WACO, TX — "These stories coming out on the news are helping the industry as a whole, because honestly when I talk to some of these business owners they look at me like I'm crazy."
Paul Kothe is the CEO of Heart of Texas Network Consultants. he's an expert in security and knows too well the damage a ransomware attack can cause. often times attackers strike businesses with false belief their immune
"They're like it's not going to happen to me, I don't need security awareness training, I don't need to train my people they should know better,” he explains.
The most devastating ransomware attack on critical infrastructure in the u.s. to date. the recent cyber attack on the colonial gas pipeline which carries more than 100 million gallons of gas per day, and stretches from Texas into the northeast U.S. is helping Paul highlight when comes to cyber intrusion it's not a matter of if....
"It's when," Kothe says. "Everybody on the planet is ripe for the picking."
The cost of the attacks? Well in 2020 recent estimatesplace that at close to $20 billion, with close to 43 percent of victims being small businesses.
"They try to social engineer their way into your machine, by email is typically the main attack platform. They get you to look at a message responded to it by clicking it on it."
And one click can be an open door for malicious programs onto your machine, into your infrastructure. If you're hacked it's damage controlKothe says you need to contact your it provider, seek assistance, and be prepared to inform your clients. for prevention perhaps most importantly, two factor authentication on email your email accounts.
"One of the chief ways the hackers are getting is they'll go to the dark Web and find one of your compromised passwords that you used on your passwords"
AND BECAUSE MISTAKENLY WE OFTEN USE THE SAME PASSWORD FOR WORK EMAIL, PERSONAL EMAIL, EVEN OUR BANK ACCOUNT.
And Because we often use the same password for work and personal email, even for our bank account.
"They figure everyone uses the same passwords on every website and then once they get into your email account they can do almost anything," Kothe says.
"It's almost like leaving your keys on the welcome mat. For now perhaps most important to take way from stories like the hack on colonial pipeline is we're all living in a cyber world, and we're all vulnerable, all the more reason to be cyber-secure aware going forward.
