GoldBrute botnet, Wannacry malware, BlueKeep vulnerability, VIM/NeoVIM vulnerability, Android smartphone backdoors, social engineering attacks, even Samsung telling consumers to scan their QLED TVs regularly for Malware. It’s seemingly the talk of the town. If you’re reading this, hopefully your first reaction is, “Ugh, enough already, tell me something I don’t know.” If that isn’t the first thought that came across, then enjoy this summer with a little reading here, some patching there, and an upgrade or two in between.

There are more cyber criminals than there are cyber security experts. One must obviously be more lucrative than the other. You don’t have to become a cyber security expert to fight cyber crime, but there are still things you can do to join the fight.

Earlier this month, we talked about CVE-2019-0708, which has been given the name BlueKeep. Microsoft released their patches for this vulnerability a little over a month ago shortly after it was discovered by UK National Cyber Security Centre. Whether any other organization had known about the vulnerability before then is neither here or there at this point, because the word is out. Why break in your back door, when hackers can just scan a neighborhood and get a list of which houses have their front door unlocked? I’m referring to your Windows computer, of course. If you haven’t yet taken the time to patch your PCs, we urge you to do so! If you’ve been on the fence on upgrading to Windows 10, keep in mind that Windows 8 and 10 are not vulnerable to this exploit, but previous versions including their Server counterparts are.

How do you fight? By making it more difficult for them to win.

Be aware. There will be an active hornet’s nest in every mailbox every Tuesday. If that were true, I feel like pretty much everyone who owns a mailbox would be cautious every Tuesday around their mailbox before sticking their hands in. Well, you all have computers, smartphones, and possibly IoT devices – so make yourself aware of what kinds of attacks are possible.

Stay up to date with security patches. Companies release them for a reason. Even if there wasn’t a headlining malware at the time, the security vulnerability is now declared and you can be sure that hackers and exploiters will do their job. Which is to hack and exploit those that do not patch. I know at least three people in the last six months who’ve been hit with crippling malware and ransomware. How many people do you know?

Upgrade your stuff. I’m not saying call and hire us to re-engineer your network and upgrade your software. What I’m trying to say is that it is vital to protect your home and business technology behind a proper and secure network as well as have your Operating System and other software up to date (and we can help you do that). So call us. We will treat you right.