Kinetics KARE clients – we’ve just added a layer of security

by | Dec 7, 2022 | News, Security

With the latest news of yet another local New Zealand high-profile cyber attack, it must be obvious that cyber-threats are real.

EVERYONE is at risk of cyber attack!

This latest incident is particularly close to home for me, because I chair the board of one of the impacted organisations (Business NZ).

Let’s be clear

  1. No one is immune. It doesn’t matter how small or low-profile your organisation is – the hackers don’t differentiate
  2. Cyber crime is big business. It is organised crime, done at a scale that is incomprehensible. We have posted before about the various business models these actors us
  3. No one can guarantee your safety, but there are things we can do to reduce your risk with protection that looks for more than viruses and malware.

Refer: NZ Nurses Organisation, BusinessNZ, others caught in cyberattacks, possible data breaches – NZ Herald

Health insurer Accuro says 30,000 customers’ data potentially exposed in hack – NZ Herald

Ransomware attacks: Are stolen Justice, health, insurance files appearing on the dark web? – NZ Herald

 

Ultimately, cyber security is about layers. 

If one layer is compromised, then we have additional layers to pick up the slack.

Last week, we got an update through for one layer that we’ve already applied for all KARE clients.  

We thought you’d like to know!  

We’ve setup an additional virtual firewall on every PC and laptop protected by KARE.  The only visible impact was a printing setting that impacted about 1% of the devices we protect that use WiFi printing, and we resolved that almost immediately.

We are excited that we were able to get this update and apply it before Christmas because we know many of our clients are likely to be traveling a lot more this Christmas and taking their work devices with them.

This is just one security layer than we’ve added to all devices managed by KARE – and the good news is that it is for no extra cost!

Unfortunately though, most of the valuable additional layers of security do involve more cost, and can be more intrusive. 

That’s why we offer enhanced services like “KARE for Security” that bring added protections such as :

  • regular staff education about cyber risk and good practice
  • scanning inbound emails for malicious code, infected attachments and bad url links
  • DNS scanning to check websites BEFORE you click on the link

We think these are the new minimum base line for cyber-protection. 

We know it is NOT ENOUGH for many clients and they need to go further with services such as our more advanced KARE for Security 2 offer. That includes a number of additional layers, three of which are:

  • xDR – Antivirus is no longer enough. We now have options of much more advanced endpoint device protection that looks for more than viruses and malware
  • Password vaults
  • Vulnerability tests : ‘dark web’ scans, penetration tests, breach tests, shadow IT inventories and more

Remember: above all, you need a data privacy policy, a risk plan, a recovery plan and you need to keep these up to date.  You need to know your legal responsibilities.