Businesses need to invest in an advanced email security solution to block email-based cyberattacks and nuisance emails. SpamTitan, for instance, will block 99.99% of spam emails and 100% of known malware. SpamTitan includes advanced threat protection mechanisms and machine learning technology that can predict new attacks, along with sandboxing to identify zero-day malware threats.
The problem for businesses is that even with cutting-edge email security, some threats will bypass email defenses and will land in inboxes where they can be opened by employees. All it takes is for a single email to be opened by a single employee to give an attacker the foothold in the network that is needed to launch a devastating ransomware attack.
Technical defenses against phishing such as spam filters and web filters are important for cybersecurity, and alongside robust backup procedures, prompt patching, good password policies, and a next-generation firewall, your business will be well defended, but it is important not to neglect your human defenses, especially considering that 85% of cyberattacks involve human error.
Security awareness training for the workforce has always been important, but with cyberattacks on businesses now occurring at record rates, it is now a critical security measure. Security awareness training aims to teach the workforce the skills they need to be able to recognize and avoid security threats. Training should cover cybersecurity best practices such as setting strong passwords, never writing passwords down, and never accessing the network on a public Wi-Fi network without using a VPN, and other important security best practices.
The importance of training on how to identify phishing emails cannot be overstated. 9 out of 10 successful cyberattacks start with a phishing email. Phishing is concerned with tricking employees into disclosing their credentials or opening a malicious file that triggers a malware download. Attacks may also impersonate trusted individuals to trick employees into emailing sensitive data. Some phishing emails are easy to identify due to spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and too-good-to-be-true offers, but many attacks are not so obvious. Employees need to be taught how to identify these emails, what to look for, and to be cautious when opening any email.
Spear phishing emails can be very convincing. They can be personalized, highly targeted, include the correct branding and logos, have spoofed sender names, and make perfectly plausible requests. Social engineering techniques are used to get the recipient to take the requested action and to do so without thinking, such as enabling content when opening an email attachment. Untrained employees cannot be expected to know about these cyberattacks and scams, and that enabling content in a document or spreadsheet will allow macros to run, which will silently download malware.
Security awareness training is important for everyone in the organization, from the CEO down. In fact, the CEO and other executives are the real prizes in phishing attacks as they have credentials that provide more extensive access to networks and sensitive data, so they need to also receive security awareness training. Providing regular security awareness training to the workforce is important, but so is testing the effectiveness of the training. Phishing simulations should be conducted to see if the workforce has taken the training on board. Simulation exercises provide immediate feedback on how the workforce will respond when a real threat is encountered. If the simulation is failed, employees will need to be given further training.
TitanHQ has developed SafeTitan to help businesses with their security awareness training. The platform provides real-time security awareness training to develop a human firewall to complement your technical cybersecurity defenses. The SafeTitan platform also allows businesses to run phishing simulations to see how effective the training has been and how employees will respond to social engineering and advanced phishing attacks when they are encountered.
For further information, get in touch with TitanHQ and take the most important step toward creating your human firewall.
Employees not wishing to get into legal trouble may choose to access questionable or illegal Internet content at work. Employers can protect against liability from such actions by their employees by implementing a solution to block this activity, and it is becoming increasingly important to do so as intellectual property owners are taking action against these activities.
Film Studios Crackdown on Illegal Downloads
When networks are used for illegal activities, action can be taken against the owners of those networks and the film and music industries have been particularly active in recent years as they attempt to stamp out piracy and copyright infringement. Several lawsuits have been filed against VPN providers over the use of their services for downloading pirated content. This month TorGuard settled a lawsuit filed by more than two dozen film studios over the use of its network for downloading pirated content and similar lawsuits have been filed against LiquidVPN and VPN.ht.
Lawsuits against individuals who download illegal content often do not make it to the courts due to the difficulty of proving that an individual downloaded copyright-infringing content on a particular IP address, but action is increasingly being taken for pirated movie downloads. Illegal downloads of the film Ava saw action taken by the movie studio Voltage Holdings LLC, which obtained a court order from broadband provider Virgin Media to release the details of customers who had downloaded the film.
In Canada, at least 17 lawsuits have recently been filed over copyright-infringing movie downloads, with more than 1,000 individuals named in the lawsuits. Some of those individuals have been ordered to pay $5,000 in damages for downloading films such as A Family Man and London Has Fallen. When multiple downloads of such material are occurring at a business, legal action could be taken against that business for failing to prevent the illegal activity.
Software Companies Take Action Over Unlicensed Software Use
It is not only pirated software downloads that can attract legal action. Siemens has taken action over copyright infringement related to the use of its software such as NX, Solid Edge, Femap, Star CCM, and FloTHERM. 142 users were identified as using unlicensed software and are the subject of the lawsuit. Software illegally downloaded and used by businesses can see damages imposed at many times the value of the software. While most businesses would not download unlicensed software, that may not be the case with all of their employees. Employees often choose to download software from file-sharing websites to help them be more efficient at work. Termed shadow IT, this practice not only exposes employers to legal risk, but there is also a very real cybersecurity risk.
Prevent Copyright-Infringing Downloads and Improve Cybersecurity with a Web Filter
Pirated software, and the associated product activators and cracks, are often bundled with malware, which is silently installed along with the pirated software. The malware can provide threat actors with remote access to corporate devices, and those devices can then be used for more extensive cyberattacks on the business. IT departments often discover unauthorized software has been installed on users’ devices when performing upgrades, software installations, repairs, and audits.
Businesses can protect against these illegal activities by employees by using a web filtering solution to block access to websites where pirated material is downloaded. There are also many other benefits of filtering the Internet and preventing access to certain types of web content.
Businesses can prevent the development of a hostile working environment by blocking access to content such as pornography, and they can ensure sufficient bandwidth is always available by restricting access to certain sites during busy times or working hours – YouTube for example.
The biggest benefit of implementing a web filter is blocking malicious websites, such as those known to be used for phishing and malware delivery. WebTitan Cloud, for instance, is fed threat intelligence from more than 650 million users worldwide. When a threat is identified, the solution is automatically updated to protect all users from accessing the malicious content.
Since WebTitan Cloud is a DNS-based web filter, there is no impact on Internet speed. Checks are performed at the DNS lookup stage of a web request, with content checked against databases and filtered in 5 microseconds. The solution can be configured to protect all users, including remote workers. The protection is applied no matter where the Internet is accessed.
If you want to protect your business from the legal risk associated with Illegal web activity, improve your defenses against phishing and malware, and make productivity gains by blocking access to non-essential Internet content, WebTitan Cloud is the ideal solution.
Since WebTitan Cloud is a multi-tenant solution, it is also ideal for MSPs looking to add web filtering to their service stacks. MSPs are offered generous margins, the product can be provided in white-label form ready to take their own branding, and a choice of hosting options are available, including hosting within an MSP’s data center.
For more information, contact TitanHQ for more information on DNS-based web filtering with WebTitan Cloud.
It has been a busy 3 months for TitanHQ with two new product launches, a new Channel Chief, and 12 strategic new hires to support the company’s incredible North American growth.
In February 2022, TitanHQ announced Channel veteran, Jeff Benedetti, had been recruited to lead North American sales and the company’s go-to-market efforts in the U.S. and Canada and continue to expand the company’s North American footprint.
Benedetti has almost two decades of successful sales and go-to-market leadership experience in the security and technology markets, with his most recent position being the sales and marketing chief at SKOUT Cybersecurity – which was recently acquired by Barracuda Networks. Benedetti also served as Director of U.S. Sales at Datto, where he significantly increased partner growth and played a key role in Datto’s expansion. While he was at the company, Datto achieved unicorn status and was acquired by Vista Private Equity. In addition to leading the U.S. channel team, Benedetti will oversee the relaunch of the North American TitanHQ partner program in April 2022.
January and February 2022 have seen TitanHQ enjoy incredible growth globally and especially in North America. To support that growth, Benedetti now has a new North American TitanHQ team that includes 12 strategic new hires to service the US and Canadian Managed Service Provider (MSP) market, which will be based at TitanHQ’s new North American base in Shelton, CT.
Like Benedetti, the new hires have extensive channel experience, with that experience gained at companies such as Datto, Skout Cybersecurity, Agile Blue, and Barracuda.
The new hires include:
Director of Channel Development
Eric Morano has 15 years of sales leadership and GTM experience at Datto, Skout Cybersecurity (BarracudaMSP), AgileBlue XDR, CDW, and Verizon. Moreno has been tasked with optimizing TitanHQ’s partner engagement and growth.
Channel Account Managers
Craig Somma has 25 years of technology sales GTM leadership at Tech Dept, Micro Warehouse, and Gov Connection
Joseph Rende has 10+ years of Channel Sales Experience at Gartner and Datto
Pat DeAngelis has 10+ years of MSP technology experience at Datto, Threatlocker, and Armor Cybersecurity
Jeff Brown has 10+ years of sales experience at Datto, SKOUT Cybersecurity, Agile Blue.
Account Executives
Alex De Los Santos has 8 years of sales experience at Datto and ADP,
Alex Nankervis has 8 years of sales experience at Datto and Indeed
Kyle Leyerzapf has 5 years of sales experience at Datto
Patrick Barry has 6 years of sales and accounts experience at Accu-Tech Corporation and Maxim Healthcare
Jamal Ibrahim has 4 years of account management experience at Altium and RCG.
Sales Development
Marc Bonnaci has 7 years of sales and professional experience including Agile Blue.
The New TitanHQ North American Channel Team
In addition to bringing in top talent, TitanHQ has expanded its product portfolio in recent months with the addition of a new anti-phishing solution and security awareness training platform.
In December 2021, TitanHQ launched SpamTitan Plus – A leading-edge AI-driven anti-phishing solution. SpamTitan Plus provides comprehensive “zero-day” threat protection thanks to extensive threat intelligence feeds – More than any of the current market-leading anti-phishing solutions. That translates into a 1.5x increase in unique phishing URL detections and much faster phishing detection speeds – 5 minutes from detection to protecting all users. This new addition to the SpamTitan family has been very well received by IT departments and MSPs.
In February 2022, TitanHQ announced the acquisition of Cyber Risk Aware. The company was formed in 2016 and has grown into a global leader in security awareness training, which targets the human element of cybersecurity. The company’s platform is used to train employees on how to recognize and avoid cyber threats. The platform is an intuitive, real-time security awareness training platform that improves protection against ransomware, malware, BEC, and phishing attacks. The Cyber Risk Aware platform has now been rebranded as SafeTitan and has attracted seismic interest globally from MSPs and IT managers since its launch.
The new product releases, record company growth, highly skilled new channel team, and soon to be relaunched partner program further cement TitanHQ’s position as the leading provider of cloud-based cybersecurity solutions to managed service providers serving the SMB market.
