Omega Technical Solutions Blog

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are entering the mainstream technology discourse, and with software developing the ability to learn from datasets, many businesses are using this technology to automate their processes to cut down on costs and better use their current resources. There is a lot of good that comes from this, but only when you look past these benefits can you start to see the drawbacks, including an important one called “data poisoning.”

Despite not wanting to think about cybersecurity incidents derailing your operations, it’s important nevertheless to consider them before it’s too late to do anything about them. These days, businesses need to invest considerable capital into protections, including a cyber insurance policy to cover all of their bases.

Let’s discuss some of your options for cybersecurity insurance and what you’ll need to know to make the most informed decisions possible.

Password. 123456. Guest. Qwerty. These are just a few examples of passwords that are, in a word, terrible. To help you avoid using passwords like these, let’s go over what a good password is and how to choose one—starting with what you need to avoid.

For quite a while it took an actual disaster to encourage business leaders to allocate any time and money to put towards cybersecurity. Many businesses still don’t, in fact. Those that have, while absolutely prudent in their use of resources to help ward off security problems, may forget that there are still things that need to be done aside from employee training to keep their security up. Let’s go through a few things that every organization should be doing to maintain the security of their information systems. 

Cybersecurity is one part of your business’ computing that you must prioritize, as the fallout of a data breach could, in many cases, be enough to shutter your business for good. You want to be seen as a company that takes data security seriously, and to this end, you have likely implemented countless security features and measures to protect your organization’s resources and data. However, this all comes at a cost, and it’s not the one you might expect: your employees.

In today's digital world, SMBs need to establish a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy to protect themselves from a range of potential threats. Whether it's a small business with a handful of employees or a large corporation with thousands of workers, every organization is vulnerable to cyberattacks. That’s worth stressing because so many business owners think they are immune simply because of the size of their organization.

Let’s say that, right now, someone was attempting to break into your network…could they do it? Is there some vulnerability present on your network that has left you open to attack? This is a question you need to know the answer to so that you can resolve it.

One way to get this answer is by bringing on a professional to perform a penetration test on your business IT.

Passwords used to be the law of the land, but in a world where passwords are more at risk of threats than ever before, people have turned to passwordless solutions. In fact, one of the biggest tech companies out there—Google—recently took steps toward passwordless authentication which we think is pretty darn important.

When dealing with business computing, there are many situations where threats could potentially ruin the good thing you’ve got going. Today, a lot of businesses are getting much more serious about their IT security with what is known as a “zero-trust policy”. What exactly is a zero-trust policy? This month we will explain it. 

Are you tired of hearing about the importance of secure passwords, two-factor authentication, and security updates?

We get it. All of these techno-nerds (ourselves included) have spent all of October and even the weeks leading up to it talking about the importance of cybersecurity, preaching the importance of things that, let’s face it, just get in the way of you getting work done. Thank goodness Cybersecurity Month is long over, and now we can all get back to being absolutely reckless with our data, right?

For the most part, Microsoft takes security as seriously as it should, issuing updates and patches to maintain your Windows and Server operating systems. While you can count on receiving these updates for your supported operating systems, what you might not have known is that Microsoft accidentally overlooked a flaw in its own defenses.

What is your mother’s maiden name? What street did you grow up on? What is your favorite movie?

How about: What good do you really think these questions are going to do to help keep your accounts any more secure?

In the technology news sector, you’ve probably noticed a trend where Patch Tuesday makes headlines at least once a month. This is generally the day when Microsoft issues patches and security updates for its many different technologies, and it’s important for your IT department to know when Patch Tuesday falls each month.

Malware has been a problem for people that rely on technology for decades. Like the security that is designed to mitigate the effect of malware, the malware itself has grown in potency and frequency and is a major problem for businesses. Today, we will take a look at a few ways you can get malware. 

Financially-focused cyberthreats are no joke, especially considering how digital payments now make up 41.8% of all payments made worldwide. Let’s consider a few statistics that highlight how important it is to ensure that the payment card data your business collects is sufficiently protected.

Do you know those horror stories you catch every so often where a huge business has their network hacked and millions of their customers and employees have their personal and financial information leaked onto the Dark Web? Your organization isn't likely as big as theirs, but regardless of how much money, people, and diverse revenue streams an organization has, having its network breached and its customers’, or its employees’, information strewn about over the Dark Web is not an ideal scenario. 

We haven’t been shy about pushing for multi-factor authentication, AKA MFA, and there’s a reason for that: if implemented correctly, it can help prevent many cyberthreats. Having said that, cybercriminals have managed to find a way to undermine MFA. Let’s consider how they’ve managed to do this.

It can be too easy to think about hackers and cybercriminals in an almost abstract way, diminishing them to little more than a faceless entity at a keyboard. Naturally, this is far from the truth. Let’s examine the reality of the cybercrime industry, which actually does as much harm to the perpetrators as it does to the people they scam...if not more.

Business owners often get unsolicited emails from individuals who want to sell them goods, services, or products. Depending on the message, they might even come across as a bit suspicious, prompting you to question the authenticity of the email. If you’re not careful, you might accidentally expose your organization by clicking on the wrong link in the wrong email, thus falling victim to the oldest trick in the book: the phishing attack.

Nowadays, file sharing is so ubiquitous that most people in the office likely take it for granted. However, this is not a luxury that you have, as you need to ensure the file sharing that takes part is sufficiently secure—otherwise, you could find yourself in a tight spot. That’s why we want to devote this week’s tip to a few practical steps to making sure your files get where they’re going safely.