Our Internet security news features the latest press releases from the world´s largest online security companies with details of the latest threats to be aware of and, unfortunately, Internet security news relating to significant data breaches. While some organizations will be grateful for the advanced warning of an online threat – and details of how to protect themselves against it – for some the warnings will come too late.
Consequently it is recommended to be protected against all manner of online threats with an email filter and web filter from TitanHQ. Our Internet security solutions prevent users from accessing unsafe sites via phishing emails and malvertising, and from visiting websites that are vulnerable to exploit kits and malware. As many organizations already using TitanHQ solutions would agree, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Today there is an increasingly mobile workforce. Workers are able to travel and stay connected to the office and many employees are allowed to work remotely for at least some part of the week. While workers are in the office, security is not a problem for IT departments. Workers connect to the internal network, be that a wired or wireless network, and thanks to the protection of the firewall, their devices and the network are protected. The problem comes when workers move outside the protection of that firewall. Here IT departments struggle to ensure the same level of protection.
When workers are travelling for work or are between the home and the office, they often connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots. Connecting to those hotspots introduces risks. While connected, sensitive information could potentially be disclosed which could be intercepted. Malware could also be inadvertently downloaded. When a connection is made to the work network, that malware could easily be transferred.
Connecting to untrusted Wi-Fi networks is a major risk. These could be legitimate Wi-Fi services provided on public transport, in coffee shops, or city-wide Wi-Fi networks. While these networks may be safe, there is no telling who may be connected to that network. These Wi-Fi networks are often not monitored, and cybersecurity protections may be poor.
There are several possible attack scenarios where an individual could perform malicious acts on users of the Wi-Fi network. One of the biggest risks is a man-in-the-middle attack. In this scenario, a Wi-Fi user will be connected to the network and will believe that they are securely accessing the internet, their email, or even the work network, when the reality is that their connection is anything but secure.
A hacker could be listening in and could obtain information from that connection. Through ARP poisoning, a hacker could trick the Wi-Fi gateway and the user’s device into connecting, and traffic would be routed through the hacker’s device where it is intercepted. An attacker could also create an evil twin hotspot. Here a rogue hotspot is created that closely mimics the genuine hotspot. A Wi-Fi user may mistakenly connect to the evil twin thinking they are connected to the legitimate hotspot. Since the evil twin is operated by the attacker, any information disclosed while connected can be intercepted.
Remote workers must be told never to connect to a Wi-Fi network unless they do so through a VPN than encrypts their data. Employees may forget to connect to their VPN, and if weak passwords are used, even if they are encrypted they could be cracked relatively easily, but with a VPN and password policies, risk will be reduced to a reasonable level.
Wi-Fi networks tend not to have the same protections as corporate networks, so there may be little restrictions on the types of website that can be accessed while connected. To protect remote workers, a DNS filter such as WebTitan should be used.
A DNS filter performs content control at the DNS lookup stage when a user attempts to access the internet. When a web address is entered in the browser, the DNS server looks up the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and matches it with the IP address of the website. The browser is provided with the IP address and the server is contacted and the content is downloaded. With a DNS filter, before any content is downloaded, it is subject to certain rules. For instance, category-based filtering could be used to prevent adult content from being accessed. An attempt would be blocked before any content is downloaded. Importantly for security, the DNS filter would prevent the user from visiting any known malicious website. A phishing site for instance or a site known to harbor malware. With a cloud-based DNS filtering service, all filtering takes place in the cloud and there is no latency regardless of where the individual is located. DNS filtering protects workers on corporate networks as well as remote workers.
A further control that is useful is an email filtering solution, such as SpamTitan, that incorporates Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC).
In the event of a user’s email credentials being obtained in a man-in-the-middle attack via a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot, their email account could be accessed by the attacker. Since legitimate credentials are being used, this would not generate any alerts and the attacker could peruse the email account in their own time. If the account is used to send phishing messages, as they often are, DMARC will prevent those messages from being delivered and will alert the company to the issue.
The DMARC element of the spam filter checks the sender’s IP address to make sure it matches the IP on the DNS servers for the sender’s organization to make sure they match. If the IP is not authorized to send messages from that domain, the messages will be rejected or quarantined, and the company would be alerted to the phishing attack. The same is true for spoofing of email addresses.
SpamTitan also includes dual anti-virus engines to identify malware sent via email and sandboxing to help catch previously unknown malware variants that have yet to have their signatures uploaded to AV engines. Any malware sent via email will also be quarantined to keep inboxes free of threats.
If you run a business and allow workers to connect remotely, speak to TitanHQ today to find out more about how you can better protect your remote workers, and your business, from cyberattacks conducted via email and the web.
Our team of highly experienced staff will walk you through the benefits of DNS and spam filtering, can schedule a personalized product demonstration, and will help you get set up for a free trial of SpamTitan and WebTitan. You can then evaluate both solutions in your own environment. Both solutions can be set up and protecting you in a matter of minutes.
The increase in cyberattacks on law firms has highlighted a need for greater security protections, especially to protect against phishing, malware, and ransomware.
According to a recent Law.com report, more than 100 law firms are known to have experienced cyberattacks in the past five years: Cyberattacks that have resulted in hackers gaining access to sensitive information and, in many cases, employee, attorney, and client information.
Investigations such as this are likely to uncover just a small percentage of successful cyberattacks, as many are resolved quietly and are not reported. Many law firms will be keen to keep a cyberattack private due to the potential damage it could do to a firm’s reputation. The reputation of a law firm is everything.
As Law.com explained, there are different data breach reporting requirements in different states. If there is no legal requirement to report the data breaches, they will not be reported. That means that only if reportable information has potentially been compromised will the breach be reported to regulators or made public. It is therefore not possible to tell how many successful cyberattacks on law firms have occurred. However, there has been a steady rise in reported cyberattacks on law firms, as is the case with attacks on other industry sectors. Law.com’s figures are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.
From the perspective of cybercriminals, law firms are a very attractive target. The types of information stored on clients is incredibly valuable and can be used for extortion. Information on mergers and takeovers and other sensitive corporate data can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Cybercriminals are also well aware that if they can deploy ransomware and encrypt client files, there is a higher than average probability that the ransom will be quietly paid.
Based on the information that has been made public about law firm data breaches, one of the main ways that law firms are attacked is via email. Many of the data breaches started with a response to a phishing or spear phishing email. Phishing allows cybercriminals to bypass even sophisticated cybersecurity protections as it targets a well-known weakness: Employees.
Employees can be trained to be more security aware and be taught how to recognize potential phishing emails, but phishers are conducting ever more sophisticated campaigns and every employee will make a mistake from time to time. That mistake could be all that it takes to compromise a computer, server, or a large part of a network.
One firm contacted for the report explained that it had implemented advanced cybersecurity protections that were undone with a phishing email. The digital security measures it had in place greatly restricted the harm caused, and there was no evidence that the attacker had accessed sensitive information, but the attack did succeed.
In response, the law firm implemented more advanced security protocols, implemented a more aggressive spam filter, multi-factor authentication was used more widely, and it revised its policies and procedures and training. Had those measures been implemented in advance, it may have been possible to block the attack.
The response was to implement more layered defenses, which are critical for blocking modern cyberattacks. Overlapping layers of security ensure that if one measure fails, others are in place to prevent an attack from succeeding.
This is an area where TitanHQ can help. TitanHQ has developed cybersecurity solutions that can fit seamlessly into existing security stacks and provide extra layers of security to block the most common attack vectors. TitanHQ’s email and web security solutions – SpamTitan and WebTitan – provide advanced protection without compromising usability.
Since many clients prefer to communicate via email, it is important for all incoming attachments to be analyzed for malicious code. Extensive checks are performed on all incoming (and outgoing) emails, with SpamTitan able to block not only known malware but also zero-day threats. SpamTitan also includes DMARC email authentication to block email impersonation attacks and sandbox to analyze suspicious files and identify malicious or suspicious activity.
WebTitan provides protection from web-based threats. Most malware is now delivered via the internet, so a web security solution is essential. WebTitan is a DNS filtering solution that protects against all known malicious sites. It is constantly updated in real time through threat intelligence services to ensure maximum protection. The solution provides advanced protection against drive-by downloads and malicious redirects to exploit kits and other malicious sites and provides and important additional layer of security to protect against phishing attacks.
Law firms will no doubt prefer to host their cybersecurity solutions within their own environments or private clouds, which TitanHQ will happily accommodate.
For further information on TitanHQ’s cybersecurity solutions for law firms, contact the TitanHQ team today. Managed Services Providers serving the legal industry should contact TitanHQ’s channel team to find out more about the TitanShield program and discover why TitanHQ is the leading provider of cloud-based email and web security solutions to MSPs serving the SMB market.
The Spelevo exploit kit is being used to deliver Maze ransomware to unsuspecting internet users via a vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player.
The Spelevo exploit kit has been used to deliver a variety of malicious payloads since it was first detected in early 2019. Initially it was used to silently download the GootKit Trojan, and latterly the Dridex and IceD banking Trojans. Now the threat actors behind Maze ransomware have joined forces with the EK developers to deliver their malicious payload.
Spelevo has previously been loaded onto a compromised business-to-business contact website to target business users, although the latest campaign uses ad network traffic to send users to a fake cryptocurrency website, where they are then redirected to a web page hosting the exploit kit.
The Flash Vulnerability – CVE-2018-15982 – is then exploited in the browser to silently download and execute the ransomware payload. If that download occurs, the user’s files will be encrypted. There is currently no free decryptor for Maze ransomware. Recovery will depend on restoring files from backups – provided they too have not also been encrypted – or the user will face permanent file loss if they do not pay the ransom demand. The ransom doubles if payment is not made within a week.
Exploit kits used to be one of the main ways that malware was distributed, although they fell out of favor with cybercriminals who found alternate, more profitable ways to earn money. The threat never disappeared but exploit kit activity dropped to a tiny fraction of the level seen a few years ago when Angler exploit kit activity was at its peak. However, over the past year or so, exploit kit activity has been increasing. Today, there are several active exploit kits that are being used to deliver a variety of malware and ransomware payloads.
Exploit kits will only work if they have been loaded with an exploit for a vulnerability that has not been patched on a user’s device. Prompt patching will ensure that even if a user lands on a web page hosting an exploit kit, no malware download will take place. However, many businesses are slow to apply patches and it can be several months before vulnerabilities are corrected.
One of the best defenses against exploit kits is a DNS filter. A DNS filter is a control mechanism used to prevent users from visiting malicious websites. With a DNS filter in place, websites known to host malware or malicious code are blocked at the DNS lookup stage, before any content is downloaded. If a user attempts to visit a known malicious web page, they will be directed to a block screen instead.
Web filters can also be used to prevent ‘risky’ file types from being downloaded, such as .exe, .scr, or .js files. In addition to blocking malware downloads, a DNS filter can be used by businesses to enforce their acceptable internet usage policies and prevent employees from accessing productivity-draining websites and adult content.
A web filter is an important part of layered defenses against malware and other internet-based attacks such as phishing. TitanHQ’s DNS filter, WebTitan, is used by thousands of businesses and managed service providers to protect against web-based threats. WebTitan blocks more than 60,000 new malware sites every day and provides businesses and MSPs with real-time protection against the full range of web-based threats.
WebTitan can be deployed in minutes, is updated automatically, highly scalable, and costs as little as 90 cents per user per month. The productivity gains alone from using the solution mean it more than pays for itself, let alone the savings from preventing phishing attacks and costly malware downloads and data breaches.
To find out more about DNS filtering and why it is now considered an essential part of layered security defenses, give the TitanHQ team a call. Our support staff will be happy to answer your questions, book a product demonstration, and help you get set up for a free trial.
2017 was a bad year for ransomware attacks, but as 2018 progressed it was starting to look like the file-encrypting malware was being abandoned by cybercriminals in favor of more lucrative forms of attack. Between 2017 and 2018 there was a 30% fall in the number of people who encountered ransomware compared to the previous year, and the number of new ransomware variants continued to decline throughout 2018; however, now, that trend has been reversed.
2019 has seen a sharp increase in attacks. Figures from Malwarebytes indicate there was a 195% increase in ransomware attacks in Q1, 2019 and that increase has continued in Q2. A new report from Kaspersky Lab has shown that not only are attacks continuing to increase, the number of new ransomware variants being used in these attacks is also increasing sharply.
Kaspersky Lab identified 16,017 new ransomware modifications in Q2, 2019, which is more than twice the number of new ransomware modifications detected in Q2, 2018. In addition to updates to existing ransomware variants, Q2, 2019 saw 8 brand new malware families detected.
Kaspersky Lab tracked 230,000 ransomware attacks in Q2, which represents a 46% increase from this time last year. Far from ransomware dying a slow death, as some reports in 2018 suggested, ransomware is back and is unlikely to go away any time soon.
Not only are attacks increasing in frequency, ransom demands have increased sharply. Ransom demands of hundreds of thousands of dollars are now the norm. Two Florida cities paid a combined total of $1 million for the keys to unlock files encrypted by ransomware. Jackson County in Georgia paid $400,000 for the keys to unlock the encryption that crippled its court system, and recently, a massive ransomware attack that impacted 22 towns and cities in Texas saw a ransom demand of $2.5 million issued.
Earlier this year, the developers of GandCrab ransomware shut down their popular ransomware-as-a service offering. They claimed to have made so much money from attacks that they have now taken early retirement. Despite GandCrab ransomware being one of the most widely used ransomware variants for the past 18 months, the shut down has not been accompanied with a reduction in attacks. They continue to increase, as other ransomware-as-a-service offerings such as Sodinokibi have taken its place.
Ransomware attacks are increasing because they are profitable, and as long as that remains the case, ransomware is here to stay. Businesses are getting better at backing up their data but recovering files from backups and restoring entire systems is a difficult, time-consuming, and expensive task. When major attacks are experienced, such as those in Texas, recovering systems and files from backups is a gargantuan task.
Attackers realize this and set their ransom demands accordingly. A $400,000 ransom demand represents a sizable loss, but it is a fraction of the cost of recovering files from backups. Consequently, these sizable ransoms are often paid, which only encourage further attacks. It is for this reason that the FBI recommends never paying a ransom, but for many businesses it is the only option they have.
Businesses naturally need to develop plans for recovering from an attack to avert disaster in the event of ransomware being installed on their network, but they must also invest in new tools to thwart attacks. At the current rate that attacks are increasing, those tools need to be implemented soon, and that is an area where TitanHQ can help.
To find out more about email and web security solutions that can block ransomware and protect your network, give the TitanHQ team a call.
A new phishing campaign has been detected which uses Microsoft Office 365 voicemail notifications as a lure to get users to open a malicious HTML file attached to the email.
The phishing emails are very realistic. The emails include the Microsoft and Office 365 logos, use the Microsoft color scheme, and Microsoft contact information. The messages inform the recipient that they have received a new voicemail message. The caller’s number and length of the voicemail message is included, along with the time and date of the message. In order to access that message, the user is required to open a HTML file attached to the email.
Many phishing campaigns use Word documents or Excel spreadsheets containing malicious macros or embedded hyperlinks that direct users to a phishing web page where credentials are harvested. Through security awareness training employees are told to look out for thee commonly used file types. HTML files are likely to be familiar to employees, but since these file types are not often used in phishing campaigns, employees may believe the attached file to be benign, when that is definitely not the case.
The HTML file uses meta refresh to redirect the user from the local HTML file to a phishing page hosted on the Internet. That phishing page contains a highly realistic spoofed voicemail management page where users are required to enter their Office 365 credentials to access the message. Doing so hands those credentials to the attacker.
Cybercriminals are constantly coming up with new ways to trick employees into clicking links in emails or opening malicious attachments. Keeping the workforce up to date on these threats is important. If employees are aware of the types of scam emails, they are likely to receive they will be more likely to correctly identify an email as malicious if it arrives in their inbox.
Keeping the workforce 100% up to date on the latest scams will not be possible as new scams and lures are constantly being developed. It is therefore important to ensure that you have an advanced spam filtering solution in place that can block these messages to ensure they never test employees.
SpamTitan incorporates DMARC to block email impersonation attacks, dual antivirus engines to identify known malware, and a sandbox where suspicious attachments can be executed safely and studied for malicious actions. In addition, a range of checks are performed to assess the content of messages and embedded hyperlinks for any malicious actions.
With SpamTitan in place, businesses will be able to block more than 99.97% of spam and phishing emails, and 100% of known malware.
If you want to improve protections against phishing attacks and ensure fewer malicious messages reach your Office 365 inboxes, give the TitanHQ team a call to find out more about SpamTitan email security and other measures you can take to improve your security posture and block these sophisticated phishing attacks.
A Google Calendar phishing campaign is being conducted that abuses trust in the app to get users to click malicious hyperlinks.
Cybercriminals are constantly developing new phishing tactics to convince end users to click links in emails or open email attachments. These campaigns are often conducted on organizations using Office 365. Campaigns are tested on dummy Office 365 accounts to make sure messages bypass Office 365 spam defenses.
Messages are carefully crafted to maximize the probability of an individual clicking the link and the sender name is spoofed to make the message appear to have been sent from a known and trusted individual.
Businesses that implement email security solutions that incorporate DMARC authentication can block the vast majority of these email spoofing attacks. Office 365 users that use a third-party anti-phishing solution for their Office 365 accounts can make sure malicious messages are blocked. Along with end user training, it is possible to mount a solid defense against phishing and email impersonation attacks.
A new phishing tactic is being used in an active campaign targeting businesses which achieves the same aim as an email-based campaign but uses a personal calendar app to do so.
Phishing campaigns have one of two main aims – To steal credentials for use in a further attack or to convince the user to install some form of malware or malicious code. This is most commonly achieved using an embedded hyperlink in the email that the user is urged to click.
In the Google Calendar phishing attacks, events are added into app users’ calendars along with hyperlinks to the phishing websites. This is possible because the app adds invites to the calendar agenda, even if the invite has not been accepted by the user. All the attacker needs to do is send the invite. As the day of the fictitious event approaches, the user may click the link to find out more. To increase the likelihood of the link being clicked, the attacker sets event reminders so the link is presented to the user on multiple occasions.
This attack method is only possible with Google Calendar in its default setting. Unfortunately, many users will not have updated their settings after installation and will be vulnerable to Google Calendar phishing attacks.
To prevent these attacks, on the desktop application settings menu click on:
Event Settings > Automatically Add Invitations
Select the option, “No, only show invitations to which I’ve responded.”
Navigate to “View Options”and ensure that “Show declined events” is not checked.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued a warning about the increasing number of phishing websites using HTTPS.
The green padlock next to a URL once gave an impression of security. Now it is a false sense of security for many internet users.
HTTPS or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure to give it its full name, indicates the website holds a valid certificate from a trusted third-party. That certificate confirms that the website is secure and any data transmitted between the browser and the website will be encrypted to prevent interception in transit.
The public has been taught to look for the green padlock and HTTPS before entering card details or other sensitive information. However, the padlock does not mean that the website being visited is genuine. It only means any information transmitted is secured in transit between the browser and the website.
If you are buying a pair of shoes from Amazon, all well and good. If you are on a website controlled by a cybercriminal, HTTPS only means that the cybercriminal will be the only person stealing your data.
Cybercriminals create realistic phishing webpages that imitate well-known brands such as Microsoft and Google to obtain login credentials or banks to obtain banking information. These phishing pages can be set up on dedicated phishing websites or phishing kits can be added to previously compromised websites. Traffic is then generated to those webpages with an email phishing campaign.
If one of the links in the email is clicked, a user will be directed to a website that requests some information. If the website starts with HTTPS and displays the green padlock, the user may mistakenly believe the site is genuine and that it is safe to disclose sensitive information.
The IC3 alert was intended to raise awareness of the threat from HTTPS phishing and make the public aware of the true meaning of the green padlock and never to trust a website because it starts with HTTPS.
Businesses should take note and make sure they include HTTPS phishing in their security awareness training programs to raise awareness of the threat with employees.
A web filter can greatly reduce the risk of HTTPS phishing attacks, provided the web filter has the capability to decrypt, scan, and re-encrypt HTTPS traffic.
WebTitan provides real-time protection against web-based attacks and uses a constantly updated database of 3 million known malicious sites to block attempts to visit phishing websites. WebTitan is capable of SSL inspection and can inspect HTTPS traffic, block specific applications within a webpage, and display alerts or block sites with fake https certificates.
If you want to improve protection against web-based attacks, contact the TitanHQ team today for more information about WebTitan.
While it is good news the GandCrab ransomware operation has been shut down, ransomware attacks are on the rise and a new threat has been detected: Buran ransomware.
Buran ransomware lacks some of the common features of more successful ransomware strains. The ransomware does not make any attempt to hide its activity and it doesn’t attempt to hamper recover by deleting Windows shadow copies. However, it is capable of encrypting a wide range of file types and there is currently no free decryptor available to unlock encrypted files.
Buran ransomware is being spread via the RIG exploit kit, with traffic to that exploit kit generated using a malvertising campaign. Malicious adverts have been injected into legitimate ad networks and are being displayed on a range of different websites. The malvertising campaign was identified by security researcher nao_sec.
The malvertising campaign directs web browsers to a domain hosting RIG, which attempts to exploit several vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. If an unpatched vulnerability exists, Buran ransomware will be downloaded and executed.
An analysis of the malware suggests it is a new variant of Vega ransomware that was previously used in a campaign in Russia.
While Buran ransomware may not be a long-term successor to GandCrab ransomware, there are many threat actors moving to fill the void. Sodinokibi ransomware attacks are increasing and the ransomware developers are also using a malvertising campaign on the PopCash ad network to deliver traffic to domains hosting the RIG exploit kit.
Exploit kits can only download malware if they have been loaded with an exploit for a vulnerability that has not been patched on a visitor’s computer. The primary defense against these attacks is to ensure that all Windows security updates are applied promptly, along with updates and patches for plugins and other browsers.
There is invariably a delay between a patch being issued and all devices being updated. To provide protection until patches are applied, and to protect against zero-day exploits, a web filtering solution is recommended. A web filter can be used to control the websites that can be visited by employees and can block access to known malicious websites to prevent attacks on vulnerable computers.
TitanHQ is a leading provider of email security, web security, and email archiving solutions to SMBs and managed service providers (MSPs) serving the SMB market. Over the past five years, TitanHQ has significantly expanded its customer base and its solutions now protect over 7,500 businesses and are offered by more than 1,500 MSPs around the world.
TitanHQ works closely with European partners and businesses and has been expanding its footprint throughout the EU. TitanHQ is working towards becoming the leading email and web security solution provider in Europe and as part of that process, the company has recently entered into a new partnership with the French Value Added Distributor Exer.
Exer is one of the leading VADs in France and works with more than 600 value added resellers and integrators in the country. The company specializes in network security, mobile security, Wi-Fi and managed cybersecurity services and helps French VARs better serve their clients.
Under the new partnership agreement, Exer will start offering TitanHQ’s three cloud-based solutions to French VARs: SpamTitan, WebTitan, and ArcTitan.
SpamTitan is an award-winning spam filtering solution that keeps inboxes free from spam emails and malicious messages. The solution is regularly updated to incorporate further controls to ensure that it continues to provide superior protection against an ever-changing email threat landscape. The solution now blocks more than 7 billion spam and malicious messages every month and helps to keep businesses protected from phishing and malware attacks.
WebTitan is a cloud-based DNS filtering solution that protects businesses from a wide range of malicious web content. The solution can also be used to carefully control the types of web content that users can access through company wired and wireless networks. The solution now blocks more than 60 million malicious websites every month and prevents malware downloads, controls bandwidth use, and enforces acceptable internet usage policies, .
ArcTitan is a cloud-based email archiving solution that helps businesses securely store emails to ensure compliance with government and EU regulations. The solution now archives and stores more than 10 million emails each month.
With these solutions, French VARs can provide their clients with even greater value and ensure they are well protected against rapidly evolving cyberthreats.
“Collaboration with TitanHQ is an opportunity to represent a brand internationally recognized on 3 key technologies: Web Content Filtering, Anti-Spam, and Email Archiving. We are eager to propose these security solutions to ours VARs,” explained Exer CEO, Michel Grunspan. “Our regional presence and our expertise will be our strength for asserting the presence of TitanHQ in the French market”
“We are pleased to be offering the Exer partner community choice, enhanced functionality and greater overall value,” explained TitanHQ Executive VP, Rocco Donnino.
A new version of WebTitan Cloud has been released by TitanHQ. WebTitan Cloud 4.12 offers existing and new customers the opportunity to set filtering controls by location, in addition to setting organization-wide policies and role and departmental policies via links to Active Directory/LDAP.
The new feature will be especially useful to MSPs and companies with remote workers, satellite offices, bases in multiple locations, and operations in overseas countries. Organization-wide web filtering policies can be set to prevent users from accessing illegal web content and pornography, but oftentimes, the one size fits all approach does not work for web filtering. The new location filter helps solve this.
MSPs can use this new feature to set web filtering controls for customers in different locations while businesses using WebTitan Cloud can easily set a range of different policies for all users from a specific location, whether those users are accessing the Internet on or off the network.
There will naturally be times when policies need to be bypassed to enable specific tasks to be completed. Rather than making temporary changes to location or other policies, WebTitan Cloud uses cloud keys which allow policy-based controls to be temporarily bypassed.
Accompanying the location-based controls are new reporting options which allow administrators to quickly access information about web views and blocked access attempts in real time. While reports can be useful, oftentimes information needs to be accessed quickly. To help administrators find the information they need, search functionality has been enhanced.
Administrators can use the search filter on the history page to search by location name. For MSPs this allows a specific customer to be selected and for traffic information at a specific location to be quickly viewed in real time, without having to generate a report.
Location-based when filtering policies can be set and viewed for all locations through the same user interface, giving administers full visibility into traffic and settings of all customers through a single pane of glass.
It is hoped that these updates will make WebTitan even more useful for businesses and MSPs and will further improve the user experience.
TitanHQ has formed a strategic partnership with the GRIDHEART, which will see TitanHQ’s leading cloud-based email security, web security, and email archiving solutions made available to users of the Cloudmore Cloud Commerce platform.
GRIDHEART is a privately-owned Swedish company that delivers the world’s leading cloud-based solutions through its Cloud Commerce platform, Cloudmore.
For the past 10 years, GRIDHEART has been offering leading cloud solutions to its customers and resellers and now deals with more than 1,000 cloud partners. The Cloudmore platform makes selling cloud services easy and brings a wide range of cloud services together in a single unified platform.
The platform gives users complete centralized control over their cloud solutions and allows them to easily provision new customers, bill for services, automate processes, and obtain pre-and post-sales support. The platform provides a host of management tools to make control of SaaS and cloud computing simple.
The partnership with TitanHQ will see the Galway, Ireland-based cybersecurity firm add its leading cybersecurity solutions to the platform, through which users can manage the solutions for free.
GRIDHEART’s customers will be able to offer their clients the SpamTitan Cloud email security solution, the WebTitan web filtering solution, and the ArcTitan email security solution and provide multi-layered security to protect against email, web, and modern blended threats.
“By offering additional layers of cloud-based security through Cloudmore’ s unique Cloud Commerce platform, MSPs can procure and deploy IT services for their customers and quickly maximize their IT investment, enhance their security stack and lower operational costs for their customers,” said Rocco Donnino, Executive VP of Strategic Alliances at TitanHQ. “This agreement highlights the importance of delivering comprehensive security solutions to the MSP community through a single and powerful platform”
“TitanHQ fits the bill as a perfect partner with their razor focus on advanced threat protection via email and the web. We’ve very happy to have them on board,” said Stefan Jacobson, Sales Director of GRIDHEART.
The Fallout exploit kit, a toolkit used to silently deliver ransomware and malware to vulnerable devices, was first identified in September 2018. Between September and December, the toolkit was used to exploit vulnerabilities and deliver GandCrab ransomware and other malicious payloads. Towards the end of the year, the vulnerabilities most commonly exploited were a remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows VBScript engine (CVE-2018-8174) and the use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player (CVE-2018-4878).
Around December 27, 2018, Fallout exploit kit activity stopped, but only for a few days. Now the exploit kit is back, and several updates have been made including the addition of HTTPS support, a new landing page format, and PowerShell-based malware downloads. A new exploit has also been added for a zero-day use-after-free Adobe Flash player vulnerability (CVE-2018-15982) which was patched on December 5, 2018: A vulnerability also exploited by the Underminer exploit kit.
The Fallout exploit kit is primarily delivered via malvertising campaigns – malicious adverts on third-party ad networks that are served on a variety of legitimate websites. The adverts redirect users to the exploit kit, which probes for vulnerabilities and exploits them to silently deliver malware or ransomware. The updated version of the Fallout exploit kit is delivering the latest version of GandCrab ransomware, for which there is no free decryptor. In addition to GandCrab ransomware, the Fallout exploit kit is delivering ServHelper, AZORult, TinyNuke, Dridex and Smokebot malware.
The malvertising campaigns used to generate traffic to the exploit kit include TrafficShop, Popcash, RevenueHits, and HookAds. The latter is primarily used on high-traffic adult websites that are visited millions of times a month. Users are redirected to a decoy adult site that contains the exploit kit and would be unaware that anything untoward has happened. If there is an unpatched vulnerability for which fallout has an exploit, the ransomware or malware payload will be silently downloaded.
Exploit kit activity is now much lower than in 2016 when EKs were extensively used to deliver malware, but the latest updates show EKs are still a threat and that they are regularly being updated with the latest exploits.
Exploit kits can only deliver malware if unpatched vulnerabilities are present, so prompt patching is strongly recommended. Users also need to visit the sites hosting the exploit kit. Businesses can prevent users from visiting malicious websites using a web filter.
Web filters use blacklists of websites known to host exploit kits are capable of scanning websites for malicious content. They can also prevent third-party ads from being displayed, thus preventing redirects. Since certain categories of website are often used in malvertising campaigns, adult sites and torrents sites for instance, blocking access to those categories of content with a web filter is also recommended.
For further information on web filtering and how it can protect against web-based attacks, contact the TitanHQ team today.
If you subscribe to a Cisco Umbrella DNS filtering and Internet security service, it may be worth your while considering a change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan Cloud. In this post we explain some of the main benefits of changing from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan and illustrate this with an example from the education sector.
Cisco Umbrella has evolved from the former OpenDNS Enterprise service to a four-tiered DNS filtering and Internet security service. At the entry-level tier, businesses get a less-than-ideal service with basic web filtering capabilities that lack SSL decryption and inspection; while, at the top tier, businesses can find themselves paying for services they may never use or that are already present in other security solutions.
Selecting the right tier of service to best protect the business from web-borne threats and control Internet activity is not the only challenge. One of the reasons businesses change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan is a lack of transparency about the cost of Cisco Umbrella – notwithstanding that businesses not only have to pay the licensing fee, but also the cost of mandatory and optional add-ons to maximize the effectiveness of the service.
Cisco Umbrella Licensing
Like most software services, Cisco Umbrella licensing is via a subscription service. Terms are for one year or three years, and in most cases must be paid all upfront. The licensing cost does not include mandatory onboarding and technical support, while there is a further “optional add-on” for premium support if a business wants its calls to support to be prioritized. Basically, businesses have to pay twice to get a decent level of support from Cisco.
Other optional add-ons vary according to which tier is subscribed to – and some are not available in all tiers. For example, if you want to identify which internal IP address was responsible for a malware download, you have to subscribe to a secondary Cisco service. However, this option is not available to subscribers of the DNS Essentials tier. Other optional add-ons and limitations by tier are illustrated in the table below.
Cisco Umbrella Pricing
Cisco Umbrella pricing is variable depending on the number of users, the length of the subscription, the location of the business, and any discounts negotiated with Cisco directly or a reseller. Some resellers do advertise fixed-price Cisco Umbrella packages, but it is often not possible to tell whether or not the cost of mandatory onboarding and technical support is included – or what additional optional add-ons are included in the price.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that businesses pay from $2.20 per user per month for the ineffective DNS Essentials service, while the DNS Advantage service – which lacks granular block and allow lists – costs up to $5.50 per user per month. Nobody appears to be prepared to disclose what they are paying for the SIG Essentials or SIG Advantage tiers, or whether they are able to take advantage of all the services´ capabilities.
Why Change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan?
WebTitan is a fully featured, cloud-based DNS filtering and Internet security service that includes most of the capabilities of the DNS Advantage tier and some of the capabilities of the SIG Essentials tier. The capabilities not included in WebTitan Cloud are SecureX and Investigate threat response integration. This is because WebTitan Cloud updates its threat intelligence database in real time and include “zero-minute” protection against phishing URLs to mitigate the need for threat response.
Additionally, although the cost of WebTitan Cloud varies according to the number of users and length of subscription, the price you see is the price you pay. Customer support is included in the subscription cost, and there are no optional add-ons or the need to subscribe to a secondary service to take advantage of WebTitan´s capabilities. In terms of cost, the maximum a business will pay for WebTitan Cloud in 2023 is $1.58 per user per month. The option also exists for monthly payments.
Case Study Background
Web Filtering for Schools and Libraries and CIPA Compliance
Web filters are a requirement of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA was enact by congress in 2000 and is concerned with protecting minors from harmful website content such as pornography. CIPA requires schools and libraries to implement an Internet safety policy that addresses the safety and security of minors online.
To comply with CIPA, measures must be introduced to block access to obscene content, child pornography, and other web content that is considered to be harmful to minors. Additionally, schools must educate minors about appropriate online behavior and monitor the online activities of minors.
While there are many choices of web filters for schools that can help them comply with CIPA, not all solutions are created equal. While it is usually easy to block access to harmful content, with some solutions monitoring user activity can be difficult and time consuming, and solutions as feature-rich and complex as Cisco Umbrella may be considered overfill for schools and libraries only looking to block access to obscene images.
Case Study
Why Did Saint Joseph Seminary College Change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan?
There is no doubt that Cisco has developed a powerful web filtering solution in Umbrella that can offer protection from web-based threats and allow content control, but the solution is not without its drawbacks.
One of the main downsides is usability, especially monitoring the online activities of users, something that is particularly important for CIPA compliance. It was proving to be particularly difficult for Saint Joseph Seminary College, which needed to quickly identify attempts by students to access restricted content.
“I don’t need rounded corners and elegant fonts when I am trying to see who has been visiting dangerous websites. I need to clearly see domain names and internal IPs,” explained Saint Joseph Seminary College IT Director Todd Russell. “In my opinion, after Cisco bought OpenDNS, they made some major changes to the UI which made it virtually useless for quickly looking through blocked traffic for signs of particular types of usage.” The complexity of the user interface made the solution unpopular with IT staff and the complexity was jeopardizing security.
Ease of use was a major problem, but the troubles didn’t end there. There was also the issue of cost. “We found that once Cisco bought OpenDNS, they began upping the Umbrella pricing every year at renewal time. Despite the repeated price increases, the service was not improving and there was no additional value offered,” explained Russell.
Cost and usability issues prompted Russell to look for a Cisco Umbrella alternative. After assessing various Cisco Umbrella alternatives, the decision was taken to switch from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan. “It didn’t take long to realize that WebTitan was the best alternative for an efficient, cost-effective, and easy to use filtering solution to replace Cisco Umbrella,” explained Russell.
“I am able to quickly scan an entire previous day of blocked traffic and take a closer look at the full traffic on any users that raise a concern in a matter of minutes. This has saved me an enormous amount of time when I need to examine a user’s traffic, but it has also made it possible for me to keep close tabs on our traffic.” All the information required was accessible with just two clicks.
In terms of time savings gained from using WebTitan and the lower cost of running the solution, the college has been able to make significant cost savings as well as identify and remediate issues immediately, which means greater safety and security for students.
Are You Looking for an Alternative to Cisco Umbrella?
If you are currently using Cisco Umbrella and are frustrated with the interface and are unable to easily get the information you need, or if you are looking for a lower-cost alternative to Cisco Umbrella that will not jeopardize security, you have nothing to lose by evaluating WebTitan.
Contact the WebTitan team today via the links at the top of the page and you can arrange a product demonstration and set up a free trial of the full solution to see for yourself the difference it makes. In the words of Todd Russell, “That brief demo was all I needed to know that WebTitan would serve my needs much better than Umbrella and I have been thrilled with the improvements to my workflow since switching over.”
It is straightforward to implement security controls to protect wired networks, but many businesses fail to apply the same controls to improve WiFi security, often due to a lack of understanding about how to improve wireless access point security. In this post we cover some of the main threats associated with WiFi networks and explain how easy it can be to improve wireless access point security.
Wireless Access Points are a Security Risk
Most businesses now apply web filters to control the types of content that can be accessed by employees on their wired networks but securing wireless networks can be more of a challenge. It is harder to control and monitor access and block content on WiFi networks.
Anyone within range of the access point can launch an attack, especially on public WiFi hotspots which have one set of credentials for all guest users. It is therefore essential that controls are implemented to improve wireless access point security and protect users of the WiFi network.
WiFi Security Threats
A single set of credentials means cybercriminals are afforded a high degree of anonymity. That allows them to use WiFi networks to identify local network vulnerabilities virtually undetected. They could conduct brute force attacks on routers, for example, or use WiFi access to inject malware on servers that lack appropriate security. If access is gained to the router, attacks can be launched on connected devices, and malware can be installed on multiple end points or even POS systems to steal customers’ credit/debit card information.
The cyberattack on Dyn is a good example of how malware can be installed and used for malicious purposes. The DNS service provider was attacked which resulted in large sections of the Internet being made inaccessible. A botnet of more than 100,000 compromised routers and IoT devices was used in the attack.
Man-in-the-Middle attacks are also common on Wi-Fi networks. Any unencrypted content can be intercepted, such as if information is exchanged between a user and a HTTP site, rather than HTTPS, if a VPN is not used.
Public WiFi networks are often used for all manner of nefarious purposes due to the anonymity provided. If users take advantage of that anonymity to access illegal content and download child pornography or perform copyright infringing downloads of music, films, and TV shows from P2P file sharing sites, an investigation would center on the hotspot provider. Questions would likely be asked about the lack of security controls to prevent illegal website access.
The Easy Way to Improve Wireless Access Point Security
The easy way to improve wireless access point security is a web filtering solution. Web filtering solutions are usually implemented by businesses to secure wired networks, but solutions also exist to improve wireless access point security.
A web filter forms a barrier between the users of the network and the Internet. Controls can be applied to stop users from accessing dangerous, illegal, or inappropriate website content. Even if each user has their own access controls, without a web filter, users will still be vulnerable to malware attacks and phishing attempts and the hotspot provider may be liable for illegal activities over the WiFi network.
There are two ways of implementing WiFi web filtering to improve wireless access point security. One is to rely on a list of categorized domain names and use that to control content. The other is DNS-layer web filtering, which uses the DNS lookup process that is required before any user is directed to a website after entering the domain name into their browser. The DNS server turns the domain name into an IP address to allow the web page to be found.
Why DNS Filtering is Best Way to Improve Wireless Access Point Security
The main difference between the two types of web filtering is the point at which access is blocked. With a traditional web filter, content is first downloaded before it is blocked, which is a risk. With DNS-layer filtering, content is blocked during the lookup process before content is downloaded.
If content is downloaded before being blocked, this will naturally have an impact on available bandwidth. DNS-layer filtering has no impact on bandwidth, since the content is blocked before it is downloaded.
DNS filtering does not need to be integrated with other systems and it works across all devices and operating systems, since they all use DNS servers to access websites.
DNS filtering is also quick and easy to implement. No appliances need to be purchased, hardware doesn’t need to be upgraded, and no software downloads are required. A simple change to the DNS is all that is required to point it to the provider’s DNS server. It is also much easier to maintain. No software updates are necessary and, in contrast to other security solutions, no patching is required. It is all handled by the service provider.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi – The Leading Wireless Access Point Security Solution
TitanHQ has set the standard for WiFi security with WebTitan Cloud for WiFi. WebTitan Cloud for WiFi gives businesses the opportunity to implement bulletproof WiFi security to protect end users from online threats, block malware downloads, and carefully control the content that can be accessed by wireless network users.
Businesses that run WiFi hotspots can quickly and easily implement the solution and let TitanHQ secure their WiFi networks and provide the massive processing power to fight current and emerging web-based threats. With WebTitan Cloud for WiFi, businesses can instead concentrate on profit-generating areas of the business.
If you want to improve wireless access point security, contact TitanHQ for further information on WebTitan cloud for WiFi. Our security experts will be happy to schedule a product demonstration and set up for a free trial.
FAQs
Can I secure multiple access points at different geographical locations?
WebTitan is a DNS-based web filtering solution that sees all filtering take place in the cloud. Being cloud-based, WebTitan can be used to filter the Internet at any location, for both wired and wireless networks. You can protect multiple access points through the same solution, even if those access points are in different cities or countries. You can set controls for each access point through a single web-based user interface.
Can I set different filtering controls for employees and guest users?
With WebTitan you have full control over the content that can be accessed by all users of your access points. You can set different filtering controls for individuals, departments, user groups such as guest users, and the entire organization. You have highly granular control over the content that can be accessed, with filtering by category, keyword, and URL filtering.
Is it possible to bypass filtering on access points?
Most people will attempt to bypass filtering controls on access points by using an anonymizer service or proxy. If the Internet is accessed through the anonymizer website or proxy, the actual content viewed will not be visible via the web filtering service. To prevent users from bypassing the web filter you can block anonymizer services through the WebTitan UI.
Can I block specific websites on my access points?
You can use the blacklisting feature of WebTitan to prevent a specific website from being accessed via your access points. You can do this for the entire organization, for different departments or user groups, or for specific individuals. Conversely, you can use whitelisting to allow a website to be accessed even if it contravenes other filtering controls.
Is it possible to temporarily disable filtering on access points?
With WebTitan, you do not need to disable web filtering if you need to bypass your web filtering policies on a temporary basis. You can configure a cloud key that can be used to bypass filtering controls for a limited period and can set the duration that the cloud key is valid through your UI.
A credential stuffing attack has led to a Dunkin Donuts data breach which has seen some customer data compromised. While the breach was limited and most attempts to access customers’ DD Perks accounts were blocked, the incident does highlight the risks of password reuse.
It is unclear exactly how many customers have been affected, but for certain customers, the attackers may have gained access to their DD perks accounts – The loyalty program run by the donut company. The Dunkin Donuts data breach was limited to first and last names, email addresses, DD Perks account numbers, and QR codes.
The method used to gain access to customers DD perks accounts was unsophisticated, cheap to conduct, and in the most part can be conducted automatically. Low cost and little effort makes for a winning combination for hackers.
The Dunkin Donuts data breach did not involve internal systems and no credentials were stolen from the donut giant. Customers’ usernames (email addresses) and passwords were obtained from security breaches at other companies. Those usernames and passwords were then utilized in an automated attack on Dunkin Donuts customers’ DD Perks accounts. Dunkin Donuts has performed a password reset and affected users will be required to choose a new password. New DD Perks account numbers will be given to affected customers and their card balances will be transferred to the new account.
Since Dunkin Donuts did not expose any passwords and its systems remained secure, the only individuals that will have been affected are those that have used the same password for their DD Perks account that they have used on other online platforms.
The Risks of Password Reuse
Hackers obtain credentials from multiple data breaches, compile the data to create a list of passwords that have previously been used with a specific email address, then conduct what is known as a credential stuffing attack. Multiple login attempts are made using the different passwords associated with an email address.
The Dunkin Donuts data breach demonstrates the importance of good password hygiene and the risks of password reuse. Every user account must be secured with a strong, unique password – One that has not been used with a particular email address or username in the past and is not shared across multiple platforms.
If any online platform experiences a data breach and credentials are obtained, only the account at the breached entity will be compromised.
Naturally, using different passwords for each account means users are required to have scores of unique passwords for their work and personal accounts and remembering strong passwords can be difficult. That is why so many people reuse passwords on multiple accounts or recycle old passwords.
To avoid having to remember so many passwords it is advisable to use a password manager to generate strong passwords and store them. Of course, the password manager account must be secured with a very strong password or long pass phrase as if that account is breached, al passwords will be compromised.
There are many reasons why businesses should implement a WiFi filtering solution, but one of the most important aspects of WiFi filtering is protecting your brand.
The Importance of Brand Protection
It takes a lot of hard work to create a strong brand that customers trust, but trust can easily be lost if a company’s reputation is damaged. If that happens, rebuilding the reputation of your company can be a major challenge.
Brand reputation can be damaged in many ways and it is even easier now thanks to the Internet and the popularity of social media sites. Bad feedback about a company can spread like wildfire and negative reviews are wont to go viral.
Smart business owners are proactive and take steps to protect their digital image. They are quick to detect and enforce online copyright infringements and other forms of brand abuse. They monitor social media websites and online forums to discover what people are saying about their company and how customers feel about their products and services. They also actively manage their online reputation and take steps to reinforce their brand image at every opportunity.
Cyberattacks Can Seriously Damage a Company’s Reputation
One aspect of brand protection that should not be underestimated is cybersecurity. There are few things that can have such a devastating impact on the reputation of a company as a cyberattack and data breach. A company that fails to secure its POS systems, websites, and network and experiences a breach that results in the theft of sensitive customer data can see their reputation seriously tarnished. When that happens, customers can be driven to competitors.
How likely are customers to abandon a previously trusted brand following a data breach? A lot more than you may think! In late 2017, the specialist insurance services provider Beazley conducted a survey to find out more about the impact of a data breach on customer behavior. The survey was conducted on 10,000 consumers and 70% said that if a company experienced a data breach that exposed their sensitive information they would no longer do business with the brand.
WiFi Filtering and Protecting Your Brand
The use of Wi-Fi filtering for protecting your brand may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about brand protection, but it should be part of your brand protection strategy if you offer WiFi access to your customers or provide your employees with wireless Internet access.
It is essential for businesses to take steps to ensure their customers are protected and are not exposed to malware or phishing websites. If a customer experiences a malware infection or phishing attack on your WiFi network the fallout could be considerable. If your employees download malware, they could give hackers access to your network, POS system, and sensitive customer data. If you offer free Wi-Fi to your customers, you need to make sure your Wi-Fi network is secured and that you protect your customers from malicious website content.
One of the most important aspects of WiFi filtering for protecting your brand is preventing your WiFi access points from being used for illegal activities. Internet Service Providers can shut down Internet access over illegal activities that take place over the Internet. That will not only mean loss of WiFi for customers but could see Internet access lost for the whole company. Your company could also face legal action and fines.
If WiFi users can access pornography and other unacceptable content, a brand can be seriously tarnished. Imagine a parent discovers their child has seen pornography via your WiFi network – The failure to prevent such actions could be extremely damaging. WiFi filters allow businesses to carefully control the content that can be accessed on their network and prevents customers from viewing harmful web content.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi – The Easy Way to Secure Your WiFi Access Points
Implementing a WiFi filter to protect your brand and provide safe and secure Internet access for your employees and customers is a quick and easy process with WebTitan Cloud for WiFi.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi is a powerful, yet easy to use web filtering solution for WiFi hotspots that requires no hardware purchases or software downloads. WebTitan Cloud for WiFi can be implemented and configured in just a few minutes. No technical skill required.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi is highly scalable and can protect any number of access points, no matter where they are located. If you have business premises in multiple locations, or in different countries, WebTitan Cloud for WiFi will protect all of your access points via an intuitive web-based user interface.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi protects against online threats, allows businesses to carefully control the types of content that WiFi users can access, allows businesses to control bandwidth use, and gives them full visibility into network usage.
If you have yet to implement a WiFi filter on your hotspots, give TitanHQ a call today for details of pricing, to book a product demonstration, and register for a free trial.
A Starbucks porn filter will finally be introduced in 2019 to prevent adult content from being accessed by customers hooked up to the coffee shop chain’s free WiFi network.
It has taken some time for the Starbucks porn filter to be applied. In 2016, the coffee shop chain agreed to implement a WiFi filtering solution following a campaign from the internet safety advocacy group Enough is Enough, but two years on and a Starbucks porn filter has only been applied in the UK.
Businesses Pressured to Implement WiFi Filters to Block Porn
Enough is Enough launched its Porn Free WiFi campaign – now renamed the SAFE WiFi campaign – to pressure businesses that offer free WiFi to customers to apply WiFi filters to restrict access to adult content. In 2016, more than 50,000 petitions were sent to the CEO’s of Starbucks and McDonalds urging them to apply WiFi filters and take the lead in restricting access to pornography and child porn on their WiFi networks.
After petitioning McDonald’s, the global restaurant chain took prompt action and rolled out a WiFi filter across its 14,000 restaurants. However, Starbucks has been slow to take action. Following the McDonalds announcement in 2016, Starbucks agreed to roll out a WiFi filter once it had determined how to restrict access to unacceptable content without involuntarily blocking unintended content. Until the Starbucks porn filter was applied, the coffee shop chain said it would reserve the right to stop any behavior that negatively affected the customer experience, including activities on its free WiFi network.
The apparent lack of action prompted Enough is Enough to turn up the heat on Starbucks. On November 26, 2018, Enough is Enough president and CEO, Donna Rice Hughes, issued a fresh call for a Starbucks porn filter to be implemented and for the coffee chain to follow through in its 2016 promise. Rice Hughes also called for the public to sign a new petition calling for the Starbucks porn filter to finally be put in place.
Starbucks Porn Filter to Be Applied in All Locations in 2019
Starbucks has responded to Enough is Enough, via Business Insider, confirming that it has been testing a variety of WiFi filtering solutions and has identified one that meets its needs. The Starbucks porn filter will be rolled out across all its cafes in 2019.
All businesses that offer free WiFi to their customers have a responsibility to ensure that their networks cannot be abused and are kept ‘family-friendly.’ It is inevitable that some individuals will abuse the free access and flaunt policies on acceptable use. A technical solution is therefore required to enforce those policies.
While Enough is Enough is focused on ensuring adult content is blocked, there are other benefits of WiFi filtering. A WiFi filter protects customers from malware downloads and can stop them accessing phishing websites. All manner of egregious and illegal content can be blocked.
WiFi filters can also help businesses conserve bandwidth to make sure that all customers can access the Internet and enjoy reasonable speeds.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi – The Easy Way to Start Filtering Content on WiFi Networks
TitanHQ has long been an advocate of WiFi filtering for public WiFi hotspots and has developed WebTitan Cloud for WiFi to allow businesses to easily block access to unacceptable and illegal web content on WiFi networks.
WebTitan Cloud for WiFi allows businesses to carefully control the content that can be accessed over WiFi without involuntarily blocking unintended content. Being 100% cloud based, no hardware purchases are required and no software downloads are necessary.
The solution offers businesses advanced web filtering capabilities through an easy to use intuitive user interface. No IT consultants are required to implement and run the solution. It can be set up and operated by individuals that have little to no technical knowhow.
The solution is highly scalable and can be used to protect thousands of users, at multiple locations around the globe, all controlled through a single user interface.
If you run a business that offers free WiFi to customers and you have not yet started controlling the activities that can take place over your WiFi network, contact TitanHQ today for further information on WebTitan Cloud for WiFi.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that want to start offering WiFi filtering to their clients can join the TitanHQ Alliance. All TitanHQ solutions have been developed to meet the needs of MSPs and make it easy for them to add new security capabilities to their service stacks.
The biggest cyber threat to SMBs is ransomware, according to Dato’s State of the Channel Report. While other forms of malware pose a serious risk and the threat from phishing is ever present, ransomware was considered to be the biggest cyber threat to SMBs by the 2,400 managed service providers that were polled for the study.
Many SMB owners underestimate the cost of mitigating a ransomware attack and think the cost of cybersecurity solutions to prevent attacks, while relatively low, are not justified. After all, according to Datto, the average ransom demand is just $4,300 per attack.
However, the ransom payment is only a small part of the total cost of mitigating an attack. The final cost is likely to be ten times the cost of any ransom payment. Datto points out that the average total cost of an attack on an SMB is $46,800, although there have been many cases where the cost has been far in excess of that amount.
One of the most common mistakes made by SMBs is assuming that attacks will not occur and that hackers are likely to target larger businesses with deeper pockets. The reality is SMBs are being targeted by hackers, as attacks are easier to pull off. SMBs tend not to invest heavily in cybersecurity solutions as larger businesses.
Anti-Virus Software is Not Effective at Preventing Ransomware Attacks
Many SMB owners mistakenly believe they will be protected by anti-virus software. However, the survey revealed that 85% of MSPs said clients that experienced a ransomware attack had anti-virus solutions installed. Anti-virus software may be able to detect and block some ransomware variants, but since new forms of ransomware are constantly being developed, signature-based cybersecurity solutions alone will not offer a sufficient level of protection.
Many SMBs will be surprised to hear just how frequently SMBs are attacked with ransomware. More than 55% of surveyed MSPs said their clients had experienced a ransomware attack in the first six months of this year and 35% experienced multiple attacks on the same day.
Some cybersecurity firms have reported there has been a slowdown in ransomware attacks as cybercriminals are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency mining. While that may be true for some cybercriminal gangs, the ease of conducting attacks using ransomware-as-a-service means many small players have started attacking SMBs. That is unlikely to change.
92% of surveyed MSPs said they thought ransomware attacks would continue at current levels or even increase throughout this year and next.
Ransomware attacks are even being conducted on Apple operating systems. In the past year, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of MSPs who have reported ransomware attacks on macOS and iOS operating systems.
“Not only have ransomware attacks increased in recent years, but the problem may even be bigger than we know, as many attacks go unreported,” explained Jeff Howard, Founder and Owner, of the Texas MSP Networking Results. Datto suggests that only one in four attacks are reported to law enforcement.
How to Protect Against SMB Ransomware Attacks
To protect against ransomware attacks, businesses need to implement a range of solutions to block the most common attack vectors. To block email-based attacks, advanced spam filtering technology is required, and end user security awareness training is essential. To block ransomware downloads from malicious websites, web filtering software should be implemented.
Business continuity and disaster recovery technology should be implemented to ensure that a quick recovery is possible in the event of an attack, and naturally intelligent backing up is required to ensure files can be recovered without paying a ransom.
MSPs need to explain the risks to SMBs, along with the solutions that need to be installed to prevent attacks and the likely cost of recovery. Many businesses are shocked to discover the true cost of a ransomware attack.
How TitanHQ Can Help Improve Defenses Against SMB Ransomware Attacks
TitanHQ has developed two innovative cybersecurity solutions that work in tandem to block the two most common attack vectors: Email and Internet attacks. SpamTitan is a powerful spam filtering solution that combines two AV engines with intelligent scanning of incoming mail using a variety of techniques to identify malicious messages and new ransomware variants and block them at source.
WebTitan is a powerful web filtering solution that can block malvertising attacks, drive-by ransomware downloads, and prevent employees from visiting malicious websites. Both solutions should be part of an SMBs arsenal to protect against ransomware and malware attacks and both solutions should be part of an MSPs security stack.
For further information on SpamTitan and WebTitan and details of TitanHQ’s MSP offerings, contact the TitanHQ today.
Most businesses are aware of the importance of securing their Wi-Fi networks; however, in some industry sectors Wi-Fi security has not been given the importance it requires. Wi-Fi security for hotels, for instance, is often lacking, even though the hospitality sector is being actively being targeted by cybercriminals who see hotel Wi-Fi as a rich picking ground.
Hotel Chains are Under Attack
Hotels are an attractive target for cybercriminals. They satisfy the two most important criteria for cybercriminals when selecting targets. Valuable data that can be quickly turned into profit and relatively poor cybersecurity which makes conducting attacks more straightforward.
In 2018, there have been several major cyberattacks on hotel groups. In November 2018, Federal Group, which runs luxury hotels in Tasmania, experienced an email security incident that exposed the personal data of some of its members. A cyberattack on the Radisson Hotel Group was also reported. In that case it resulted in the exposure of the personal information of its loyalty program members.
In August one of China’s largest chains of hotels – Huazhu Hotels Group Ltd – which operates 13 hotel brands – suffered a cyberattack that affected an estimated 130 million people. In June one of Japan’s largest hotel groups, Prince Hotels & Resorts, experienced a cyberattack that impacted almost 125,000 customers. In 2017 there were major data breaches at Hilton, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Trump Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels, Loews Hotels, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, and InterContinental Hotels Group to name but a few.
The Cost of a Hotel Data Breach
When a data breach occurs the costs quickly mount. Access to data and networks must be blocked rapidly, the breach must be investigated, the cause must be found, and security must be improved to address the vulnerabilities that were exploited. That invariably requires consultants, forensic investigators and other third-party contractors. Affected individuals must be notified and credit monitoring and identity theft protection services may need to be offered.
The direct costs of a hotel data breach are considerable. The Ponemon Institute calculated the average cost of a data breach in 2018 had risen to $3.86 million. That was for a breach of up to 100,000 records. Larger breaches cost considerably more.
Then there is GDPR. Fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover (whichever is higher) can be issued for GDPR compliance failures, which includes data breaches that resulted from poor security.
What is much harder to calculate is the cost of reputation damage and the customer churn rate after a breach. Damage to a hotel chain’s reputation can be long lasting and in the highly competitive hospitality industry, it could even be disastrous.
The security firm Ping Identity recently published the results from its 2018 Consumer Survey: Attitudes and Behavior in a Post-Breach Era. 3,000 people from the USA, UK, France, and Germany were surveyed for the study, which investigated the expectations of customers and the fallout from data breaches. 78% of respondents said they would stop engaging with a brand online after a breach and 36% would stop engaging with a brand altogether. Could your hotel group weather a 78% drop in online bookings or a loss of more than a third of your customer base?
Wi-Fi Security for Hotels
Cybersecurity solutions should be implemented to protect hotel networks from cyberattacks and prevent customer’s personal information from being accessed by cybercriminals. Perimeter cybersecurity solutions such as firewalls are essential, but Wi-Fi security for hotels should not be underestimated.
Guests use the Wi-Fi network to conduct business while at the hotel, for entertainment, and communication. Guests typically bring three devices that they connect to hotel Wi-Fi networks. A hotel with 100 guests potentially means 300 devices connecting to Wi-Fi. There is a high probability that at least some of those devices will be infected with malware, which could be transferred to other guests.
Hotel guests often access types of content that they do not access at home – sites that carry a higher risk of resulting in a malware download. Hackers often exploit poor hotel Wi-Fi security to attack guests. The DarkHotel threat group is a classic example. The group targets high profile hotel guests and has been doing so for more than a decade. If Wi-Fi security for hotels is substandard, successful attacks are inevitable.
Naturally guest and business Wi-Fi networks should be separated to ensure that one does not pose a threat to the other. A VLAN should be set up for the wired network, with a separate VLAN for internal wireless access points and those used by guests.
Wi-Fi security should include WPA2 encryption to prevent the interception of data and a web filtering solution should be implemented to protect guests from phishing websites and sites hosting malware. A web filter will also allow hotels to control the types of content that can be accessed by guests and restrictions can be put in place to create family-friendly Wi-Fi access and prevent guests from accessing illegal web content.
TitanHQ Email and Wi-Fi Security for Hotels
TitanHQ is a leading provider of advanced cybersecurity solutions for hotels to protect against email-based cyberattacks and improve Wi-Fi security for hotels.
WebTitan is a powerful web filtering solution for wired and wireless networks that blocks malware downloads and prevents employees and guest Wi-Fi users from accessing malicious websites. WebTitan also allows hotels to carefully control the content that can be accessed via their Wi-Fi networks, ensuring a business-friendly and family-friendly Internet service is provided.
Key Benefits of WebTitan
WebTitan Cloud and WebTitan Cloud for Wi-Fi are 100% cloud-based web filters for hotels that require no software downloads or hardware purchases. They can be implemented in minutes and are easy to configure and maintain. They are ideal for improving Wi-Fi security for hotels and securing wired hotel networks.
WebTitan web filters allow hotels to:
Control the content that can be accessed by guests without slowing Internet speeds
Block access to pornography to create family-friendly Wi-Fi zones in communal areas
Prevent guests from engaging in illegal online activities
Prevent guests from accessing phishing websites
Block the downloading of viruses, malware, and ransomware
Create custom policies for different user groups – management, employees, guests, or individuals
Create custom controls for different wireless access points
Restrict bandwidth-draining online activities to ensure good Internet speeds for all users
Manage web filtering controls for multiple locations from a single web-based control panel
WebTitan is ideal for use in the hospitality sector to protect internal networks from attack and to block web-based threats that could otherwise lead to a data breach.
To find out more about improving Wi-Fi security for hotels, contact TitanHQ today. The team will be happy to provide details of the products, advise you on the best deployment options, and schedule a product demonstration. You can also sign up for a free trial to evaluate the effectiveness of TitanHQ’s web filters for hotels in your own environment.
This year has seen several ransomware attacks on cities and municipal targets, clearly demonstrating that the threat from ransomware has not abated, despite several analyses from cybersecurity firms that suggest hackers are moving away from ransomware and concentrating on cryptomining malware attacks.
Cryptocurrency miners have certainly become more popular and their use has increased substantially in recent months, but there is still a significant threat from ransomware.
Ransomware development may have slowed, but ransomware attacks on cities and other high value targets have not. In fact, October has seen two new ransomware attacks on cities in the United States, along with several attacks on municipal targets. In the past few months. It is clear that the threat is not going away any time soon.
$2,000 Ransom Paid to Resolve City of West Haven Ransomware Attack
The city of West Haven ransomware attack started on the morning of October 16, 2018, and by the time the attack had been contained, 23 servers had been encrypted and taken out of action. Prompt action limited the scope of the attack, although it did cause major disruption as computers on the affected network had to all be shut down.
The attack affected a critical system, and after an assessment of the situation, the decision was taken to pay the ransom. Considering the number of servers affected, the ransom demand was relatively low. The city paid $2,000 in Bitcoin for the keys to decrypt its files.
Art House, Connecticut’s chief of cybersecurity, explained that this was one of several targeted ransomware attacks on cities and municipal services in the state in recent weeks. In February, around 160 computers were affected by ransomware in more than a dozen agencies in the state according to the Department of Administrative Services, and a month later the state’s Judicial Branch was attacked and had more than 100 servers encrypted.
City of Muscatine Ransomware Attack
The West Haven ransomware attack was shortly followed by a ransomware attack on the city of Muscatine in Ohio, which saw files on several government servers encrypted. The attack is understood to have started on October 17 and caused considerable disruption especially to services at City Hall.
Few details about the attack have been made public, although it is understood that the ransom demand was not paid. Instead, IT teams have had to painstakingly rebuild affected servers and workstations and restore files from backups.
Ransomware Attack on City of Atlanta
In August one of the most serious ransomware attacks on cities occurred. The City of Atlanta was attacked with SamSam ransomware, which was manually deployed on multiple computers after access had been gained to the network. The attack occurred in March and took down computers used for many city services, causing major disruption for weeks. A ransom demand of around $50,000 was issued, although the decision was taken not to pay. Initially the cost of recovery was expected to reach $6 million. Later estimates in the summer suggest that the final cost may exceed $17 million, highlighting just how costly ransomware attacks on cities can be.
Ransomware Attacks on Municipal Services Becoming More Common
Ransomware attacks on cities are becoming more common, as are attacks on municipal targets. In October, the Onslow Water and Sewer Authority in Jacksonville, North Carolina was attacked with ransomware resulting in most systems being taken out of action. In that case, a dual attack occurred, which started with the Emotet Trojan followed by the deployment of Ryuk ransomware two weeks later. The attack is expected to disrupt services for several weeks. The Indiana National Guard also suffered a ransomware attack in October. In both cases, the ransom was not paid.
Prevention and Incident Response
One of the reasons behind the rise in ransomware attacks on cities is underinvestment in cybersecurity defenses. Too little has been spent on protecting systems and updating aging hardware and software. With many vulnerabilities left unaddressed, staff receiving insufficient training, and even basic cybersecurity defenses often found lacking, it is no surprise that the attacks are increasing.
The only way that the attacks will be stopped is by spending more on cybersecurity defenses and training to make it much harder for attacks to occur. It can certainly be hard to find the money to commit to cybersecurity, but as the City of Atlanta found out, the cost of prevention is far lower than the cost of recovery from a ransomware attack.
