People are the weakest link
This sounds like a nightmare too impossible to happen. US soldiers putting sensitive information online in non-secure third party websites. It defies belief, yet we’re reading that it happened. The story popped up on ‘Gizmodo’
It is alleged that US Soldiers were saving sensitive information on a couple of common flashcard sites, presumably of things they were trying to memorise and learn. Even worse, their settings were on ‘public’ not ‘private’
It’s a classic warning about the risk of people, however well intentioned, saving critical data online in places the organisation is unaware of, and can’t control. That’s why our new KARE for Security S2 plan helps identify use of these sites in your organisation.
US Soldiers Accidentally Leaked Nuclear Weapons Secrets: Report (gizmodo.com)
Shadow IT
Shadow IT is one of the largest threats to data privacy in organisations today.
It’s not necessarily because these sites are going to be hacked, although that’s always possible, but just because if you don’t know the tools are in use, then there is no way that you can manage them!
The first step to maintaining this data is to identify it! That’s why you need new tools that are cloud focused. If you’re still using the same old security tools that you used to use prior to the cloud, then you are not keeping up and we need to talk!
Damn – I just “corrupted” that document
It happens to all of us. The IT geeks tell us all to save our work to the cloud (or server for those still to move), but it’s just so convenient to have it on the desktop. We all do it. It could be a spreadsheet you want to work on or a document that a client shared...
3,102 reported cyber-security incidents in NZ for first half 2020.
The numbers are staggering. We always get a few clients saying "My organisation is too small, cyber-criminals won't attack us". We can state with absolute certainty that this is a fallacy. Cyber Criminals are targeting every sized organisation Remember that not...
Is “Deathstalker” coming for you?
Cyber-Crime is big business. The criminals are organised and sophisticated. Imagine if they put their ingenuity to things that are good? But alas, that's not reality. Instead we have to brace ourselves to deal with another wave of crime. Deathstalker is a such a...
Automating our own business processes with Microsoft 365
Normally our case studies reflect work we’ve done with clients. This time we wanted to share how we’ve used our own services through lockdown to automate a key business process. One of the challenges we’ve always had is that it can be really hard to know how long a...
Privacy Act 2020 – Are you ready for Dec 1st?
Parliament recently passed the new Privacy Act, which comes into effect on 1 December 2020. This introduces stricter measures around the storing, sharing and breach of personal information and gives the Privacy Commissioner more powers. Every organisation should have...
Nostalgia – Floppy Disks flying high in 2020
The old TRS-80 just turned 43 years old. It brings back memories of storing programmes on cassette tape. I still have copies of games I wrote and published on cassette many years ago. That got us thinking about whether their successor, floppy disks, were still in...
Is Cyber Security important at work? What about Working from Home (WFH)?
The best way that security can be managed when Working From Home (WFH) is to ensure the WFH devices are known to be patched, have AV, and are monitored. There is always going to be a risk if the device is not monitored as you won’t know what the patch/AV status is,...
What to do when the proverbial hits the fan?
What should you do when ‘Evil Corp’ comes to call? (Yes, that’s a real name.) By now, its well understood that hackers and cyber-criminals are busy and it’s only a matter of time before they hit you. They will keep trying and trying and whether they succeed, or...
Webinar : Protect your business from cyber attacks
Since Covid-19, there has been a surge in ransomware and cyber-attacks in New Zealand. For almost 25 years, Kinetics has specialised in providing comprehensive cyber security solutions and staff training to a broad cross section of the business community. Learn...
Drowning in eMail – survive the flood
It’s hard to believe there was once a world with eMail. Working from Home meant we couldn’t talk to colleagues as easily as we used to. Some messaging moved to tools like Teams, and that cut email traffic, but others stayed in eMail and inboxes were flooded. Do you...