Month: July 2017
Jul 25, 2017 | Cybersecurity News, Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Web Filtering
TitanHQ has announced a new partnership agreement with the intelligent spaces firm Purple. TitanHQ will be securing the firm’s WiFi networks and providing content filtering with WebTitan Cloud for WiFi.
Purple is a leader in its field, with over 20 million users spread across 125 countries around the globe. Its solution helps businesses monitor their physical spaces and promote their brand, in addition to gaining valuable insights into customer behavior at their venues. Purple’s clients include the City of New York, Legoland, Jaguar, Pizza Express, Outback Steakhouse, the Indiana Pacers, Merlin Entertainments Group and British Land to name but a few.
Purple will be adding WebTitan to its WiFi and Analytics package to improve security for its customers. Current and new customers will benefit from a more secure WiFi package and will be protected from a wide range of web-based threats.
WebTitan is a market-leading web content filtering solution that currently blocks more than 60,000 malware variants each day, protecting end users when they venture online. WebTitan can be used to control the content that can be accessed via WiFi networks around the globe from a single administration console. Companies can protect thousands – or tens of thousands – of WiFi access points simultaneously with WebTitan without any latency. The solution is easy to set up and configure, requires no additional hardware and has an extremely low management overhead.
Protection from exploit kits, phishing websites, and malware and ransomware downloads is more important now than ever. Cybercriminals having increased their efforts and malware, phishing and ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly common.
In the case of ransomware, payment of the ransom demand may not allow data to be recovered as has clearly been demonstrated by the NotPetya attacks. Many companies that were attacked with NotPetya are still experiencing major problems and disruptions to services, with several firms forced to replace entire networks following installation of the malware.
Cyberattacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya are likely to become the new norm, with companies needing to do more to protect their networks – and their customers – from attack.
With WebTitan, malware and ransomware protection is only part of the story. WebTitan is a powerful content filter that prevents inappropriate content from being accessed by WiFi users – Something that is becoming increasingly important in the retail and hospitality industries. With Purple’s retail and hospitality sector clients growing fast, this additional protection was essential.
For Purple, it soon became clear that the partnership with TitanHQ was the perfect choice, as James Wood, Head of Integration at Purple explained, “We approached TitanHQ with a number of specific requirements that were unique to Purple. From day one it was evident that they were capable of not only providing what we needed but were very responsive and technically adept.”
WebTitan was also ideal for Purple customers, Woods said, “We take guest Wi-Fi security seriously so it was important that our customers were protected in the right way. Along with superior protection, WebTitan also allows us to extend the control to our customers via their API. Our customers can now manage their own filtering settings directly from the Purple Portal.”
Installing the new web filtering system and replacing the incumbent system was completed in the quickest possible time frame, with tens of thousands of users migrated to the new system in a matter of days. Woods said, “With demanding timescales involved for the migration, we invested heavily in WebTitan and they have not failed to deliver.”
Jul 25, 2017 | Cybersecurity Advice, Email & Web Spam, Industry News, Network Security, Web Filtering
The Kaseya Connect Europe User Conference will be taking place on October 3, 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands with the company recently having announced its line-up of speakers and exhibiting partners for the event.
The Kaseya Connect Europe User Conferences are hugely popular. The events provide an excellent networking and learning opportunity with attendees able to see technical presentations with hands on demonstrations to improve usage of Kaseya solutions and find out more about the latest product releases.
Attendees benefit from expert advice, gain strategic insights and receive useful practical knowledge from industry experts and thought leaders and have the opportunity of taking part in product training and other instructional sessions to help them get the most out of their business, optimize their technical operations and boost revenues.
The upcoming Kaseya Connect Europe User Conference will include a business track to help MSPs monetize their business, increase their service stack and boost revenues.
Sue Gilkes, faculty member of CompTIA and founder and managing director of Your Impact Ltd, will be providing her insights into how MSPs can grow their business and improve revenues, while Transmentum’s Adam Harris – Author of “Check-In Strategy Journal” – will be delivering a keynote speech – “7 Sales Strategies to Take Away and Implement Immediately” – a must attend session for all MSPs.
Next year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect in May. MSPs need to start preparing to ensure the deadline for compliance is met. With the deadline just a few months away, a session will be focused on helping MSPs prepare.
TitanHQ is pleased to announce it is an Emerald Sponsor for the event and will be demonstrating its WebTitan and SpamTitan solutions for MSPs.
WebTitan is an innovative web filtering solution ideal for MSPs. The solution can easily be added to MSPs service stacks allowing them to improve the cybersecurity defenses of their clients. WebTitan is a DNS-based web filtering solution that blocks a wide range of online threats and allows users to carefully control the web content that can be accessed via their wired and wireless networks.
SpamTitan is a leading spam filtering solution that blocks more than 99.9% of spam and malicious emails to keep end users protected from phishing attacks, malware and ransomware infections.
Both solutions are provided as white labels with a range of hosting options, including hosting within an MSPs own environment.
Following the massive global ransomware attacks of recent months, businesses are demanding additional protections, with both solutions offering MSPs a golden opportunity to generate regular additional monthly revenue with minimal management time.
“It’s exciting to bring together hundreds of our European customers and partners for this conference, and provide them with convenient access to educational sessions, networking opportunities and insightful discussions from industry leader, said Sabine Link, vice president, customer success for Kaseya” Through this event, we can deliver a unique experience for our European users that will empower them with the knowledge they need to achieve the results they desire.”
The event is free of charge for MSP executives, regardless of whether they are already Kaseya users. However, registration is required in advance of the event. If you are interested in attending the Kaseya Connect Europe User Conference in October, you can register for the conference here.
Jul 21, 2017 | Cybersecurity News, Email & Web Spam, Malware Alerts, Network Security, Web Filtering
The RoughTed malvertising campaign was rampant in June, causing problems for 28% of organizations around the world according to Check Point.
Malvertising is the name given to adverts that redirect users to malicious websites – sites hosting exploit kits that download malware and ransomware, phishing kits that gather sensitive information for malicious purposes or are used for a variety of scams.
Malvertising campaigns pose a significant threat because it is not possible to avoid seeing the malicious adverts, even if users are careful about the websites they visit. Malicious adverts are displayed through third party ad networks, which are used on a wide range of websites. Even well known, high traffic websites such as the BBC, New York Times, TMZ and MSN have all been discovered to have displayed malicious adverts. Cybercriminals only need to place their adverts with one advertising network to see their adverts displayed on many thousands of websites.
The RoughTed malvertising campaign was first identified in May, although activity peaked in June. By that time, it had resulted in infections in 150 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia.
It is sometimes possible to block malvertising using ad blockers, which prevent adverts from being displayed; however, the RoughTed malvertising campaign can get around these controls and can bypass ad blockers ensuring adverts are still displayed.
A web filtering solution can be useful at preventing categories of websites from being accessed that commonly host malicious adverts – sites hosting pornography for example – although due to the wide range of websites that display third party adverts, it would not be possible to eradicate risk. That said, an advanced web filtering solution such as WebTitan offers excellent protection by blocking access to the malicious sites rather than the malvertising itself.
Websites are rapidly added to blacklists when they are detected as being used for nefarious purposes. WebTitan supports blacklists and can block these redirects, preventing end users from visiting malicious sites when they click on the ads.
In addition to blacklists, WebTitan URL classification uses a multi-vector approach to deeply analyze websites. The URL classification uses link analysis, content analysis, bot detection and heuristic analysis to identify websites as malicious. These advanced techniques are used to block ad fraud, botnets, C2 servers, sites containing links to malware, phishing websites, spam URLs, compromised websites and malware distribution sites including those hosting exploit kits. The URL classification system used by WebTitan leverages data supplied by 500 million end users with the system continuously updated and optimized.
If you want to protect your organization from the actions of your end users and block the majority of online threats, contact the TitanHQ team today for further information on WebTitan and take a closer look at the web filtering solution in action.
Jul 21, 2017 | Cybersecurity News, Data Breach News, Industry News
2017 US data breaches have reached a record high, jumping an incredible 29% year over year. The mid-year data breach report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) and CyberScout shows there were 791 reported data breaches between January 1 to June 30, 2017.
If 2017 US data breaches continue at the current pace, and there are no indications to suggest they will not, this year is set to be another record breaker. Last year smashed previous records with 1,093 data breaches reported for the year. This year looks on track to see the total reach – or exceed – 1,500 breaches. That would represent a 37% increase year over year.
The biggest cause of 2017 US data breaches is hacking according to the report. Hacking includes phishing attacks, malware infections and ransomware attacks, the latter seeing a massive increase in the past 12 months. In the first six months of 2017, 63% of incidents were attributed to hacking – a 5% increase year over year. 47.7% of those breaches involving phishing to some degree. ITRC says 18.5% of 2017 US data breaches involved malware or ransomware.
Employee error and negligence, which includes improper disposal of sensitive data, continue to cause many breaches, with those causes accounting for 9% of the total. Accidental exposure of sensitive data on the Internet was the cause of 7% of data breaches. The number of breaches in both categories decreased year over year.
Most 2017 US Data Breaches Were Reported by the Business Sector
In the first half of the year, the business sector reported the most data breaches – 54.7% – with the healthcare and medical industry in second place with 22.5% of breaches. The education sector was third with 11% of breaches followed by the banking and financial services sector with 5.8% of the total. The government and military sector rounds off the top five with 5.6% of reported breaches.
There was an increase in data breaches reported by the hospitality and fast food sector in the first half of the year, most of which involved the theft of credit card details after malware was installed on POS systems. One of the biggest breaches affected Sabre Corporation and its SynXis hotel booking service. Hard Rock Hotels, Trump Hotels, Loews hotels and Four Seasons were all among the victims. In the case of Trump hotels, it was the third payment card data breach experienced in the past 2 years.
Biggest Healthcare Data Breaches of 2017 (So far)
The healthcare industry has also seen a rise in data breaches in 2017 of 14% according to the figures published by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. The main cause of healthcare data breaches – 37% – was hacking and IT incidents, which includes ransomware and malware attacks. Unauthorized access/disclosure came a close second with 35% of the total. Loss and theft of devices containing ePHI was in third place with 24% of the total followed by improper disposal on 4%.
The biggest healthcare data breaches of 2017 so far are:
| Organization |
Entity Type |
Records Exposed |
Breach Type |
| Commonwealth Health Corporation |
Healthcare Provider |
697,800 |
Theft |
| Airway Oxygen, Inc. |
Healthcare Provider |
500,000 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| Urology Austin, PLLC |
Healthcare Provider |
279,663 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| Harrisburg Gastroenterology Ltd |
Healthcare Provider |
93,323 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| VisionQuest Eyecare |
Healthcare Provider |
85,995 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| Washington University School of Medicine |
Healthcare Provider |
80,270 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| Emory Healthcare |
Healthcare Provider |
79,930 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
| Stephenville Medical & Surgical Clinic |
Healthcare Provider |
75,000 |
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure |
| Primary Care Specialists, Inc. |
Healthcare Provider |
65,000 |
Hacking/IT Incident |
The healthcare industry must report data breaches under HITECH/HIPAA regulations, including the number of individuals impacted. However, ITRC/CyberScout report that many organizations are holding back details of the number of individuals impacted due to the large HIPAA violation fines. Without that information, it is difficult to obtain an accurate picture of the severity of data breaches.
Eva Velasquez, ITRC President and CEO, said, “The number of records breached in a specific incident allows us to provide more insight into the scope of this problem, and is a necessary next step in our advocacy efforts.”
Jul 14, 2017 | Cybersecurity News, Data Breach News, Internet Security
Human error was to blame for a massive Verizon Communications data leak that saw the personal information, account details and PIN numbers of more than 6 million customers exposed on the Internet.
The Verizon Communications data leak is particularly serious due to the highly sensitive nature of the exposed data. In addition to customers’ names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, PIN numbers and account details were also exposed. Since the PIN is used to confirm the identity of customers, anyone in possession of the data could easily impersonate customers. The PINs are used to verify identities by customer service staff at the firm’s wireline call center.
The Verizon Communications data leak was caused by a misconfigured cloud server that was set to allow external access. Amazon automatically secures its servers, although changing the settings will allow data to be accessed externally. The error was made by an employee of NICE Systems, an Israeli third-party vendor contracted by Verizon to improve its wireline self-service call center portal for residential and small business customers.
As was the case with a number of recent data leaks, the misconfigured cloud server was found by Chris Vickery, security researcher and Director of Cyber Risk Research at UpGuard. The Amazon S3 storage server error was identified on June 13 and was brought to the attention of Verizon, which corrected the problem on June 22, 9 days after being notified of the security hole. Data were accessible by anyone who had the web address.
Initially, UpGuard suspected up to 14 million individuals had been affected as a result of the Verizon Communications data leak, although Verizon has since released a statement confirming the incident impacted around 6 million customers.
Vickery discovered the server had six unsecured folders. The information in the files related to customers who called Verizon customer service between January and June 2017.
A spokesperson for Verizon told ZDNet, “Verizon provided the vendor with certain data to perform this work and authorized the vendor to set up AWS storage as part of this project. Unfortunately, the vendor’s employee incorrectly set their AWS storage to allow external access.”
While the data were exposed online, the information does not appear to have been accessed by anyone other than the security researcher who discovered the error. Verizon said, “There has been no loss or theft of Verizon or Verizon customer information.”
