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Archive for the ‘network security’ tag

Ransomware 2.0 – Are your servers safe?   no comments

Posted at May 31, 2022 @ 9:00am internet security

Ransomware, Cyber Attack

Are your servers safe from the latest evolution of malware – Ransomware 2.0? You better hope so or else you will pay the price, literally.

What is Ransomware?

The frequency of ransomware attacks has increased dramatically over the past year, with 93% more carried out in the first half of 2021 than in the same period last year, according to Check Points mid-year security report.

Ransomware primarily began through email and malicious ads. However, this new breed of ransomware is targeting network and server-side vulnerabilities, with the ability to self-propagate. It will be able to quickly switch methods to maximize efficiency and will evade detection by limiting CPU usage to refrain from command-and-control actions.

Ransomware 2.0 “will start replicating on its own and demand higher ransoms. You’ll come in Monday morning and 30% of your machines and 50% of your servers will be encrypted. These new ransomware strains will spread faster and self-replicate within organizations before coordinating ransom demands. It is critical that companies take the needed steps to prepare and protect their network as well as their local and cloud-based servers.

How to protect your business from ransomware?

Now you may be wondering “What steps should I take?” Well, we’re glad you asked! The key is in taking a proactive approach to prevent rather than remediate. There are some easy yet vital best practices you should follow to protect yourself.

First and by far the most important, back up your data. Second, consistently keep your software and systems up to date. Third, make sure you are utilizing some form of antivirus and malware protection software on your PCs and servers. Finally, back up YOUR DATA! Yes, we know we said that already, but this step is so critical it’s worth mentioning twice. If you don’t currently have a backup solution, TurnKey Internet has multiple cloud-based disaster recovery and backup solutions to choose from, such as R1Soft Continuous Data Protection.

 

To learn more consider using these four best practices for backing up your data.

 

Your primary goal is to protect your users, not just your network. Whether they are on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, your users need to be protected everywhere. However, it is unreasonable to assume that you will be 100% protected from every threat that exists. New more advanced methods to attack computers and encrypt their files are popping up every day. Therefore, your number one priority should be to back up your data regularly. If that moment comes where you find yourself infected with ransomware, the comfort of knowing your data is backed up, safe, and secure is priceless. However, if you chose not to back up your data… be prepared to pay the price.

Find out how TurnKey Internet can help protect your business against ransomware and other threats, securing you today and tomorrow. Visit www.turnkeyinternet.net/myplan for a FREE consultation!

 

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Written by David Maurer on May 31st, 2022

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Network Security – Does It Matter If I’m In The Cloud?   no comments

Posted at Oct 7, 2014 @ 9:09am internet security,turnkey cloud

network-security-in-the-cloudJeremy here again with another post for you this week. Today, we will be covering security. Namely, network security. Now, if I ask you, what exactly is network security, what would your answer be? If you’ve been in the hosting industry or Information Technology field for extended period time, you have no issue answering that question. However, for most readers, they may not be 100% certain on what exactly a network is and how it affects your hosting. For this article, lets first start with what exactly a network is in terms of your website and then we will get into securing that network so without further ado…

 

What is a network?

 

If you’re reading this article, more than likely, you’re on a computer connected to the internet. The computer that you’re reading this article on is more than likely in a local network. Before we get too carried away, lets define what a local network is. Directly from our friends over at Wikipedia:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network

 

A local area network is a computer network that connects computers within a limited range such as homes, schools, libraries or office building. To ground the idea further in your mind, lets say that you have purchased a desktop PC, a laptop and have a cellphone from your local electronics store. You also purchased a router as well. Your router is a piece of networking technology that creates a local area network for your home and then allows you to connect to the internet. When your devices connect to the router, it places them into a local area network. This allows the devices to communicate with one another. It also allows them to communicate with the rest of the world via the internet.

 

You have different types of networks such as a WAN or Wide Area Network. This network is a much larger type and usually covers broad areas such as a college campus or metropolitan area. Now you may be asking, what does this have to do with my website? Well, glad you asked. You see, when you purchase hosting from Turnkey Internet, you’re paying to host your site on our network. This is what people generally mean when they purchase hosting. They are paying a provider to be included in their network and give their website a home.

 

As you have already gathered, if something was to go wrong with the network, your site may go off-line. This leads us to our next topic

 

Why do I need to secure my network?

 

If you are hosting in the cloud – you still connect over your network.  While cloud hosting from Turnkey Internet lets your be assured that your site is on a network that has multiple layers of network security, however, this article isn’t about securing our network at Turnkey Internet, but how you can take some preventative steps to secure your own network. Maybe you have a dedicated server and you’re managing the server yourself. Knowing how to secure the network your server is located on goes a LONG way to ensure you’re providing your customers with a top notch website.

 

You may thinking, well what do I need to protect my network from? Many network security threats spread over the internet with most common including:

 

  • Viruses, worms and Trojan horses
  • Spyware and Adware
  • Zero-day attacks
  • Hacker attacks
  • Denial of service attacks
  • Data interception and theft
  • Identity theft

 

While this is no way an all inclusive list, those items listed above are the most common type of network threats you will find on the internet. Now some of those attacks have to be mitigated at network level such as Denial of Service attacks. You can read about denial of service attacks below:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack

 

Some of the other network attacks you can help mitigate at a server level which you can read about below

 

How do I secure my network?

 

In order to truly secure your network, you must understand that there is no one single solution that will protect you from every threat listed above. In fact, a highly secure network has multiple layers of security. If one layer fails, another layer just takes its place. Network security is best accomplished through hardware and software.  The software should be updated in regular intervals to ensure that you’re running the most up to date version. Ideally, a network security system will contain many parts with all parts working together.  This helps to ensure maximum security and minimize maintenance and improve security.

 

Your most common type of network components are listed below:

 

  • Anti-virus software
  • Malware detection
  • Firewall that blocks unauthorized access
  • Intrusion prevention systems that will identify fast spreading threats such as a zero day attack
  • Virtual private networks(VPN) setup to provide secure remote access

 

If you have a few or all of those components working together, you will help ensure your network remains stable. Effective network security targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading through your network. This will protect the usability, reliability, integrity and safety of your network and data.

 

Here at Turnkey Internet, we have multiple layers of network security. From our DDOS protection system which monitors our entire network and instantly notifies us of a DDOS attack. We also install and configure firewalls on all of our shared servers. We run daily malware detection scans as well as constantly update software to ensure we’re protected from the latest threats. Doing these things helps us to provide a secure and reliable network for all our customers. It may be time you invested in your own network security.

 

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Written by Jeremy on October 7th, 2014

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