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News

The Ransomware Nightmare and Its Real Cost

March 13, 2017 by Boost IT

Every day people go on the internet and are at risk from cyberattacks. Some of these attacks use highly sophisticated technology that can create a ransomware nightmare. Ransomware attacks by locking you out of your system and demanding a ransom to unlock it.

The Ransomware Attack

In Atlanta, there was a healthcare provider doing business as usual. One day an employee from the company received an invoice in an email that looked like a standard invoice from a doctor in their network. When the invoice was opened, the computer and all data on the company server was compromised with a cryptolocker Trojan. On the screen was a message demanding thousands of dollars in payment via bitcoin to get the password to unlock the files.

This wasn’t your average medical invoice but a particularly nasty ransomware called cryptolocker that targets computers running Microsoft Windows. Cryptolocker usually gets delivered as an emailed invoice. The email should have seemed suspicious because of the unusual sender e-mail address, but once opened, it was too late. Files were encrypted and the entire system froze, bringing the entire company operation to a screeching halt. The message clearly explained that the company’s data was encrypted and would not be restored until the ransom was paid, and there is no way around it other than restoring your data from a ransomware-resistant BDR system.

Ransomware attacks can affect everyone using desktops, smartphones, and other devices, and in every industry from medical to engineering, retail to real estate, hosspitals to public schools, and to government agencies. For a small business, it will mean the entire business’ digital assets are inaccessible. With increased sophistication from cybercriminals, ransomware is targeting bigger businesses, too, and spreading into their networks.

The Ransomware Nightmare

According to the FBI, ransomware attacks cost their victims a total of $209 million in the first three months of 2016, a stunning surge upward from $24 million in all of 2015. In addition, sometimes demand for payment is in bitcoin. Do you know how to get bitcoin if you need it? If the company doesn’t have bitcoin payment options, they must scramble to get it. But the biggest problem is loss in productivity.

Based on Intermedia’s 2016 Crypto-Ransomware Report, most businesses experience an average of two days of downtime. Business downtime is a far bigger cost than the ransom itself. It’s the loss of productivity and lack of access to critical data, even emergency data, that can create the real ransomware nightmare.

It is devastating when your data is locked or encrypted. Ransomware locks up entire systems and your servers, stops critical processes from running and denies access to the records and other data needed for major decisions. The longer it takes to get back to normal, the higher the potential for problems. Projects are put on hold and clients become upset, and customers may avoid doing business with you in the future because your system has been compromised.

In some instances, such as with the Atlanta healthcare provider, that data involved critical patient information that was needed by doctors to properly make a diagnosis or approve prescriptions. It meant a patient went untreated. And it could have been far worse if a patient’s life was at stake. There was an increased immediacy to get the data back up and running.

The Solution

When ransomware strikes, a business has a hard decision to make. Stress levels are very high. Time is of the essence. Either the business spends multiple days recovering locked files from backups or pays the ransom, and if you pay, the hacker may have your credit card information. Without proper backup already in place, businesses often have no choice but to pay the ransom. In early 2016, operations at a Los Angeles hospital came to a near halt, leaving staff to use faxes and paper notes to communicate before a $17,000 ransom was paid.

Even with a good backup plan, recovery can be tricky and take time. And unlike previous Ransomware that locked operating systems and left data files alone and usually recoverable, Cryptolocker makes extortion of victims more effective because you can’t retrieve locked files without the attacker’s private key.

The solution is a defense against Ransomware that combines education and training, proper backup and disaster recovery, regular maintenance and software updates, and improved communication. Find information in our article “Learn to Protect Yourself and Your Clients from Malware” and read about “Cybersecurity Tips for Small Business”.

Boost IT can help you be prepared. To learn more, contact us at 404-865-1289.

Filed Under: Cyber Security, News Tagged With: attack, Cryptolocker, locked files, locked operating systems, nightmare

ALERT! Badlock Bug in Windows

April 6, 2016 by Boost IT

Badlock Bug

On April 12th, 2016, a crucial security bug in Windows and Samba will be disclosed. We call it: the Badlock bug.

Engineers at Microsoft and the Samba Team are working together to get this problem fixed. Patches will be released on April 12th.

Admins and all of you responsible for Windows or Samba server infrastructure: Mark the date. (Again: It’s April 12th, 2016.)

Please get yourself ready to patch all systems on this day. We are pretty sure that there will be exploits soon after we publish all relevant information.

When on April 12th will the patches be released?

Patches will be released around 17:00 UTC. That’s about the same time the Microsoft Patch Tuesday occurs.

Is there a CVE for Badlock?

Yes. Badlock has an assigned CVE. It will be listed here after the patches are released.

Why announce Badlock before April 12th, 2016?

The main goal of this announcement is to give a heads up and to get you ready to patch all systems as fast as possible and have sysadmin resources available on the day the patch will be released. Vendors and distributors of Samba are being informed before a security fix is released in any case. This is part of any Samba security release process.

Weighting to the respective interests of advance warning and utmost secrecy we chose to warn you beforehand, so that everyone has a chance to be ready to install the fixes as soon as they are available. Once the patch is released to the public, it will point to attack vectors and exploits will be in the wild in no time.

Who found the Badlock Bug?

Badlock was discovered by Stefan Metzmacher. He’s a member of the international Samba Core Teamand works at SerNet on Samba. He reported the bug to Microsoft and has been working closely with them to fix the problem.

Information courtesy of badlock.org

Filed Under: Cyber Security, News Tagged With: Windows Updates

New Features in Windows 10

April 2, 2015 by Boost IT

New Features in Windows 10

Is Windows 8.1 driving you crazy? Check out the new features in Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is a FREE upgrade, brings back Start menu, adds Cortana voice command and many other exciting new features that make it easy to use on a tablet, computer, or convertible like a Surface Pro 3.

New Features in Windows 10
Recognize the Start Menu?

Windows 10 is almost in sight: Microsoft hasn’t offered an official release date, but we do know that the company has committed to launching the new operating system globally this summer.

Watch the preview video to see how Cortana works and other new features in Windows 10.

There’s still quite a bit to iron out before Windows 10 will be found on our PCs, tablets and phones. And Microsoft will continue rolling out new features. The latest build of the Technical Preview adds a bit of visual flair, and brought virtual assistant Cortana to even more countries, including the UK, China and France. And Reuters reports that Cortana could eventually be making her way to iOS and Android devices.

Microsoft is also working to beef up security in Windows 10. The recently announced Windows Hello will use biometric authentication to unlock your devices, scanning your face, finger or iris in lieu of a password. It’ll take some time for machines with compatible hardware to reach consumers, but more secure options for logging into our accounts could be a boon for everyone.

And upgrades to Windows 10 will be free for a year, for folks who are currently running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8. There’s no word on pricing after that (or for folks still running Windows XP), but if Microsoft has its way, we will have all made the switch by then anyway.

Filed Under: New Technology, News Tagged With: Windows 10

Boost IT has a New Home

June 4, 2014 by Boost IT

Boost IT has a New Home

We are celebrating our growth with a prize giveaway. Want to know how to win? Read on.
Atlanta, GA June 4 2014.

How does a business with limited resources remove uncertainty from IT operations?
Boost IT solves another piece of the puzzle with its new Atlanta home.

“We quickly realized that the next level of service for small business meant eliminating uncertainty in IT operations, “ said Russell Shulin, CEO. “With monitored and managed IT infrastructure and around the clock service desk support, business owners no longer have to worry about the reliability or hidden cost of their IT and can concentrate on their core strengths to boost their business. IT networks can be assessed, stabilized, monitored, and managed for growth and innovation with more uptime and less cost with our new managed service offerings so that your critical IT tools are always available when your business needs them. Migration to this new system is easy and will not interrupt your daily business functions.”

Large enterprises have been taking advantage of managed IT services for years but the cost was out of reach for most small businesses. Now most of the work is done virtually from remote locations so Boost IT can contract for these services in bulk, bundle them into inclusive packages that meet your requirements and offer them at the right price point for your business.

Shulin continued, “Our new facility is just another evolution for providing the best client service possible. Although our systems and processes enable our team to support your IT remotely from nearly anywhere and at any time, there are some functions that are just enhanced by a quickly accessible, centralized physical location. The needed space for the build out and staging of our clients’ hardware, for testing new technologies, and for collaboration and education of our team also provides us reliable access to high bandwidth throughput and physical security. Our new home certainly meets those needs for the foreseeable future.”

We mark our continued growth by moving into new and improved facilities at 2115 Monroe Drive, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30324. Since 2000 Boost IT has always associated with superior providers of technology products and services to offer superior IT support to engineering, financial services, and healthcare organizations. Reinforcing our core belief that affordable, enterprise class managed IT services can transform and elevate small businesses to the next level, in 2013 we partnered with a world class provider that supports more than 350,000 users worldwide to automate monitoring and management of IT servers, workstations and network devices for our small business users.

Boost IT believes that IT should perform like a light switch, that you and your team should dream big, sleep well, and leave IT up to us, and that your goals for your business come first. Our work is personal, and everything we do revolves around these beliefs.

A LUCKY WINNER!!
In June, Boost IT will offer a free, no obligation network assessments as a tool to determine how your IT operations could be improved to better service your business. In celebration of our growth, a lucky winner will have a choice of receiving a dining card or an Android tablet during June 2014. Just schedule a network assessment by sending a request to info@boostitco.com and you will be entered into our drawing. We will be announcing our winner in our July newsletter.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: News

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