Jason Landry, VP of Sales of Gage, Provides Useful Advice to SMBs
Baton Rouge, LA – June 27, 2017 – Gage, 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.
Gage actively fights these cybercriminals and advises all of its customers on how to handle these challenging scenarios. Gage has developed a unique approach for combatting cyberattacks, like WannaCry. A stool requires all three legs to maintain its structure, and so does Gage 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 Jason Landry, VP of Sales of Gage. “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.”