You are Going to Be Hacked - It's Not "If", It's "When"

You are Going to Be Hacked – It’s Not “If”, It’s “When”

Cloud computing in Atlanta and the rest of the world has spread extensively and now more than 90% of small to mid-sized businesses either are already using the cloud for some aspects of their business, or expect to be in the near future. Frankly, most of these businesses are realizing that it is difficult to remain competitive today without the cloud. The downside, however, is that while the good guys (“white hats”) continue to make positive advances for their client businesses, the bad guys (“black hats”) are rapidly progressing, as well.

But before you go off and determine that your company is more secure in the technological middle ages (2000 to 2010?) and give up entirely on cloud computing, consider two things. First, there were hacked security breaches of all types even before the cloud and statistically speaking, the ratio of before and since seems to be about even. So, the question doesn’t appear to be “to cloud or not to cloud”, but rather, how do we use the cloud as securely as possible? Second, you are probably using the cloud right now, way more than you realize.

Do you synch your photos from iPhone to your computer? Do you use Facebook or Uber? If you do any of these things, or thousands of others whether personally or for business, you are using the cloud. In fact, as early as the 1990s ADP’s payroll service was using the cloud on a large scale, and today, if your paycheck comes via ADP, PayChex, Intuit, or any of hundreds of smaller payroll/HR companies, you are using the cloud.

Cloud Computing Security

Cloud computing in Atlanta, or anywhere else, when done properly, utilizes a lot more than just “systems” to overcome being hacked. It uses real people, on duty and monitoring, managing and maintaining your system 24 x 7 x 365. Cyber criminals don’t take off overnight. In fact, many of them who want access to your data are halfway around the world, so your midnight is their noon. This real-time live monitoring, combined with an advanced crypto-containment system and other advanced algorithms and processes, can instantly pick-up on early warning signs of a potentially successful attack and shut it down while it is still an “issue” and not a serious problem. The software can detect when something out of the ordinary is happening…something that deviates from normal operating functions and patterns, it shuts down the infected files and alerts your IT security incident response team.

A Better Raincoat

Someone recently compared using older methodologies of data protection versus using the cloud to trying to protect yourself from the rain by wearing animal skins versus today’s raincoats made of 100% water repellent fabric. Both will keep you dry…for a while…but one will give you way better protection than the other.

Either way, you will be hacked. Count on it. The question is, how will your IT support team and your IT security network respond? We have seen networks “repel” literally tens of thousands of attack attempts, until one brand new piece of malware, that no one has seen before, breaks through. Is your system being monitored, managed and maintained in a way that will detect this intrusion and lock it out before any damage is done, or will it be allowed to run rampant through the night so that when your staff shows up one morning they find their files locked or, even worse, totally lost forever. It happens to someone every day.

For the past 25 years, we at DynaSis have been at the national forefront of Cyber Security…long before most people even heard of it. Our team of more than 55 IT professionals based in Atlanta have always focused on the IT support needs of small to mid-sized businesses. We still do. We also offer complimentary IT and Cyber Risk assessments. Give us a call today at 678-373-0716.