Security Shield: An enterprise-level, fully layered cyber security solution
The world has changed, and traditional security technologies like firewalls, antivirus, VPNs, and passwords are no longer enough. Breach tools have become widespread and commoditized, and it’s now just too easy for cyber-criminals to gain a foothold in business environments.
The new face of the cyber-hacker: How they have evolved
As cyber-security becomes more complex, hackers worldwide have evolved along with the technology they employ to attack your organization.
The stereotype of a hacker sitting in a dark basement and having fun trying to hack your system is completely outdated.
In its place, you’ll find a sophisticated network of companies, nation-states, and organized criminal organizations that employ full-time employees with one simple task … to break into your systems.
Cybercriminals are as sophisticated as the most advanced information technology companies with their large budgets, know-how, and technology expertise. Moreover, the hackers are as sophisticated as the cyber-security professionals trying to stop them.
When it comes to cybersecurity, small to mid-sized businesses, cities, and counties are vulnerable and exposed.
Why?
There are three main reasons:
- They don’t believe they are a target
- Only the top few security concerns are addressed and protected
- Limited resources used for cyber security
As cyber-threats continue to increase and get more sophisticated, your organizations and anyone connected to it is NOT SECURE.
Why do SMBs believe they are not a target?
It begins with the news cycle. The cyber-attacks that make the big headlines typically involve large multi-national corporations with thousands of employees and millions of customers. These headlines lull SMBs to sleep. They do this by falsely promoting that hackers are only after big corporations.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Cyber-criminals do not discriminate by size
Some of the biggest data breaches in the 21st century started out at small businesses. For example, one of the largest cyberattacks in history that affected over 100 million accounts was carried out through a small HVAC contractor.
Over 99% of American corporations are considered SMBs, so who else are the cyber-criminals going to attack? Cyber-attacks can happen to anyone, regardless of company size and industry. This is especially true today with so many remote workers, mobile devices, and many SMBs using cloud services.
SMBs are subject to the exact cyber threats that large corporations are, but are much more vulnerable.
How do most IT support and managed service solutions leave you exposed?
Because organizations like yours seldom recognize how much cyber-security they need. And because most SMBs don’t feel they are a target. It is difficult for Managed Service Providers to persuade their clients to fully invest in cyber-security.
So in their security meetings with their clients, IT support companies will identify the top 3-5 security issues. The company will then agree to pay for those protections. So, the business owner leaves the meeting believing he is protected, and the Managed Service Provider leaves happy to have a new paying client.
But at Imagine IT, we believe that is a big mistake, and one that we have honestly made ourselves in the past. But we’ve now drawn a line in the sand and said “no more!”
SMBs need to protect all of their exposed security areas, not just the top few.
Attacking your weakest links-90% of all breaches are caused by human error
Cyber-criminals and hackers are getting increasingly clever at finding ways around traditional network security systems. For the most part, they no longer attempt to hack their way through your firewall. Instead, their primary attack methodology is to go after the weakest link – your users, endpoints, and mailboxes.
Hackers commonly use “Social Engineering” to dupe users into:
- Clicking malicious links in Emails and revealing their passwords.
- Clicking malicious links in “Search Engine Result” ads and “Social Media” ads.
- Falling victim to phone solicitations posing as someone from Microsoft, IT Support or the IRS.
And there are dozens of other vulnerabilities that hackers prey upon that require advanced security processes and monitoring to protect against. Bottom line, they WANT YOUR MONEY, and once in they will deploy Ransomware, Keyloggers, and compromise Mailboxes to get what they want.
How do you protect yourselves?
“Hope” is not a strategy, and if you are truly serious about protecting your organization, your clients, your cities, counties and citizens, now is the time to act. To continually prevent these cyber-attackers, Imagine IT provides the “Security Shield” as an add-on bundle to our IT Managed Services offering.
Typical managed IT services provide a very limited security posture
The vast majority of businesses and local governments are prime targets and don’t realize it. Unfortunately, the average Manage IT Service Provider’s level of protection does not provide adequate safeguards against modern threats to the business or your local government. And those that do, make up a small percentage of IT service providers.
Cyber insurance qualifications are more difficult
Businesses need affordable cyber insurance. However, the insurance companies recently made qualifying MUCH more difficult, requiring businesses to maintain a security posture well above typical levels. It will be virtually impossible to qualify unless enrolled in a comprehensive and modern Managed Security program that can cover all the requirements.
Lloyd’s of London recently announced they will no longer cover state-sponsored attacks. Other carriers will follow. What does that mean to your business? It is even more critical to avoid a serious breach.
A Modern Cybersecurity Strategy is Now Mandatory
Modern Cybersecurity meets cyber insurance requirements and significantly reduces the chances of a serious breach. It requires enrolling in a Managed Security program that covers all 5 areas of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover), and continually assesses and improves security posture.
The Security Shield
The Security Shield combines enterprise-grade technologies. Including AI, automation, breached device isolation, processes that monitor for suspicious activity, recurring scans, and frequent user training.
The Shield is designed around the “Zero-Trust” model and the 5 key areas of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework:
- Identify: Document the current gaps and make a remediation plan and timeline.
- Protect: Deploy technologies that avoid breaches.
- Detect: Deploy technologies that detect breaches (assume there will be breaches).
- Respond: Document a well-baked Incident Response Plan.
- Recover: Deploy bulletproof backup solutions, Cyber Insurance, and a Disaster Recovery Plan.
Protections included in The Security Shield:
- Intrusion Detection System (IDS):
- NexGen Antivirus:
- 24/7 SOC
- External Vulnerability Scanning
- Dark Web Monitoring:
- Training & Phishing Exercises
- Cloud Server Posture
- Cisco Umbrella
- Remote Access Lockdown
- WIFI Lockdown
- Active Directory Cleanup
In short, we will:
- Lock it down
- Train your users (the “human” firewall)
- Monitor for breaches
- Continually improve your security posture
- Make security a competitive advantage
- Protect reputation, revenue, and business valuation.
How is the Security Shield different?
It’s different because of the long list we just shared with you. Typical Managed Service Providers and IT support companies offer a very limited security solution as part of their IT support plan: This ends up including about 5-7 of the many items we listed above.
At Imagine IT, we have taken steps to create a fully layered cyber-security solution that addresses all the necessary elements to keep your SMB secure.
How will The Security Shield improve our overall security?
Imagine IT utilized cutting-edge and enterprise-level security technologies and processes to protect, monitor, investigate, and verify that your users are routinely trained. As a result, your organization will realize an increase in the level of security for your data. Not only will your data be better protected, but Imagine IT will become aware shortly after a breach occurs.
No security system or process is 100% effective, but your goal is to get as close to 100% possible by mitigating risk using a layered security strategy.
How much does the Security Shield Cost?
The Security Shield is part of our Manage Service Monthly agreement. And Imagine IT offers month-to-month agreements only, with no long-term contracts.
The move to cyber resilience
Cyber Resilience is important because traditional cybersecurity measures are no longer sufficient.
The truth is, harmful cyber events negatively impact smaller companies every day. These events may be external or internal and may be intentional or unintentional, caused by humans, nature, or a combination of both.
Today, it’s as critical for SMBs to have the ability to respond and recover from a security breach as it is to prevent them. Cyber resilience aims to give your organization a plan that will consider actions and outcomes before, during, and after an event.
A cyber resilience strategy should be considered a preventive measure to counteract human error and security weaknesses in hardware and software. The overall purpose of cyber resilience is to protect the organization while understanding that there will likely be insecure parts, no matter how robust your security controls are.
The Full Cyber Resilience story here
Your Role in Cybersecurity
Security is a shared responsibility. executives have a role, managers have a role, and end-users have a role. It will not work if everyone isn’t on board and doing their part.
Final Thoughts
Small to midsized organizations, along with cities and local governments have become a huge target for cybercriminals. And the fact is, most organizations are inadequately protected from a cyber-arrack, and the consequences can be lethal.
Your organization will be attacked, and eventually be breached; it is inevitable.
Therefore, you need to start looking at your security posture from a cyber-resilience standpoint. Yes, cybersecurity is important, but it is only one piece of your overall cyber-resilience strategy.
You want a system to identify, protect, detect, respond, recover and anticipate a cyber or business altering event.
Next Steps:
If you would like to compare The Security Shield versus 4 top cyber security options, check out this link:
Imagine IT Security Shield vs. Top 4 Cyber security solutions
If you have questions or wish to talk with us regarding the Security Shield, click on this link:
If you aren’t ready to talk, we get it. Here are a few articles to give you some additional insights.
The 14 Key Questions To Ask When Vetting Any Managed Service Provider
