NewCloud Blog

You’re in an area, maybe it’s a park, a coffeeshop, a hotel, a mall, or somewhere else. You open your laptop or phone to get some work done but you hit a roadblock – you don’t have an internet connection and you don’t know what the password is to the public Wi-Fi network (if there is one). But you also see one or two networks that aren’t password protected just waiting to be used. Your mouse hover over the “connect” button. After all, what harm can an unsecure network do?

Technology is a constantly changing industry. That is one of the things that makes a career in tech so exciting and appealing. It’s one of the things that keeps employees coming through the doors from 9-to-5, Monday to Friday. In fact, jobs in the tech industry and information technology are predicted to grow by around 12% from 2018 to 2028 with Information Security jobs increasing by 32% overall. This is obviously much faster than most other industries.

There has been a steady increase in cyber attacks by malicious actors over the past several years as businesses increasingly conduct their activities online. Impacted businesses can experience severe and long-lasting consequences. In addition to a loss of reputation, these businesses may also experience a significant financial loss as a result of measures implemented to contain and manage the data breach. Businesses impacted by a data breach may also be subject to litigation by individuals whose personal information may have been compromised. In 2018, the average cost of a data breach was $3.86 million, up from $3.62 million in 2017, a 6.4 percent increase.

The modern workforce is becoming increasingly mobile. Mobile devices, tablets, and laptops are becoming more powerful and with the imminent arrival of 5G, the amount of computing power performed on a mobile device will surely explode. According to a 2018 survey by Oxford Economics, 80% of IT executives believe that mobile devices are vital to enterprise success.  

With the internet now an indispensable aspect of the lives of most people, cybersecurity can no longer be considered an afterthought. On a daily basis, people conduct financial transactions as well as exchange their private information over the internet. This trove of data exchanged has become a target for cybercriminals who devote their time and resources devising ways to access and exploit sensitive data. With recent reports revealing that the average cost of a cyber attack is over $1 million, it is essential to make sure that your business is fully protected from any form of cyber threat.

Due to increased public awareness about the importance of keeping online transactions and documents secure, cybercriminals have modified their network attack strategies. Technological advances over the past several years have enabled these cybercriminals to develop more innovative, as well as stealthy, ways to attack computer networks.

 We often think of security parameters as “no brainers.” We know the basics: lock your computer when you leave your desk, don’t open suspicious emails, change your password, etc. But how many of us actually follow these rules? Studies show that, though people know what they should be doing from security standpoints, they don’t.

Even experts, well versed in cybersecurity, need to stay on top of developing trends in the field. Not doing so could mean the threats being addressed are obsolete, and the real threats are being ignored. This plays into one of the major causes of lost of breaches -- human error.

With the incidence of cyber threats growing more rapidly than ever, the issue of security has been brought to the forefront of every CIO’s mind. Today, cybercrime is a billion dollar enterprise, and it’s on the rise. In 2018, high profile cyberattacks plagued some of the world's largest organizations, releasing the personal records of millions, if not billions. With the incidence of cyberattacks growing year over year, no organization, regardless of size or industry, is free from the risk of data breach. It is no longer a question of if your company will be attacked, but when. For this reason, it is important now, more than ever, to implement a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

With internet access and availability having increased significantly over the past few years, more people now conduct their transactions online. Knowing this, cybercriminals spend considerable amounts of time and money looking for ways to access private personal information or confidential business information for nefarious reasons. Of the many techniques used by cybercriminals to obtain private and confidential information, one of the most endemic is phishing.

Over the past several years, there has been a significant increase in the frequency as well as the severity of data breaches. In 2018, ransomware attacks increased by 350%, spoofing increased by 250%, and spear-phishing increased by 70% overall. Furthermore, the average total cost of a data breach for an individual company increased from $3.62 to $3.86 million, an increase of 6.4%.