DATA SECURITY BASICS

Many small and midsize businesses cut security corners. In fact, a frightening one in five small companies (one to 100 employees) has inadequate malware protection, the majority have no security policies, and many create a response plan only after disaster strikes, according to the Small Business Technology Institute. Yet small and midsize businesses are just as likely as large organizations to be attacked or targeted by malware.

Security Threats:

Have you ever heard of these security risks? What happened to just dealing with viruses!?

Malicious Software
Malware
Trojan Horse
Back Door
Key Logger
Botnet (Robot Networks)
Phishing Attack
Time Bomb

Pharming Attack
Directory Harvest
Denial Of Service Attack (DOS)
Root Kit
Social Engineering
Spoofing
Honey Pot
Zombie

Hackers continue to become more sophisticated and target anything that connects to the network, from desktop PCs and laptops to PDAs and smart phones. The poor state of the economy, popularity of social networking sites, the explosion of online gaming and disgruntled employees frustrated by pay-freezes or layoffs are all expected to further increase the type and number of cyber attacks facing small, midsize and enterprise businesses.

Organizations such as Sklar Technology Partners continue to stay abreast of these criminal advances, from both a technology and business perspective. Working together, we can help keep your company and its data safe.

Who are these intruders and what do they want?

These are well-organized, highly educated business units that want access to:

Your Money
Identities and Credit Card data
System Resources
- Host spam engines, images, music or to attack another system

Organized Cyber Crime

By VARBusiness Staff
6:00 PM EDT Fri. Sep. 19, 2008
From the September 29, 2008 issue of VARBusiness

Gray Pigeons. Honkers Union of China. They sound like teenage garage bands, but in reality they are highly organized and complex cyber crime organizations. In the last two years, groups of hackers once loosely defined with a common goal have coalesced into complex multi-layered global networks. Sophisticated organizations like the Russian Business Network are responsible for creating and distributing much of the malware that is increasingly targeting businesses that span the market segments. And unlike other types of organized crime, cyber crime hackers can rely on their anonymity and international presence in order to avoid detection and escape the law.

Here are additional articles from this issue:

A Shadow Economy
An explanation of how under ground cyber criminal organizations have emerged over the past two years to create a viable shadow economy, designed to mimic real-world economies financially and structurally.

Cybercrime Inc. Keeps Growing
This article covers the T.J. Maxx criminals that were recently captured and other really interesting statistics that help bring clarity to just how quickly this business is growing.

Attacking The SMB
Small and midsize businesses are under attack! With shrinking budgets and economic pressures organized crime units are targeting the low-hanging fruit. Most businesses are compromised multiple times and never even know it ever happened.

Learn More about security threats