Why a Managed Firewall Is Good For Small Businesses

Why a Managed Firewall Is Good For Small Businesses

Do you have a firewall at your business? Did you know that your firewall was obsolete the day you installed it? A startling statement to many… but unless you have an expert managing your security updates on a daily basis, your business is not protected against today’s threats. Think of your firewall like your antivirus. If you install it and just leave it running without updating the definitions, you are vulnerable to any new threats.

Cyber-criminals are constantly evolving and finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities such as default username/password combinations, known security holes, and outdated security definitions. And when a new security hole is announced to the world, the bad guys race to exploit the vulnerability before organizations install updates and unfortunately, major vendors keep discovering and patching serious vulnerabilities.

Firewall management is time-intensive and requires security expertise. Firewall patches are not easy to install and require a backup in case the patch fails. Plus most firewalls require a reboot of the devices which means the business is taken offline during the update. Given these difficulties, many businesses schedule quarterly or less updates for their firewalls which leave the business open to attack through known vulnerabilities for long periods of time.

The absence of a firewall or an improperly configured firewall is a major factor in many data breaches. A robust firewall is the imperative first line of defense against intrusions and other threats for all business network. So how does a small business without an IT department much less a cyber-security expert get protected? The answer: A Managed Firewall.

A Managed Firewall is a firewall that is monitored, managed, and kept up-to-date by cybersecurity experts.

Managed firewalls offer several benefits such as:

  • Reduce resource costs -The average salary for a cybersecurity expert is $80-120,000 per year
  • Security compliance – The business will have the protection requirements to ensure PCI DSS, FFIEC/GLBA, SOX, HIPAA, etc regulations
  • No licensing costs – The cost is fixed month to month so you can budget accordingly and not get hit with license renewal fees after a year
  • Reporting – Unless you log into your firewall, you probably don’t know what it is doing. Managed firewall services typically offer some type of threat analysis reporting

How Can We Help?

Axiom Cyber Solutions strives to make managed cybersecurity affordable to small businesses that may not have a large IT budget. Starting at just $199 per month, with no long term obligation, Axiom Cyber Solutions provides a fully configured enterprise class next generation firewall (NGFW) that is plug & play to the business and begins to monitor, manage, and update the firewall as soon as it comes online. Let our cybersecurity experts secure your business against today’s threats and those of tomorrow.

Ransomware is the biggest emerging cyber threat for 2016. Get protected now before it’s too late.

Ransomware is the biggest emerging cyber threat for 2016. Get protected now before it’s too late.

Ransomware has become a household word recently. With the attacks on American Healthcare facilities, large school districts and America’s core businesses, we have all unfortunately learned that ransomware is dangerous and lucrative to the criminals. These hackers are gaining millions of dollars every month from locking up unsuspecting victim’s files.

Just today, in a group that I am a member of on LinkedIn, there was a post looking for help after files had been encrypted. Once the files are encrypted IT IS TOO LATE. Even the FBI has said that the SHA-256 encryption is too good to crack and that you should pay to get your files back.

Businesses must act BEFORE an infection. This is a definite case of “preparation is key”. I talk to more than 3 businesses each week that have been affected. They all didn’t believe they were a target for hackers. They all say the same thing “I didn’t think this could happen to me.” Most are small business owners who generally have a false sense of security or have taken the “head in the sand” approach.

There are three key things you can do to protect yourself from Ransomware. I recommend you act today to implement these three key strategies.

  1. Backups. This is kryptonite to the ransomware epidemic. If a business has up to date backups of their data, there is no need to pay to get it unlocked. A simple restore from the latest backup will have your files back in working condition in no time. The drawback is: When was your last backup? Is it an hour, a day or longer? You can only recover to the latest backup so make sure you are running them on a schedule that makes sense for your business model. You must also ensure that the ransomware is completely removed from enterprise systems and every endpoint. Just like a virus, it spreads polymorphically (changing and evolving) across the network infecting as many machines as it can. You have to have a removal strategy once infected. This includes segmenting affected computers, running in-depth malware, virus and rootkit scans to ensure the infection won’t come back.
  2. Antivirus. You must have up to date antivirus running on every endpoint in the enterprise. From the point of sale system to back of house, every PC, Mac, server, and storage device must be running up-to-date antivirus. It is a good idea to have an antivirus monitor that tells you when machines are out of date or are not updating appropriately. There are some inexpensive antivirus monitoring tools out there that allow you to inventory your devices and also alert you to antivirus status. The drawback to antivirus protection against ransomware is that hackers are changing their algorithms every day to get around antivirus. Antivirus is signature based and it compares each file with known malware, viruses and ransomware. If you are unlucky enough to get a new variant, such as Locky, that is polymorphic or that is not known to your antivirus client, it still gets through. Due to the millions of infections each month, it is safe to say that not all antivirus is keeping up. With that being said, having up to date antivirus across the enterprise is one of the cornerstones of a solid cybersecurity strategy.
  3. Firewall Protection. Firewalls are much different from antivirus because they inspect all traffic coming into the business. Depending on the firewall brand, such as Axiom, the firewall will have deep packet inspection and some other key features that will scan packets for threats. One thing at Axiom that we have found is the specific protocol level communication that happens when a ransomware is activated on your network. Ransomware must obtain a Private Key to complete the encryption process. Without the private key, ransomware simply doesn’t work. We have been able to identify that exact communication and we block it at the firewall. By doing egress monitoring (which is doing deep packet inspection on traffic leaving the business) we can empirically stop ransomware from encrypting your files.

All of Axiom’s firewalls do egress monitoring, deep packet inspection, SSL DPI, and many other enterprise features. Our business model allows us to send out a fully configured firewall for your business. It is plug and play to install, such as plugging in a wireless router. We then manage it, monitor it and keep you up to date every single day with the new emerging threat definitions. There is no upfront cost for the device, just a monthly subscription for the monitoring and updating. You can save thousands over the cost of other firewalls, installation, configuration and maintenance from our competitors.

Most small businesses can’t afford a full-time IT staff, much less a cybersecurity expert on staff to keep the business protected. Call us today for a free consultation that is specific for your business. Our cybersecurity experts research the latest emerging threats and we update our firewalls each day to keep our clients on the cutting edge of protection. Our firewalls are unique in the fact that they don’t have to be restarted to be updated. Our firewalls are one of small group of security appliances that inspect traffic in both directions, going into and leaving the business.

Call us today for your free consultation.
1-800-519-5070 | www.axiomcyber.com

Ransomware – The Cyber Bully on the Block

While ransomware is the new buzz word in cybersecurity, would you believe it that ransomware has been in existence since the 1980’s? The first known ransomware occurred when a man named Dr. Popp sent Trojan-infected diskettes to attendees of the World Health Organization conference and demanded the payment of $189 be sent to a PO Box in Panama. Of course, Dr. Popp was caught and brought to trial…later being declared unfit to stand trial due to the cardboard box he wore to protect himself from radiation.

Ransomware became more mainstream through the years as cyber-criminals realized that it’s easy to monetize and spread ransomware by sending infected email attachments that would encrypt the victims files. But it wasn’t until Q1 of 2015 that cyber-criminals went really big more than quadrupling the amount of ransomware from the previous quarter in 2014. 2016 has been declared the Year of Ransomware by numerous security vendors and as we near the end of Q1 2016, there are no signs that cyber-criminals are going to slow down the attacks.

Now-a-days, it’s hard to read the news without seeing a story about a business, schools, or hospitals being hit with ransomware. One of the more notable recent stories is Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center that had to pay $17,000 in ransom in February 2016 to gain access to their computer systems. But just earlier this week, another three hospitals were hit in a new string of ransomware attacks that thankfully did not disrupt the operations of those hospitals, most likely due to a good backup strategy.

But for organizations that don’t have good backups, once ransomware is activated even the FBI does not have much hope that the encryption can be cracked.

“The ransomware is that good…

To be honest, we often advise people to just pay the ransom.”

Joseph Bonavolonta

Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s CYBER and Counterintelligence Program, Boston office

While it has been recommended that the payment of ransomware should be illegal, that does not offer much help to businesses that are suffering downtime due to a successful attack. Even the FBI does not explicitly tell companies what they should do but rather tells them what options are available and lets the individual businesses decide what is the best way to proceed. So if a business is ransomed, what are the options?

  • Restore a backup of the computer or server – Perfect solution if you actively backup but statistically, only 25% of organizations/people actually do
  • Pay the ransom – Not ideal because it funds cyber-criminals
  • Start over from scratch – Go Gone with the Wind, say “Frankly My Dear…” and start rebuilding your computer/server which is time-consuming and you won’t have any historical data

But before it gets to that point of doom & gloom for the business, there are certain things that business can do to minimize the risk and/or impact of ransomware. And it’s always better to be safe, than sorry!

Tips on how to protect your business from ransomware

  • Educate your employees on how to deal with suspicious emails and procedures for opening email attachments
  • Don’t open unsolicited emails, don’t click on the links, and don’t open the attachments
  • Don’t enable macros on attachments received by email or downloaded
  • Use anti-virus & malware protection – and keep them up-to-date!
  • Keep your operating systems and browsers up-to-date
  • Use a pop-up blocker
  • Download only from trusted websites
  • Click the Window Close Button – don’t click the big, convenient close button in the pop-up window
  • Get Firewall Protection

How Can We Help?

If you’ve been the victim of a ransomware attack, Axiom Cyber Solutions is here to help. Call us at 1-800-519-5070 for expert advice and assistance.

Axiom Cyber Solutions is offering a Managed Firewall, Cyber-Security Protection for Small Business starting as low as $199 per month. Our firewalls contain proprietary ransomware protection to stop ransomware from activating on your network. Call us for more information.  #FightBackWithAxiom

Why Cybersecurity MUST be a Board Issue

In recent years, there’s been an overwhelming number of cyber crime incidents occurring. Boards need to be more proactive in their cybersecurity. The number of cyber attacks over the past few years have forced all C-level executives to become more educated about their cybersecurity. Gone are the days where cybersecurity is passed off to the IT department. While many executives may find it difficult to follow because of a lack of knowledge or simple disinterest, it is essential to take an active role. Otherwise, there may be potential shareholder lawsuits and even the possibility of being removed from the board. If a business fails to explore this, they will be followed by serious consequences. Lawsuits are a guarantee for when there is a cyber breach or data breach.

According to Director & Boards author Tom Horton, “A primary responsibility of every board of directors is to secure the future of the organization. The very survival of the organization depends on the ability of the board and management not only to cope with future events but to anticipate the impact those events will have on both the company and the industry as a whole.”

The Institute of Internal Auditor’s Audit Executive Center did a survey, and boards agree that cyber security preparedness has increased but shared that only 14% of those folks were actually actively involved.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) published 5 principles that all corporate boards should consider “as they seek to enhance their oversight of cyber risks. These five principles are:

1. Directors need to understand and approach cybersecurity as an enterprise-wide risk management issue, not just an IT issue.
2. Directors should understand the legal implications of cyber risks as they relate to their company’s specific circumstances.
3. Boards should have adequate access to cybersecurity expertise, and discussions about cyber-risk management should be given regular and adequate time on the board meeting agenda.
4. Directors should set the expectation that management will establish an enterprise-wide risk management framework with adequate staffing and budget.
5. Board-management discussion of cyber risk should include identification of which risks to avoid, accept, mitigate, or transfer through insurance, as well as specific plans associated with each approach.

Cybersecurity doesn’t leave one person unaffected, it’s a given that the board be involved with the cybersecurity strategy.

How can we help?

Axiom Cyber Solutions is offering a Managed Firewall, Cyber-Security Protection for Small Business starting as low as $199 per month.

We realize that most small businesses do not have a dedicated IT team and business owners may be handling their cyber security matters on their own. Let us take over and provide you with peace of mind. Axiom will provide your business a firewall and manage it so you don’t have to worry about securing your business. We will assess the security risks for your business and will help implement the right cyber security service for your business. And don’t worry, there are no upfront costs for the device and you can cancel at any time. #FightBackWithAxiom

Cyber-criminals Increasingly Target Small Businesses

Small businesses historically have had the mindset that they are not a target for hackers due to their size, but never have they been so wrong.

Sarah Green, a cyber security expert and business manager for Cyber Security at Training 2000, says that one of the most dangerous phrases used by small businesses is: “It’ll never happen to us.”

 

“Small businesses may feel that they aren’t likely to be a target due to their size and that hackers couldn’t possibly be interested in what they do – but in reality the exact opposite is true,” Green adds.

 

– Source: The Guardian

Hackers are targeting small businesses on a much higher frequency than large businesses. In fact, according to the US House Committee on Small Business, 71% of cyber attacks are aimed at businesses with less than 100 employees.

Hackers know that small businesses are less inclined to invest in cyber-security so it makes them a much more attractive target. Think of it like this, as a burglar presented with two houses, would you pick the house that has the front door left open (no firewall) or the house that has an iron gate (firewall) on the front door?

In the UK, the latest Government Security Breaches Survey found that 74% of small organizations reported a security breach in 2015 and SMEs are being directly targeted by hackers.

In fact, Symantec reports that over half of spear phishing attacks are carried out against small businesses. And the ransomware trend is increasing with many small businesses suffering the consequences. Intermedia reports that 40% of ransomware attacks in 2015 targeted small businesses.

 

It seemed like just another ordinary day for staff at vehicle hire company MNH Platinum. Little did they know that the simple click of an email link was about to threaten their entire business.

 

It was early last year when the Blackburn-based firm was the victim of a virus which encrypted over 12,000 files on its company network. A ransom demand followed – the criminals would decrypt the company’s files in exchange for more than £3,000.

 

With the virus proving impossible to remove without the loss of crucial company data, the firm had no choice but to pay up.

 

“We were completely unprepared for a cyber breach simply due to a lack of awareness of the magnitude an attack of this type could have through mistakenly clicking a link in an email,” says managing director Mark Hindle. “I am thankful that we had a lucky escape, in that I was able to retrieve the documents that are crucial to the running of the business, albeit at a price.”

 

– Source: The Guardian

How can we help?

Axiom Cyber Solutions is offering a Managed Firewall, Cyber-Security Protection for Small Business starting as low as $199 per month.

We realize that most small businesses do not have a dedicated IT team and business owners may be handling their cyber security matters on their own. Let us take over and provide you with peace of mind. Axiom will provide your business a firewall and manage it so you don’t have to worry about securing your business. We will assess the security risks for your business and will help implement the right cyber security service for your business. And don’t worry, there are no upfront costs for the device and you can cancel at any time. #FightBackWithAxiom

5 Reasons Why Your Small Business is at Risk for a Cyber Attack

Fact: America’s 28 million small businesses create approximately two out of every three new jobs in the United States each year and more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business.

Fact: Businesses with less than 20 employees make up approx 90% of the workforce according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fact: The Small Business Association found that small employers often don’t consider themselves targets for cyberattacks due to their size or the perception that they don’t have anything worth stealing. However, this could not be any more wrong.

Small businesses have incredibly valuable information that cyber criminals want, including both employee and customer data, bank account information, access to the business’s finances, and intellectual property. Many small businesses are in communication with larger businesses, thus, providing access to larger networks to these cyber criminals. These small businesses play an important part of the nation’s supply chain, and rely on their technology to safely store and process their information. No one really wants to spend money on something before it happens but in this day and age, you can’t afford not to protect your business, your livelihood. Look at your alternative, most businesses close within 6 months of a cyber attack. Some things are worth protecting, and your data, your customer’s data, and your network are your priority.

Most small businesses do not have any sort of cybersecurity practices in place because of a lack of resources. That may be a lack in sufficient resources or personnel to dedicate to cybersecurity. Even then, we’ve seen in recent news that larger corporations with plenty of resources at hand such as Target and Sony, are having their own issues with their cybersecurity not keeping them protected. With such an abundance of small businesses who lack cybersecurity, these small employers are an incredibly attractive target for cyber criminals. Let’s go over the 5 reasons why your small business is at risk for a cyber attack.

1. No one thinks it’ll happen to them. According to a report by Symantec, this kind of thought process couldn’t be further from the truth. 60% of all target attacks struck small and medium sized organizations. Oftentimes, these cyber crimes occur before the business owner can even realize their security has been compromised.

2. Most small businesses can’t afford an IT team, let alone cybersecurity so they ignore the issue. Unfortunately, the average cost of a data breach is $36,000 for small businesses. Many small businesses do not realize that they can be fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for not protecting their customer’s data. The reality is, you can’t NOT afford cybersecurity.

3. Many small businesses don’t encrypt their data. Encryption in its simplest terms is a method of protecting data from people you don’t want to see it. According to a survey done by Sophos, there are numerous reasons why organizations do not encrypt their data. 37% of organizations cite lack of budget as to why they do not make extensive use of encryption. 31% point to concerns about encryption’s impact on performance and 28% state they have lack of deployment knowledge, while 20% say lack of legal pressure explains why they don’t use encryption. A small business may not realize why their assets are so valuable but in any organization, data is valuable not only to a small business owner but to the cyber criminals. The damage to your brand, your customers, and your business can be insurmountable.

4. Weak passwords pose as a huge security risk. Does your business use passwords like ‘1234’ or ‘password’? As ridiculous as this password is, it has been the #1 used password for years now. Cyber criminals are banking on this. Do not be lazy and just add numbers to your weak password. For example, instead of ‘123456’, many chose ‘1234567890’. This is a basic extension, which cybercriminals can take full advantage of. You’re not being clever by doing this. Take the few minutes to come up with a unique password. That could very well make the difference in your network security.

5. Not updating their firewalls. By regularly updating and checking your firewalls, you are being proactive towards the security of your business. Manufacturers release updates to their products which usually include fixes to bugs as well as new features that will mitigate new types of threats. It is also important to review your firewall logs and check for any alerts or policy changes.

Be proactive and don’t wait until it’s too late. Read below for how Axiom Cyber Solutions can help your small business manage their cybersecurity.

How can we help?

Axiom Cyber Solutions is offering a Managed Firewall, Cyber-Security Protection for Small Business starting as low as $199 per month.

We realize that most small businesses do not have a dedicated IT team and business owners may be handling their cyber security matters on their own. Let us take over and provide you with peace of mind. Axiom will provide your business a firewall and manage it so you don’t have to worry about securing your business. We will assess the security risks for your business and will help implement the right cyber security service for your business. And don’t worry, there are no upfront costs for the device and you can cancel at any time.

HACKED! Small Businesses are susceptible to cybercriminals

It’s a chilling moment when a small-business owner discovers hackers have stolen thousands of dollars from the company checking account.

Cybercriminals took an average $32,000 from small-business accounts, according to a December survey of owners by the advocacy group National Small Business Association. And businesses don’t have the same legal protection from bank account fraud consumers have.

The Electronic Funds Transfer Act, passed in 1978, states that it’s intended to protect individual consumers from bank account theft, but makes no mention of businesses. Whether a business is protected depends on the agreement it signs with a bank, said Doug Johnson, a senior vice president with the American Bankers Association, an industry group. If the business hasn’t complied with any security measures required by the agreement, it could be liable for the stolen money, he said.

Any business is vulnerable, but small companies are less likely to have security departments and procedures to guard against online theft than big corporations do. They also don’t have big revenue streams that are better able to absorb losses from a theft. And even if they get the money back, they still have to spend time and money dealing with the hassles of closing accounts and opening new ones.

Sandy Marsico’s company accounts were attacked — twice. Her bank contacted her in December 2014, saying a transfer of over $50,000 to Mexico had been requested from her checking account.

The thieves had obtained the account information; Marsico, owner of Sandstorm Design, a Chicago-based marketing company, still doesn’t know how. The bank did an investigation but didn’t share its findings with her.

Marsico didn’t approve the transfer, the account was closed and a new one opened. But the following November, someone began withdrawing money from the new account in increments ranging from $1,000 to $4,000, a total of $20,000 in the course of a month. Marsico didn’t discover it until she got her monthly statement.

“My stomach dropped when I wasn’t able to identify these as our charges,” Marsico said.

The bank, which again did an investigation but didn’t tell Marsico the results, again reimbursed Sandstorm. Marsico has since moved some of her accounts to another bank.

Thieves are increasingly using realistic-looking emails to trick companies into transferring money from their accounts with what’s known as wire transfers, said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the research company Gartner. Often, an employee receives an email purportedly from a company executive asking them to transfer the money from the company’s account into a specific external account. If employees don’t check to be sure the request is legitimate, they might go ahead and authorize a withdrawal.

The first attack on Marsico’s account was a wire transfer attempt but didn’t use an email to her company.

The FBI reported in August that more than 7,000 U.S. companies had been victimized in emailed attacks since late 2013, with losses of more than $740 million. The government said the number of identified victims had surged 270 percent between January and August of last year. Most of the thieves are believed to be in organized crime groups in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Source: Joyce M. Rosenberg, The Associated Press

How Can Axiom Cyber Solutions Help?

Axiom Cyber Solutions is offering a Managed Firewall, Cyber-Security Protection for Small Business starting as low as $199 per month. We realize that most small businesses do not have a dedicated IT team and business owners may be handling their cyber security matters on their own. Let us take over and provide you with peace of mind. Axiom will provide your business a firewall and manage it so you don’t have to worry about securing your business. We will assess the security risks for your business and will help implement the right cyber security service for your business. And don’t worry, there are no upfront costs for the device and you can cancel at anytime.

Axiom’s solutions come in different sizes and all our solutions are designed to deal with the attack vectors of today while being adaptive and flexible enough to continue to secure your network for years to come. For more information, check out our website at axiomcyber.com or give us a call today for your free consultation.(800) 519-5070. #FightBackWithAxiom

Owning a Computer Means You’re at Risk for Ransomware

Owning a Computer Means You’re at Risk for Ransomware

On February 8th, 2016, Horry County Public School District, located in South Carolina, realized they had fallen victim to ransomware. Over 100 of their servers and systems were shut down to keep the ransomware virus from spreading. The hackers demanded that Horry County Public Schools pay them approximately $8,500, otherwise the school district would lose their data forever.

What is ransomware? If you are unfamiliar with this term, now is the time to become familiar with it. Ransomware is a form of computer virus that discreetly corrupts files, and, as the name indicates, demands that a target pay for those files to be restored. Ransomware can have different disguises but the two main types of ransomware are locker ransomware (computer locker) and crypto ransomware (data locker).

Locker ransomware denies access to the computer or device. Crypto ransomware prevents access to files or data and does not necessarily have to use encryption to stop users from accessing their data, although the majority of it does. Ransomware is a 445 billion dollar industry and cyber criminals have no plans to stop anytime soon.

The only way the Horry County School District could recover their data was to pay the ransom so they could receive the encryption keys to unlock their data. However, the hackers requested for the ransom to be paid in Bitcoin (BTC). BTC is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no middlemen. It is very much like cash for the Internet. Since Horry County Schools were not at all familiar with BTC, they they reached out to Troy Wilkinson, current CEO and Co Founder of Axiom Cyber Solutions, for help. Troy stated that,

“Unfortunately, ransomware is only becoming more and more of a problem. These cyber criminals are banking on the fact that most people do not back up their data and are willing to pay dearly for that data back. We at Axiom feel so strongly about ransomware that we currently have patent pending prevention. Our technology empirically detects and stop ransomware once it’s activated on a network.”

Axiom Cyber Solutions was able to get the 22 BTC (approx $8,500) and paid the hackers. Horry County School Systems have had all their data restored and things are back to normal. Unfortunately, all organizations such as schools, universities, hospitals, and more will continue to be hit with ransomware. Even the FBI is encouraging people to pay up, if they want their data back.

Recently, during the 2015 Boston Cyber Security Summit, Joseph Bonavolonta, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cyber and Counterintelligence Program in the Boston office stated,

“The easiest thing may be to just pay the ransom. The amount of money made by these criminals is enormous and that’s because the overwhelming majority of institutions just pay the ransom.”

Simply having antivirus protection does not stop ransomware. The FBI recommends the following tips to help avoid ransomware.

1. Make sure you have updated antivirus software on your computer.
2.Enable automated patches for your operating system and web browser.
3. Have strong passwords, and don’t use the same passwords for everything.
4. Use a pop-up blocker.
5. Only download software—especially free software—from sites you know and trust (malware can also come in downloadable games, file-sharing programs, and customized toolbars).
6. Don’t open attachments in unsolicited e-mails, even if they come from people in your contact list, and never click on a URL contained in an unsolicited e-mail, even if you think it looks safe. Instead, close out the e-mail and go to the organization’s website directly.
7. Use the same precautions on your mobile phone as you would on your computer when using the Internet.
8. To prevent the loss of essential files due to a ransomware infection, it’s recommended that individuals and businesses always conduct regular system back-ups and store the backed-up data offline.

Axiom Cyber Solutions offers the Axiom Sentinel, an enterprise firewall and security appliance, to help with ransomware by making sure that criminals have no way to call home. Sentinel makes malware and ransomware communication out of your network impossible, rendering these applications ineffective and unable to encrypt your data. We have identified key transactions in the TCP/IP stack that must occur when a ransomware is executed. This allows us to block ransomware communication in real time.

Ransomware infections will continue to rise and will evolve with new social and technological attack vectors. It’s important for any organization or individual with sensitive data to exercise caution and deploy best practices in securing your network.

Axiom’s solutions come in different sizes and all of our solutions are designed to deal with the attack vectors of today while being adaptive and flexible enough to continue to secure your network for years to come. For more information, check out our website at axiomcyber.com or give us a call us at (800) 519-5070. #FightBackWithAxiom