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Topic: Cybersecurity

Recurring advice from experts: Back up data, train employees

Not surprisingly, attacks intended to disable computer systems in South Dakota schools increase about the time of semester tests. The culprits, presumably, are students who are smart enough to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks but are too lazy or mischievous to study for exams.
FBI Top-Cybercop to deliver opening keynote March 27

Sioux Falls area businesses have a rare opportunity to hear one of the nation’s top G-Men March 27. Supervisory Special Agent Jay Patel will open the US Chamber of Commerce event with an unclassified FBI briefing
Sioux Falls Cybersecurity Conference to educate business leaders on cybersecurity

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce will cohost a regional cybersecurity conference March 27 at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls.
SDN report highlights 3 major cyber threats in Sioux Falls region

The Sioux Falls region is by no means isolated from national attack methods, such as the one that successfully targeted Equifax and exposed the personal information of tens of millions of Americans.
SD lawmakers consider bill requiring data breach notifications

South Dakota remains the last state in the nation without data breach reporting protection for citizens, but Attorney General Marty Jackley intends to change that with the help of lawmakers this session.
Protect networks and back up data to stop ransomware

Not all ransomware attacks are successful, of course. Companies are learning to adequately back up data and to keep their networking equipment and programs up to date.
Healthcare information is valued and coveted by hackers

The national movement from paper files to electronic medical records has greatly improved the efficiency of treating patients. But it's also making all of that personal data more available to hackers around the world.
Phishing, smishing, vishing and other confusing security terms

There are other words and phrases, especially in the cybersecurity realm, that can be confusing. I talked to some cybersecurity experts at SDN Communications, checked several websites and made a list.
SDN report: Equifax breach illustrates importance of prompt updates

During recent months, the Managed Firewalls that SDN Communications’ customer use weeded out approximately 2,000 attacks directed at a vulnerable version of Apache Struts website-building software.
Free cybersecurity event comes at good time for area businesses

Businesses entrusted with personal and sensitive data can no longer consider cybersecurity a secondary support duty. Keeping information safe is more important than that. The Better Business Bureau is hosting a free program designed to help keep business representatives up to date on the cyber threat landscape.
Public Wi-Fi adds to businesses’ cybersecurity challenges

American workers are increasingly mobile, and easy connectivity can boost their productivity as well as their mood. In many locations, the availability of free, public Wi-Fi service is almost taken for granted.
New technology creates challenges as well as opportunities

There’s a cautionary side to the expanding, positive uses of technology that should remain in public awareness, too, of course. Among the risks are an increasing array of weapons and hacking strategies that endanger computer networks.
3 Steps to protect your Internet of Things devices

Along with the proliferation of IoT devices comes new scams. Gartner warns that by 2020, there will be a billion-dollar black market selling fake sensors and video data to enable criminal activity.
A fresh look at old problems with computer passwords

Bill Burr has been widely described as being the father of the modern-day password. Lately, he’s also become a prominent second-guesser. Now, he says, long phrases that people can actually remember might be a better option.
565 DDoS attacks target local businesses in Q2

“The challenge facing cybersecurity leaders and professionals certainly isn’t lessening. Cybersecurity experts must be vigilant, aware and thorough in their use of layered security.” - 2017 Q2 Cyber Threat Landscape Report
DDoS attacks probably easier, more common than you think

DDoS attacks are incidents in which in which perpetrators unleash large volumes of malicious traffic to disrupt and maybe temporarily disable a targeted computer network or program. Ninety-five percent of service providers who responded to an annual survey experienced attacks last year, according to Arbor Networks’ Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report for 2016.
Local business hacking jumped in Q2: Here’s why and what to do about it

Network hacks spike and dip throughout the year, but SDN Communications’ second quarter 2017 Cyber Threat Landscape Report demonstrates an upward threat trajectory on local business networks.
Public-private cooperation is good way to combat cyberattacks

By almost any measurement, cyberattacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure are on the rise. That’s increasing the need for the private and public sectors to work together on cybersecurity at the state as well as national level.
Cyber threats and solutions explored at SDN Uptime University

SDN Communications detected more than 540 DDoS attacks – an average of six per day - on clients’ networks during the first quarter of 2017. The average attack size was 1.27 gigabits per second, which is potentially enough to temporarily take down most online services.
SDN launching quarterly report to help fight cyber threats

If your business or organization ever questions the value of good firewall protection, consider this troubling statistic: More than a quarter of all the electronic traffic coming into firewalls that SDN Communications manages is filtered out because the transmissions are malicious or spam.