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First and
foremost we offer our condolences to those hit by Tuesday's
storms. We hope your families and businesses are able
to recover quickly. Please contact us if we can be of assistance.
The article
below addresses very serious threats online banking business customers
are now facing. We urge you to evaluate your current
practices and take steps now to minimize your risks.
Best of luck
to you from the CisCom Solutions team.
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Businesses Beware - Internet Security More Important
Than Ever
Online
business financial transactions are the target of a series of
rapidly spreading trojan attacks. The trojans are reported to be
spread through compromised websites or email links and are
designed to capture login information to financial websites. Once
the data is obtained, the logins are used to transfer funds to mule
accounts using banks' automated clearinghouse systems. The
trojans are described as being ubiquitous and easily able to slide
through security programs.
You probably
heard about the theft of over $400,000 from the Bullitt
County government which was reported last month by Fox
41 news. We know also of Kentucky businesses which
have been victimized. There are a two specific
articles I want to draw your attention to. The first is the USAToday
article over the weekend which discusses recent computer attacks. This article does a good job
summarizing the general mode of attack and describing the severity of
the rapidly spreading threat. The second is "The
Growing Threat to Business Banking Online" by
Washington Post blogger Brian Krebs. This article is full of specific
examples and details about the lack of protection businesses have.
Of course, the
threat of attack itself is ominous. What's worse, though,
is the lack of protection most companies have if they are the target of
an attack . If your company is unlucky enough to suffer a direct
loss because of a virus or trojan, don't count on your bank or
insurance company to save you. Your insurance may not cover
internet theft. Such losses are generally not
included in standard business insurance policies.
Furthermore, the bank may also refuse to compensate your loss.
Since the transfer requests were authenticated with valid logins, banks
have denied responsibility in some cases. Brian Kreb's
article indicates that the banks are not obligated to
compensate businesses for losses because businesses are not
granted the same consumer protection that private banking clients
have. Sure, you can sue to try to recover the funds. That
will surely be expensive and time consuming.
Obviously,
following well known security recommendations now is a must. The
strict recommendation is to conduct online banking on an isolated
computer which is not used for browsing the internet or email. Many
companies will find that recommendation hard or impossible to
follow. At a minimum:
- keep your security and
other software up-to-date;
- eliminate non-business
related internet traffic on your billing computers/network;
- check with your
insurance agent regarding your internet theft coverage;
- consider upgrading your
software;
- check your banking and
charge account balances frequently and review charges carefully;
- evaluate and mitigate
security holes in your network.
The time has
never been better for a security audit of your system. If you
need assistance implementing these recommendations, please
contact CisCom's helpdesk at (502) 253-4525 x1.
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We offer OFF-SITE backup for your
bussiness. $15/mo for the first 10gb, $10/mo for additional 10gb
blocks.
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Promotion Extended
Microsoft has extended its 2007
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Order by: 9/30/09
Redeem by: 9/30/09
Call us for details!
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Attention:
Please
remember
to call (502)253-4525
x1 for service.
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David Ely
CisCom Solutions, LLC
502-253-4525 x200
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