Cybersecurity is a constantly evolving field. There are new threats, technologies, and opportunities emerging every year. As we enter 2024, organizations need to be aware of current and future cyber threats. Businesses of all sizes and sectors should plan accordingly.

Staying ahead of the curve is paramount to safeguarding digital assets. Significant changes are coming to the cybersecurity landscape. Driving these changes are emerging technologies and evolving threats. As well as shifting global dynamics.

Next, we'll explore key cybersecurity predictions for 2024 that you should consider.

Brocent is a leading provider of IT infrastructure and security solutions for telecom customers worldwide. We have extensive experience and expertise in deploying Aruba security devices, which are designed to provide edge-to-cloud security for any network environment.

In this post, we will share some of the key success factors that enable us to support our telecom customers in more than 30 countries and cities with Aruba security device deployment, including:

• Staging: We perform pre-configuration, testing, and validation of Aruba security devices at our staging facilities before shipping them to the customer sites. This ensures that the devices are ready to be installed and integrated with the existing network infrastructure, reducing the risk of errors and delays.
• Logistic: We manage the end-to-end logistic process of delivering Aruba security devices to the customer sites, including customs clearance, transportation, and tracking. We also handle the reverse logistic of returning or disposing of the old devices, ensuring compliance with environmental and security standards.
• Onsite installation: We deploy our certified and experienced engineers to perform onsite installation of Aruba security devices, following the best practices and guidelines from Aruba. We also provide onsite training and documentation for the customer staff, enabling them to operate and manage the devices effectively.
• Technical configuration: We configure Aruba security devices according to the customer’s specific requirements and preferences, using the latest software and firmware updates from Aruba. We also leverage Aruba’s advanced features and capabilities, such as Zero Trust, SASE, and AI, to optimize the performance and security of the network.
• Post-deployment 24x7 maintenance services: We offer post-deployment 24x7 maintenance services for Aruba security devices, including remote monitoring, troubleshooting, and support. We also provide periodic reports and recommendations for network improvement and optimization, ensuring that the customer’s network is always secure, reliable, and efficient.

By providing these comprehensive and customized services, we help our telecom customers deploy Aruba security devices with ease and confidence, enhancing their network security and customer experience. If you are interested in learning more about our Aruba security device deployment services, please contact us today. We would love to hear from you and discuss how we can help you achieve your network security goals.

Brocent is a leading IT managed service provider in Asia, with over 15 years of experience in delivering professional, reliable, and cost-effective IT solutions to various industries. Brocent’s mission is to help its customers transform their IT infrastructure, discover IT value, and achieve business success. In this post, we will share some of the strategies that Brocent uses to control the cost and reward a high quality IT managed service to customer.

What would you do if your business suffered a ransomware attack tomorrow? Do you have a contingency plan in case of a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake? The unexpected can happen anytime, and small businesses can get hit particularly hard.

Small businesses are the backbone of many economies. They are critical for job creation, innovation, and community development. But running a small business comes with significant risks. This includes financial uncertainty, market volatility, and natural disasters.

60% of small businesses fail within 6 months of falling victim to a cyber-attack.

Thus, small business owners must prepare for the unexpected. This is to ensure their longevity and success. In this article, we will discuss some tips to help small businesses get ready for anything.

One of the most critical steps in preparing for the unexpected is to create a contingency plan. A contingency plan is a set of procedures that help a business respond to unforeseen events. Such as natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, or unexpected financial setbacks.

The plan should outline the steps the business will take in the event of an emergency. Including who will be responsible for what tasks. As well as how to communicate with employees, customers, and suppliers.

Small businesses should always maintain adequate insurance coverage. This protects them from unexpected events. Insurance policies should include things like:

· Liability coverage

· Property damage coverage

· Business interruption coverage

· Data breach costs

Business interruption coverage is particularly important. It can help cover lost income and expenses during a disruption. Such as a natural disaster or supply chain disruption.

One of the newer types of policies is cybersecurity liability insurance. In today’s threat landscape, it has become an important consideration. Cybersecurity insurance covers things like costs to remediate a breach and legal expenses.

Small businesses that rely on a single product or service are at greater risk. Unexpected events can cause them significant harm. Something like a raw material shortage could cripple an organization without alternatives.

Diversifying your revenue streams can help reduce this risk. It ensures that your business has several sources of income. For example, a restaurant can offer catering services. A clothing store can sell merchandise online as well as its physical location.

Small businesses should build strong relationships with their suppliers. This ensures that they have a reliable supply chain. This is particularly important for businesses relying on one supplier for their products.

In the event of a disruption, having strong relationships matters. It mitigates the risk of a supplier bankruptcy or supply chain issue. Having supplier options can help reduce the impact on your business.

Small businesses should keep cash reserves to help them weather unexpected events. Cash reserves can help cover unexpected expenses. Such as repairs, legal fees, or loss of income. As a general rule of thumb, businesses should keep at least six months' worth of expenses in cash reserves.

If business owners try to do everything in house, they’re at higher risk. For example, if a key IT team member quits. In this case, the company could face major security issues.

Build strong outsourcing relationships with an IT provider and other critical support services. If something happens to a company’s staff or systems, they have a safety net.

Small business owners should check their finances regularly. This is to ensure that they are on track to meet their goals and to identify any potential issues early on.

This includes:

· Tracking income and expenses

· Creating and reviewing financial statements

· Regularly meeting with a financial advisor

Investing in technology can help small businesses prepare for unexpected events. For example, cloud-based software can help businesses store their data off-site. This ensures that it is safe in the event of a natural disaster or cyber-attack. Technology can also help businesses automate processes. Automation reduces the risk of errors and improves efficiency.

Small businesses should train their employees for emergencies. This helps ensure that everyone knows what to do in the event of an unexpected event.

This includes training for natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and other emergencies. Businesses should also have a plan for communicating with employees during an emergency. As well as ensure that everyone has access to the plan.

Small businesses should stay up to date on regulatory requirements. This helps ensure that they are compliant with all laws and regulations. This includes tax laws, labor laws, and industry-specific regulations. Non-compliance can result in fines, legal fees, and damage to your business's reputation.

In conclusion, small businesses face many risks. But by following these tips, they can prepare themselves for the unexpected. 

Passwords are the most used method of authentication, but they are also one of the weakest. Passwords are often easy to guess or steal. Also, many people use the same password across several accounts. This makes them vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

The sheer volume of passwords that people need to remember is large. This leads to habits that make it easier for criminals to breach passwords. Such as creating weak passwords and storing passwords in a non-secure way.

61% of all data breaches involve stolen or hacked login credentials.

In recent years a better solution has emerged - passkeys. Passkeys are more secure than passwords. They also provide a more convenient way of logging into your accounts.

Passkeys work by generating a unique code for each login attempt. This code is then validated by the server. This code is created using a combination of information about the user and the device they are using to log in.

You can think of passkeys as a digital credential. A passkey allows someone to authenticate in a web service or a cloud-based account. There is no need to enter a username and password. 

This authentication technology leverages Web Authentication (<a href="https://fidoalliance.org/fido2-2/fido2-web-authentication-webauthn/"><span>WebAuthn</span></a>). This is a core component of FIDO2, an authentication protocol. Instead of using a unique password, it uses public-key cryptography for user verification.

The user's device stores the authentication key. This can be a computer, mobile device, or security key device. It is then used by sites that have passkeys enabled to log the user in.

One advantage of passkeys is that they are more secure than passwords. Passkeys are more difficult to hack. This is true especially if the key generates from a combination of biometric and device data.

Biometric data can include things like facial recognition or fingerprint scans. Device information can include things like the device's MAC address or location. This makes it much harder for hackers to gain access to your accounts.

Another advantage of passkeys over passwords is that they are more convenient. With password authentication, users often must remember many complex passwords. This can be difficult and time-consuming. 

Forgetting passwords is common and doing a reset can slow an employee down. Each time a person has to reset their password, it takes an average of three minutes and 46 seconds.

Passkeys erase this problem by providing a single code. You can use that same code across all your accounts. This makes it much easier to log in to your accounts. It also reduces the likelihood of forgetting or misplacing your password.

Credential phishing scams are prevalent. Scammers send emails that tell a user something is wrong with their account. They click on a link that takes them to a disguised login page created to steal their username and password.

When a user is authenticating with a passkey instead, this won’t work on them. Even if a hacker had a user’s password, it wouldn’t matter. They would need the device passkey authentication to breach the account. 

Passkeys are definitely looking like the future of authentication technology. But there are some issues that you may run into when adopting them right now.

One of the main disadvantages is that passkeys are not yet widely adopted. Many websites and cloud services still rely on passwords. They don’t have passkey capability yet.

This means that users may have to continue using passwords for some accounts. At least until passkeys become more widely adopted. It could be slightly awkward to use passkeys for some accounts and passwords for others. 

One thing about passwords is that they’re free and easy to use. You simply make them up as you sign up for a site.

Passkeys need extra hardware and software to generate and validate the codes. This can be costly for businesses to put in place at first. But there is potential savings from improved security and user experience. These benefits can outweigh the cost of passkeys.

Passkeys are a more secure and convenient alternative to passwords. They are more difficult to hack, and they provide a more convenient way of logging into your accounts. But passkeys are not yet widely adopted. Additionally, businesses may need to budget for implementation.

Despite these challenges, passkeys represent a promising solution. Specifically, to the problem of weak passwords. They have the potential to improve cybersecurity. As well as boost productivity for businesses and individuals alike.

Take advantage of the new passkey authentication by exploring it now. It’s the perfect time to ease in and begin putting it in place for your organization.

Give us a call today to schedule a consultation.

Netflix is one of the most popular and well-known streaming services. It has nearly 231 million subscribers around the world. It has been growing steadily for almost a decade.

The platform has become an essential part of many people's daily entertainment routines. They fire up their devices, log in, and pick right back up on their favorite shows.

Unfortunately, like any online service, Netflix accounts can be vulnerable to hacking. It’s a baked-in risk when you have a service that is only protected by a username and password.

If you experience an account hack, it can be shocking, confusing, and infuriating. You may not know exactly what to do and may react without thinking first. This is a dangerous space to be in because it can cause you to do things that only make things worse.

In this article, we’ll give you the steps to take when you suspect someone has hacked your Netflix account. Let’s first cover how hackers typically operate when deploying an account takeover.

Phishing overload is a problem that hackers take advantage of in these types of breaches. People receive fake emails all the time that spoof brands like Netflix. One common phishing ploy is an email stating, “There has been suspicious activity on your account.” It will include a link to log in to a spoofed site that looks like the brand’s normal login page. This is a classic trick to steal your login credentials.

Hacked Netflix accounts typically go for $12 each on the dark web.

People get numb to these emails because they get so many of them. They tend to tune them out, knowing that clicking on them could be dangerous. Hackers take advantage of this, hoping you’ll ignore the real ones from Netflix that warn you of a suspicious login (theirs!).

They lay low and don’t take any action yet that will lock you out. They wait for you to receive a few more of these emails, so you’ll completely ignore them. Then they attempt a takeover.

Accounts hacks can go in various ways. Here is one typical scenario of a Netflix hack:

·  The account owner gets an email about a suspicious login. Often it will be from a different country.

·  They may log into their Netflix account to see if there are any unknown devices logged in. Usually, none will show yet. The hacker logs back out. The goal is to get you to check and see that nothing is wrong, and assume the real notice is phishing.

·  This same scenario may happen 2-4 more times in the span of a month.

·  Once the hacker feels the user is ignoring the Netflix warnings, they’ll make their move.

·  They add their credit card to your account. This is so they can call Netflix and give them a method of verification.

·  They may increase your subscription plan to a higher level.

They also usually replace any user profile names on your account with numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.)

·  At this point, the account owner will typically receive an email. It will note a change in account information. This could be the account email, password, phone number, etc.

·  The hacker is now trying to lock the account owner out of their account. 

If you suspect a hacked account, visit the Netflix site directly from your browser. Do not go through a link you received via email, DM, or SMS.

See if you can log in using your password. You may be able to if you caught the hacker before they’ve locked you out. If not, then skip to Step 4 below, calling Netflix support. 

If you can log into your account, change the password right away. Ensure it’s a strong password that is at least 10-12 characters in length. It should also include a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Do not use a variation of the breached password. You should not use any part of your old password to create the new one. 

If you can still access your account and settings, go to the payment methods area. Often hackers will add another payment card to your account. They use it to verify the account to Netflix support. 

Remove any strange payment method that is not yours. But if you remove your own payment card, you will need another way to verify your account with Netflix. So, at this point, you may want to call before you do that. 

Everyone’s experience may be different. Some users that have gone through a hack have praised the fast and helpful support from Netflix.

Contact Netflix support whether you have or have not succeeded in logging in.  There may be things the hacker has done that you aren’t aware of. They may have changed subscription information.

Let the support representative know you think you're the victim of an account hack. They’ll walk you through the process of undoing what the hacker has done. 

Continue to watch your bank statements for any unusual charges. You should do this after any account hack.

People often use the same or the nearly same password for several accounts. Make sure to change the password for any accounts that used the one that was just hacked. 

Don’t wait until a hack happens to you. Give us a call today to schedule a chat about our password security solutions.