In October 1993 I was sitting in a van in dusty Nmanga, Kenya. Nmanga was the only legal border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania. It is next to Amboseli National Park and just to the West of Mount Kilimanjaro. My guide instructed our group to wait in the van with the windows up and the […]

Tech Tidbit – Papers Please – Our password strategy has to be updated now

Cyber Attack – Are you as protected as you think you are? (Part Two – Patching)
Everyone knows the adage “No one is perfect”. Unfortunately for anyone with a computer network, the bad actors who want to infiltrate your system are ready to take full advantage of any mistake they can find. Cyber security is a constant competition between software/code developers and bad actors.

Cyber Attack – Are you as protected as you think you are? (Part One-Malware Protection)
Last week we talked about how one weak link can open the door to a Cyber Incident. We discussed the weak link of old, unused user IDs remaining in your network. Today we will discuss the potential weak link in Malware Protection.

Urgent – Critical Security Advisory for web browsers and other common apps that use libwebp
There is a new critical security issue that affects web browsers as well as other software that use something called libwebp. This feels a whole lot like the LOG4J vulnerability because libwebp is not an application you can see, but rather an embedded module in other applications.

Are your old userids opening the door to Cyber attackers?
We have all heard the phrase “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. When it comes to Cyber Security that phrase is all too true. Sometimes a Cyber Attack comes in via something that appears small (like a user clicking on an email link). Sometimes that small thing is an unused userid that […]

Tech Tidbit – MFA Fatigue and Other Things to Be Afraid Of…
Last weekend my youngest daughter started a new baton program on Saturday mornings. Sitting there I realized I have been taking at least one of my four daughters to baton for the last 22 years across two different teams in two different towns.

Your Weekly Tech Tidbit…Risky Business
In August of 2021, CISA added “Single Factor Authentication” to its list of practices it considers “exceptionally risky” as it exposes you to an “unnecessary risk from threat actors”. Your district auditors and the NYS Comptroller’s Office technology auditors are most likely pestering you about your multi-factor authentication (MFA) strategies and beginning to ding you […]

Does Cyber Insurance Justify Risky Behavior?
Far too often we hear people say “I don’t need to worry about security tools and training, I have Cyber Insurance”. While this doesn’t apply to everyone, we did want to take the time this week to talk about why Cyber Insurance isn’t enough to give your district the protection it needs and deserves.

Teamwork is the Best Defense Against Cyber Crime
Whether you are a sports enthusiast, a volunteer, or part of a work team, you have experienced first-hand the importance of good teamwork. We have all experienced what happens when a team works together, and when a team does not.

Business Email Compromise – Be Very Afraid
Business Email Compromise (BEC) has become a security buzzword. It simply means using email to attack and gain access to your network. *Phishing* or *Spearphishing* are other terms you will hear. It has been estimated that 70% of the attacks against most sites come from email.