff. These emails looked eerily legitimate, often appearing to come from senior management. We had to ramp up our security awareness training and implement more advanced email filtering solutions to counter these threats.

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2. Ransomware 2.0 – Holding Data Hostage

Ransomware has been a formidable opponent. Attackers no longer just encrypt your data; they threaten to release it publicly if the ransom isn't paid. The need for regular backups and a robust disaster recovery plan has never been more essential. A worrying trend in the last few years has been a large shift towards attackers targeting small businesses that handle sensitive information, such as healthcare and finance. Fortunately, our robust incident response protocol helped mitigate the risks on the few occasions we encountered these threats. We use multiple redundancies to ensure that even in the worst case scenario, our clients will never be at risk of having their data deleted or exposed.

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3. Insider Threats – The Human Element

Surprisingly, some of the challenges we faced stemmed from internal sources. Accidental data breaches occurred when well-intentioned employees mishandled sensitive information. We've since increased our focus on training and implemented tighter access controls. One incident involved a user receiving a very sophisticated email spoof that appeared to be her boss asking her to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to a certain account. Thankfully, she remembered her training, and got in touch with us to verify the email and we were able to determine the true source.

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4. Shadow IT – When Innovation Bypasses Security

With the adoption of remote work, many teams started using unauthorized applications to boost productivity. These applications often bypassed our security controls, exposing us to vulnerabilities. We had to develop strategies to discover and manage Shadow IT while also encouraging innovation within secure parameters.

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5. IoT and End-Point Security – Protecting the Periphery

As our clients adopted more IoT devices, we had to ensure that these devices, often with weaker security, didn't become entry points for attackers. This required new monitoring tools and policies.

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6. Supply Chain Attacks – The Weakest Link

The SolarWinds attack early in the year was a wake-up call. It emphasized the importance of vetting third-party vendors and ensuring that their security postures were as robust as our own. We had to revisit our supply chain security policies and tighten controls.

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7. Keeping Up with Patch Management

With software vendors releasing patches more frequently due to an increase in discovered vulnerabilities, keeping up became a full-time job in itself. It was a challenge ensuring that every device and application in our vast network was updated promptly. Fortunately, we use industry leading management solutions and have deployed our own unique solution. This was a lot of work, but it's already paying off for us and our clients. We've already seen significant drop in critical incidents, missed updates, and time to resolution on issues. Learn more on our Services page.

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8. Data Privacy Regulations – The Moving Target

With more regions implementing data protection regulations, we had to keep track of evolving requirements and ensure compliance. This involved continuous training and sometimes overhauling our data management practices. HIPPA and HiTech regulations we're our major focus this year. We've developed many new strategies to evaluate compliance in health care. So much so, that we are now offering free HIPPA audit compliance.

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Conclusion

What a wild ride 2023 has been. The past year has taught us that cybersecurity is a constantly shifting landscape. Challenges arise from every direction, be it technological advancements, human error, or malicious intent. However, with adaptability, continuous learning, and collaboration, we've managed to navigate these challenges and ensure our clients remain protected.

Here's to another year of cybersecurity resilience, as we continue to adapt, innovate, and protect in an ever-evolving digital world.