News
The Washington Network’s Cybersecurity Technology Helps Local Businesses Protect Their Networks Against Global Attacks
Rick Endres, President of The Washington Network,
Provides Useful Advice to SMBs
Alexandria, VA— June 15, 2017 —The Washington Network, Inc., a leading
unified communications provider, helps local businesses protect their networks
against growing global attacks. The company’s state-of-the-art cyber security
technology and defense plan enables customers to avoid being held hostage to
hackers from other countries’ ransomware attacks which have already been
launched on a world-wide scale. Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) need to
understand the nature of this threat and what appropriate steps they can take
in order to secure their technology infrastructure from future breaches.
One
of the most recent and frightening attacks is the WannaCry ransomware attack.
Since launch, it has affected 150 countries and over 200,000 computers. Most
users were made vulnerable after failing to upgrade their old Windows PCs with
the latest software upgrades and security patches, which is often the case for
SMBs. Since most business owners are focused on increasing revenues, satisfying
customers and driving profit, technological vulnerabilities are often an
oversight. For victims of the WannaCry attack, employees were locked out of
critical data, forms and documents they needed and users couldn’t work properly
unless the business owner paid the ransom to regain access to the files. This is
a dire situation for any business owner especially because there is no
guarantee that this is a one-time offense. This isn’t the first global attack,
nor is it likely to be the last.
The Washington Network actively fights these
cybercriminals and advises all of its customers on how to handle these
challenging scenarios. The Washington Networkhas developed a unique approach for combatting cyberattacks, like WannaCry. A
stool requires all three legs to maintain its structure, and so does The Washington Network three-pronged defense.
First, business owners must set the perimeter with a managed firewall
as-a-service. While many businesses may already have a firewall in place it is
important to regularly update the firewall, in order to prevent new threats
from entering the business. Firewalls need to be actively strengthened in the
same way that a stool needs to be checked from time to time in order to make
certain that a screw hasn’t come loose. When a hacker finds a loose screw in
the firewall, they can exploit it and take the whole network down, which is
exactly why businesses not only need a firewall, but a managed firewall.
Second,
businesses need to establish anti-virus and malware protection through proactive
monitoring and patching for all servers and desktops. In the same way that
firewalls need ongoing management and maintenance, so do anti-virus and malware
protection services. This second leg in the stool is critical to strengthen, in
order to support both the first and the third legs.
The third and final
leg of protection is to ensure that the company has a proven backup and
disaster recovery solution providing onsite appliance with image based backups
for quick restoral of files folders. This is especially important if servers
reside on site. This leg of protection ensures that even if a breach makes it
all the way into the network, the company can quickly reboot and recover
sensitive data almost instantaneously. If the company is in the cloud, data is
almost impenetrable.
“The
recent, massively, publicized attacks that have occurred on a global basis is
just the beginning,” stated RickEndres, Presidentof The Washington Network.
“Unfortunately, cybercrime will never go away. We have made an investment in
the proper cybersecurity technology and highly skilled professionals to ensure
that our customers’ networks remain secure. Our focus is on handling everything
technical so our customers can focus on their businesses and drive their own
profits. As they reach new levels of profitability, our business does better
and it ends as a win-win for everyone. That’s what makes us different.”