The Boardroom vs. IT: Who drives change?

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When it comes to ensuring business continuity and keeping all parts working properly, it’s crucial for communications between departments to be easy and effective. You especially want interaction between executives and IT administrators to be productive. In those conversations, if there is any kind of disconnect with either party, bottom lines could suffer.

How does the proper implementation of IT impact corporate objectives? Having the right technology solution in place can make a difference in the long run across the board, but decision-makers sometimes don’t consult their IT departments before investing in something new. According to InformationWeek contributor Andrew Froehlich, this may be due in part to the fact that new technologies are constantly coming out, sometimes so quickly that tech staff can’t keep up.

Shadow IT is creating cybersecurity vulnerabilities for enterprises.

Shadow IT is compounding this issue even further. With the continued implementation of bring-your-own-device policies, extraneous technologies make their way into companies’ networks. Employees are carrying their smartphones and tablets into the workplace and downloading different – and perhaps unapproved – applications to use in their jobs. This creates cybersecurity and compliance issues due to the entrance of unknown actors on the network.

For instance, one study from 2014 on the information systems of health care organizations found that the average provider has 928 cloud services running on its systems – only 10 percent of which are known to their IT departments. In addition, only 7 percent of the total systems on the cloud comply with industry-specific standards. These kinds of statistics illustrate why it’s crucial for the IT department to be involved in the decision-making process of any company. To ensure compliance and maintain security, technology teams and executives need to be on the same page.

Different departments need to work together to elicit the best outcome for a business – meaning that to achieve the best bottom line, communication between IT staff and the executive board needs to be efficient. Computer Weekly contributor Marc Cercere noted that the agendas of both the business technology and IT departments are equally as important to focus on and improve.

For instance, due to the increase in shadow IT and the continuing focus on cybersecurity across every industry, the IT department should be consulted about any change to technology strategy. Instead of implementing tech “solutions” that may or may not solve a company’s problems, getting the go-ahead from the IT department allows every portion of the company to work in unison toward the same goal.

In today’s business climate, technology should align with corporate objectives. You want IT to work in your favor. If relationships within your business between executives and the IT department aren’t up to par, costly disconnect can occur, and business processes can be hampered.

Ransomware: How hackers hold data hostage

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Crime has changed with the Internet age. Although physical theft is still a problem, the introduction of computer systems into the workplace has brought about a generation of criminals who use code to steal rather than a gun. Perhaps the epitome of this trend is ransomware, a specific piece of malware that encrypts a victim’s files until the user pays the hacker a ransom.

Ransomware attacks have been steadily increasing recently, with more businesses than ever being forced into a corner by cybercriminals. What does the current ransomware landscape look like, and how can companies protect themselves from this ever-growing threat?

The online underworld has taken a shine to ransomware. This popularity has a lot to do with just how simple and effective a ransomware campaign can be. All it takes is for the user to open the wrong attachment on a bogus email, and the malware takes it from there. What’s more, these kinds of attacks are extremely effective. Victims generally panic, sometimes scared by phony messages from the FBI or CIA about having to pay a fine, and will often enforce this malicious behavior by paying the criminal.

In fact, a November 2015 McAfee Labs Threats Report found that hackers are throwing their full weight behind these campaigns. The study discovered that total ransomware more than doubled between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015, eventually resting at a whopping 5 million observations.

Forbes contributor Thomas Fox-Brewster noted the example of Locky, a specific type of ransomware that is compromising around 90,000 devices per day. It’s a strong and effective piece of malware and shows just how troublesome these kinds of attacks are.

Although a ransomware attack is pretty straightforward, hackers are constantly innovating their techniques to make a fast buck. One of the ways they’re doing this is by branching out in terms of what systems they attempt to infect. Cybercriminals are going for less of a “spray and pray” method and more of a targeted approach, going after CEOs and CFOs. The logic here is that the important people in a company have important data on their computers and as such would be more willing to fork over a ransom.

Bitcoin.jpg

Another trend: Hackers are also beginning to target entire servers rather than specific computers. This was recently proven to be a solid tactic after cybercriminals held Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center’s data hostage, eventually forcing the health care facility to pay $17,000 in untraceable bitcoins. Hackers using ransomware often ask for bitcoins because they’re so hard to trace.

Ransomware may be a frightening concept, but it can be beaten if a business takes the right preventive steps. These steps include three key areas of focus: technology, processes and people.

Technology is already the backbone of your organization, so it makes sense that you’d need to invest in it if you want to prevent a ransomware attack. There are a lot of tools that detect infections before they become a problem, but what you’ll really want to focus on is backup software. The practical uses of backing up your most important data are nearly endless, but it also has the added bonus of mitigating the risks of a ransomware attack. If you have your mission-critical information backed up somewhere, you can simply ignore the hackers’ demands of payment to unlock your files.

Next is processes, and this is one that the boardroom is going to need to take a specific interest in. Executives often ask questions like “Are we backing data up?” This kind of inquiry doesn’t really mean anything, as it doesn’t tell you the specifics behind your company’s contingency plan. You should be asking where the data is or how far back the records go in order to have a full understanding of where your organization is at.

Last, and most importantly, businesses need to invest in education for their workers. Despite the fact that they keep operations running, the people at your company are the weakest link in your cybersecurity chain. You need to train them to be able to spot what a fishy email looks like and how to avoid clicking on suspicious links. Your company is only as safe as you want it to be, so make sure to train your employees to recognize the dangers of cyberattacks.

What are the risks of hybrid cloud?

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Hybrid IT infrastructure is quickly becoming one of the biggest trends of the current decade, and this strategy can sometimes include hybrid cloud deployments. According to the RightScale 2015 State of the Cloud Report, 82 percent of surveyed enterprises were running a hybrid cloud strategy, and Data Center Knowledge stated in mid 2015 that adoption of these technologies was expected to triple by 2018. The benefits of embracing hybrid cloud are clear: Companies are able to improve IT flexibility and choose solutions that fit their specific needs, all while maximizing cost efficiency and asset utilization, according to FierceCIO contributor David Weldon.

As adoption goes up and more companies look into deploying hybrid strategies within their IT departments, so too do the number of issues that arise in dealing with the new technologies that hybrid cloud brings to the table. Let’s take a look at the biggest risks when it comes to cloud and hybrid IT, then discuss strategies for dealing with these issues:

“Software and application changes occur on the provider’s side.“

1. Loss of control

The CIO’s job is to manage risk within his or her company, and as such may view that total control over every part of the technology strategy of the organization is necessary. However, when cloud-based tools are utilized, software and application changes occur on the provider’s side, meaning IT executives may not have a say. Therefore, according to CIO contributor Shoeb Javed, one of the most important risks of hybrid cloud computing is the perceived loss of control on the part of the CIO and other members of the executive board.

“Applications change all the time, and when those applications are outside the company’s control, they could be caught unprepared when a sudden software update occurs,” Tripwire contributor Rick Delgado stated. “A single application change can create integration problems with other programs, leading to major disruptions among the most critical business applications.”

2. Cloud security

A lot has been said lately about the cloud and its apparent inherent risks as far as security is concerned. The market for cloud security tools keeps going up by the day, and it’s expected to reach a total value of $8.71 billion by 2019, according to a 2014 report published by MarketsandMarkets. This is a clear indication that security is on the minds of industry CIOs.

There are a few main security challenges for organizations that deploy hybrid cloud strategies, according to TechTarget. These include risk management, security management and poorly constructed service-level agreements. Most of these problems stem from the complications that can arise when private and public cloud are both used in conjunction with one another – managing two kinds of deployments can be a complex task for IT teams.

3. Compliance

This is an issue that goes along with the aforementioned security challenge. Businesses have to ensure that all parts of their cloud strategy are compliant with any industry regulations. It’s crucial to ensure the data traveling between private and public cloud environments is secure, as well.

For instance, organizations within the healthcare sector have to prove that their systems are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which designates strict security standards for protected health information. If a business works with payment card data, it is subject to the rules set forth by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. All of these regulations need to be managed properly, and in certain circumstances, hybrid IT could complicate effective management strategies.

Companies that work with payment card data need to make sure their hybrid cloud deployments are secure and compliant.Companies that work with payment card data need to make sure their hybrid cloud deployments are secure and compliant.

Worth the challenge

Considering the risks of hybrid IT is one of the most important responsibilities of the technology department of any organization. However, the many benefits of investing in hybrid infrastructure outweigh these risks when they’re managed effectively. That’s why having a managed services partner around to help your organization deal with these hybrid cloud risks is not only a great idea – it’s essential to a successful hybrid IT strategy.

When you partner with a company like ISG Technology, you can rest assured that the risks of migrating data to and from virtual environments will be orchestrated by cloud experts. Get in touch today to find out more about how our hybrid cloud solutions fit your business needs.

Real Risks of Cybercrime

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First of all, there is a saying going around that “it’s not if you’ll get breached, it’s when”. Today, effective protection requires insight into both the nature and motivation of attacks. Unfortunately, most businesses don’t know who is attacking them, why, or what they’re after.

Cybercriminals are no longer solitary figures who carry out their crimes in isolation, but instead part of an ever-expanding network of virtual crime that’s gaining power every day. The evolution of cybercrime has led to the emergence of a crime sphere that’s highly connected, spread out across the globe and alarmingly efficient in terms of their capacity to compromise networks and steal data and money. Businesses can count on the principle of continuous improvement among cybercriminals.

Breaches are not events, they are processes. Today, the worst breaches are not “one time attacks or thefts”. They are system vulnerabilities exploited over long periods of time. This means it is just as important to know when you’ve been breached, and how to shut it down, as it is to prevent the breach in the first place.

The good news? We’ve been seeing some really good solutions coming down the pike, including incident response, compromise assessments and advanced threat management services. The goal of a cybersecurity strategy is to reduce exposure, recover faster and reduce potential damage.

First, you have to know what’s coming. This is about being proactive by identifying vulnerabilities and taking assessment of your capabilities. Second, you need to secure your digital interactions by hardening your defenses – often at the code level. Staff training around common cybercrime tactics is recommended. Third, detect and manage inevitable breaches with robust analytics. Finally, it’s extremely important to ensure business continuity and availability of your IT environments, systems and apps.

ISG Technology: Who we are

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We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing what ISG’s services can do for you, as well as what kinds of specific problems we can fix. We’ve even done an opinion piece here and there about current trends within IT. What we haven’t done so far is explain what kind of a company we are on a more personal level.

As a modern company, it’s really important to us that you not only understand what we do, but who we are. In an effort to fully introduce ourselves to you, we’d like to explain the three guiding principles that drive our company’s innovation each and every day: people, technology and service.

“People come first.”

People

When it comes to business, even the business of technology and machines, people come first. When we’re considering initiating a business relationship with a company, the first thing we do is try to fully understand the people who work there.

The reason we do this is simple: We can’t figure out how to fix your problem if we don’t know anything about who you are and what you need from us.

For the average managed services provider, solving an issue starts with what the MSP can do to fix the problem, followed by how the company is specifically going to solve it and finally finishing with why that particular situation was a problem in the first place. While this gets the job done most of the time, we at ISG think these companies have it backwards.

We begin our problem analysis by first figuring out why this obstacle is in your way. Starting here works better because it allows us to fully understand all aspects of your particular situation, without coming in with any preconceived notions. After this, we begin to work on how we’re going to fix the problem, followed by a full and detailed investigation into what the actual problem is.

What this means is that you can rest assured ISG will solve the problem you’re actually having, and not the one you think you’re experiencing. While you may think you need simple malware removal – something ISG could easily provide for you – it may turn out that you actually need comprehensive firewall protection services. By figuring out why a situation is a problem for you first, we can diagnose the root cause of your dilemma and provide a solution based on your company’s specific needs.

Technology

Technology is evolving at a truly remarkable rate. The Pew Research Center found that in 2015, about 68 percent of American adults owned a smartphone. In 2011, that number was closer to 35 percent. In four short years, smartphone usage had almost doubled, showing how fully technology has been integrated into our everyday lives.

Technology is everywhere, and with around 84 percent of your American clients identifying as Internet users, being on the forefront of this revolution is absolutely vital to stay profitable. That being said, keeping up with the latest and greatest in technological innovation is extremely hard when you’re trying to run a business.

To anyone working outside of IT, something like server virtualization can sound like magic. Just wrapping your head around the concept of fitting multiple, virtual machines on a single server can be impossible if you don’t understand the finely tuned technology behind it.

Thankfully, our team of highly trained tech wizards can make this magically complex technology simple and easy to comprehend. With ISG, you can rest assured that you’re getting the technology your business needs, from experts who truly understand it.

ISG tech experts are extremely knowledgeable. Our tech wizards can help bring the magic of modern technology to your business.

Service

Although you obviously want a cursory understanding of the technology you’re investing in, we know that you want IT solutions to just work. You don’t want your business goals to be hampered by constantly having to figure out what’s going wrong with the services provided to you, and as such, ISG has always been focused on providing a quality service to all of our clients.

Whether it’s disaster recovery services, or even online backup of your mission-critical data, we value giving the businesses we work with the best product we can. Investing in ISG is investing in consistency, and nothing is more important to us than making sure your IT problems get solved as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

If you’d like to learn how ISG can help bring your business to the next level, make sure to check out the list of managed services we offer on our homepage.





Join the ISG Technology Team




Hackers hit hard and fast: Is your company ready for 2016?

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As the world increasingly moves online, cybersecurity will continue to play a large role in how businesses operate. A Forbes report found that the cybersecurity market is predicted to hit $170 billion by 2020. Organizations will obviously be putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to the security of their data, but will it be enough?

Hackers are a malicious bunch, but they aren’t stupid. They are always working to take what’s rightfully yours, and they’re often successful. Less-than-perfect cybersecurity systems are no match for today’s cybercriminal, and companies that don’t take security seriously in 2016 will be paying the price.

“Around 84 % of data breaches took only minutes.”

Many companies just aren’t prepared

The problem that many organizations face is that hackers are consistently refining their techniques, working daily to stay one step ahead of standard cybersecurity protocols. These attacks have gotten so sophisticated that cybercriminals are gaining access to networks faster than ever before.

According to the Data Breach Investigation Report put out by Verizon, around 84 percent of data breaches took only minutes for hackers to gain access to private information. The speed at which these criminals can get their hands on your company’s data is scary enough, but the truly frightening part of this report has to do with how long it takes to discover this kind of intrusion.

The study found that 66 percent of these breaches weren’t discovered by the organization until months after the original intrusion. That’s a very long time to have your company’s information completely open to hackers, and would allow these cybercriminals to get away with a lot of private data.

Finding an intrusion can take a very long time. Hackers love when companies take their time discovering cyberattacks.

While the theft of sensitive information is certainly bad for business in and of itself, the thing organizations really have to worry about is their public image. Money comes and goes, but reputation is all a company really has. The Ponemon Institute found that a business’s client-facing reputation can be damaged by as much as 31 percent following a data breach.

Although it is kind of cruel to blame the victim of a cyberattack, this data makes sense from a consumer’s point of view. Purchasing products or services from a company often requires the exchange of personal information, and no one wants to do business with an organization that’s known for having been hacked.

What’s more, the Verizon report found that around 9 percent of breaches were discovered by a client rather than the company itself. Being known as the company that was hit with a cyberattack is bad, but that’s nothing compared with the reputation blowback of not even being able to discover the leak yourself.

Finding cybersecurity professionals is tough

After reading all of that, you might be thinking to yourself that it’s probably time to beef up your cybersecurity team. While that’s probably a good idea, the reality of the situation is that actually hiring these professionals is a lot easier said than done.

According to Peninsula Press’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, there are around 209,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in America right now. Due to the high level of training these professionals have to go through in order to work in the field, cybersecurity workers are few and far between.

This will make it incredibly difficult for you to find new members for your team. The pickings are really slim at the moment, and if you’re lucky enough to find someone with this kind of training you’re going to be paying quite a lot to hire them. Low supply equals high demand, and cybersecurity professionals know exactly what their skills are worth.

You might need some outside help

Asking for help can be hard, especially when you’re used to running an autonomous company. But considering the huge threat of a cyberattack against your company, now is no time to be proud. Hiring an outside company to help with things like malware removal and secure data management allows you to find the cybersecurity professionals you’re looking for without having to pay their massive salaries yourself.

Thankfully, ISG Technology makes acquiring these service easy and affordable. With everything from virus protection to intrusion prevention, ISG Technology can help keep your company safe as it moves into 2016.

The ins and outs of mobile tech: What does it mean for you?

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If you ask tech-industry experts what they think has been the most disruptive technology of the last couple of years, you’ll get a few different answers. Some will say cloud computing, and others will say virtual infrastructure. Quite a few, however, will simply say one word: mobile. Smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and the Internet of Things are all examples of mobile technologies that have changed the way enterprises, medium-sized companies and small outfits alike operate within the business world. Recent numbers from The Pew Research Center indicated that 68 percent of American adults own a smartphone, and that statistic is only going to increase as 2016 progresses. It seems that everything we do is now tied up in mobile or has a mobile component – including everything in the business world.

Why is mobile so important to the way we do business now? Let’s take a look at how this disruptive technology has had such an irreversible influence on how companies approach their IT infrastructure:

1. Business and consumer tools

Computing on the go has never been more important for our fast-paced society. Research is being done every day exploring the efficacy of these kinds of tools for consumers and companies alike. For instance, according to a new study from research firm Sequence, consumers are using their devices to make wish lists and spend time with family this holiday season. If given the chance, the study found, one-third of them would use the time saved by mobile shopping to stay in bed longer.

This is a fun example of how mobile tech has changed the way we look at things, but enterprises and SMBs are also benefiting more from devices like laptops and smartphones. Business can be conducted on the fly thanks to these kinds of devices – leading to an increase in productivity and improved outcomes throughout the business world. Bring-your-own-device policies are helping companies save money in overhead and operational expenses while at the same time giving employees the means to be more productive and more efficient.

Myriad kinds of mobile devices can be used to impact office productivity.Myriad kinds of mobile devices can be used to impact office productivity.

2. Security

As mobile devices have evolved to meet the growing needs of enterprises in every industry, so too has the technological landscape developed in order to accommodate their increasing use. BYOD is even one of the driving forces behind the endpoint security market, according to a recent report published by MarketsandMarkets. The endpoint security market is projected to be worth $17.4 billion by 2020, growing at a compound annual rate of 8.4 percent over the next five years.

This market is growing proportionately with the number of malware samples discovered every day by security teams around the world. Motive Security Labs found that 16 million mobile devices were targeted by malware in 2014. To negate these kinds of threats, it’s crucial for companies to make – and stick to – a BYOD security strategy.

This strengthening of the security space is a clear indication that the need to mitigate risks has been compounded by the introduction of mobile technologies into the workplace. When unknown employee devices are connected to the network, it can sometimes cause headaches for the IT department in the form of shadow IT. Networks sometimes aren’t prepared for the intrusion of different kinds of tech, which means there may be hidden vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited.

“Improvements in terms of productivity, efficiency and expense-cutting are well worth the risks.”

3. The good parts about shadow IT

However risky it may be to allow mobile tech on your network, the benefits can outweigh the disadvantages if you play your cards right. Shadow IT has gotten a bad rap (understandably) in recent years, but improvements in terms of productivity, efficiency and expense-cutting are well worth the risks. In addition, according to CMS Wire contributor Joanna Schloss, shadow IT can lead to the adoption of new technologies that work hand-in-hand with mobile tech. This in turn helps companies see better return on investment from these tools.

Navigating the ever-changing mobile tech landscape can seem daunting when you undertake this task by yourself. Partnering with a managed services provider like ISG Technology gives you access to trained professionals who know what they’re talking about when it comes to new devices and how to best use them to your advantage. We can also help you determine the best course of action in terms of increasing your security protocols and taking charge of your computing infrastructure.

Contact the experts at ISG Technology today for more information!

Is your health care facility's data safe?

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When people go to the hospital for help, they’re already in a vulnerable position. They’ve become the victim of circumstance, and all they want is to get better. Sadly, there are malicious individuals out there who want to exploit these people by accessing their private health care information and using it for personal gain.

A new study conducted by IDC, which was reported on by the International Business Times, found that patient information is nowhere near safe from hackers. The report stated that one-third of all heath care client in the U.S. will have their records breached in 2016. Despite the horrific nature of stealing from someone with a serious medical condition, it seems like the hacking of health care records is on the rise.

Health care data storage at risk

Medical records are extremely valuable on the black market, and for good reason. These documents generally have a lot of private data that could be worth a lot to the wrong people. Health care documents generally have banking information on them, and sensitive medical conditions could very easily be used by a hacker to blackmail the patient.

“A single medical record is worth around $363.”

This is why it isn’t really surprising that the Ponemon Institute found that health care records cost the industry more than twice the average for all other sectors. A single medical record is worth around $363 per document, with the average of all industries being $154. The health care field simply has a lot of valuable personal information hidden within their data storage systems, and yet they may be woefully unprepared for a data breach event.

Medical field isn’t ready for hackers

Although those working within medicine are extremely knowledgeable about the human body, they aren’t IT experts. This isn’t their fault really, as knowing how to perform surgery is more important to their job than knowing how to construct a secure data management system. That being said, this lack of knowledge about IT is costing the medical profession a lot in terms of data breaches.

A separate study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that the health care industry simply cannot handle the sophistication of modern cyberattacks. The report discovered that 78 percent of medical institutions had experienced a malware attack. While that number should be high enough on it’s own to scare health care professionals, the study really drove this point home by finding that only 40 percent of medical organizations feel cyberattacks are something to be worried about.

The fact that less than a majority of health care institutions think hacking attempts are worrisome shows how uninformed many in the medical industry are in terms of cybersecurity. While these professionals obviously need to focus on the physical health of their patients, the health care sector needs to start focusing on the cyber health of these people as well.

Patient document security is extremely important. Keeping your patients’ information safe is just as important as improving their health.

Proper data management and cybersecurity is a must

Those working within the medical field need to start putting an emphasis on cybersecurity within the workplace. Ignoring the problem, or simply staying uninformed about it, is the surest way to leave patient information open to attack. Of course, this doesn’t mean doctors need to drop the medical textbooks in favor of cybersecurity manuals. Rather, those within health care need to look outward for experts who can help them get a tighter hold on the private information of their patients.

Anyone within the health care industry worried about patient data should absolutely contact an ISG Technology security professional today. With services ranging from malware removal to intrusion detection and prevention services, ISG Technology can help your organization stay safe.

When it comes to cybersecurity, are you an ostrich, a doomsday prepper or a Navy SEAL?

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Making sure sensitive data stays private is a constant battle against the ever-increasing threat of cybercriminals. Cybersecurity is a must in modern society, and yet many company executives simply do not know how to approach it. A lot of these people don’t know enough about cybersecurity to put an emphasis on it, while others remain willfully ignorant about the threat hackers present to their companies.

In our many years dealing with cybersecurity through network security assessments, we’ve run into three kinds of executives present in the boardroom in terms of the security of their company’s data: ostriches, doomsday preppers and Navy SEALs. As such, we’d like to take some time to discuss what each of these personality types mean, and what you can do to avoid the bad ones.

Ostriches

Even outside of cybersecurity, everyone knows at least one person who fits this personality description. Ostriches are the people who absolutely refuse to face problems head on, instead opting to stick their heads in the sand in hopes that the conflict will resolve itself.

“Hackers are working tirelessly to steal your company’s information.”

As anyone who has provided malware removal for an ostrich will tell you, this is by far the worst way to deal with the threat of a data breach. There are very few problems that actually go away by ignoring them, and cybercriminals certainly aren’t on that list. In fact, a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 79 percent of respondents had run into a security breach in the last year. Hackers are working tirelessly to steal your company’s information, and simply ignoring the problem isn’t going to make it disappear.

Doomsday preppers

Doomsday prepper executives are the ones in the boardroom constantly terrified of a cyberattack. They spend every waking hour worrying about cybercriminals, but they don’t have a strategic plan to protect company, resulting in over/under investing in solutions that don’t fit their need.

Although these executives are certainly right to be concerned – IBM found that the average consolidated cost of a breach of company data being $3.8 million – they take this fear entirely too far or not far enough. These people throw money away on state-of-the-art cybersecurity systems developed for military applications, when all their companies really need is a solid firewall and periodic malware removal managed services. Doomsday preppers may fare better in the market than ostriches do, but they tend to max out budgets or leave systems over exposed.

Doomsday preppers throw away your company's budget. Doomsday preppers waste too much money on security systems they don’t need.

Navy SEALs

The Navy SEAL is the pinnacle of tactical precision. This soldier is world-renowned for his constant preparedness, and yet he’s never over-encumbered. A SEAL only carries what he needs into battle, and nothing he wears or owns is superfluous in any way. He is effective, efficient and always gets the job done.

This is the kind of executive you want to be when it comes to cybersecurity. The Navy SEAL in the boardroom knows about the constant threat of cyberattacks, and yet he does not over-prepare. He is aware of the threat and is possibly scared of a breach of his company’s data, and yet he does not allow his fear to paralyze him. He makes decisive, cost-effective moves that put his company in the best defensive position possible against hackers.

Of course, the executive Navy SEAL doesn’t develop overnight. Knowing which systems are necessary and which aren’t takes a lot of cybersecurity experience, something very few boardroom members have. The executives of a company already have a lot on their plate, and learning all of the intricacies of a proper security system simply isn’t an effective use of their time. They need outside help from experts in the field to guide them.

Thankfully, ISG Technology is here to help you on your journey toward Navy SEAL preparedness. Our years of experience within the cybersecurity field have given us the knowledge necessary to know what your company needs, and our trained technicians can help you understand what you should know about your security system. With managed services ranging from malware removal to firewall protection, ISG Technology can help secure your company’s data.

3 reasons why CEOs need to care more about cybersecurity

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When it comes to things like cybersecurity, the person in the company with the most to say is generally someone from the IT department. CEOs and other executives obviously are aware of the ever-present possibility of a cyberattack, but when your day-to-day responsibilities involve work outside of technology, it can be easy to forget just how vigilant hackers are.

While this is a pretty big trend in multiple industries, we believe those outside IT need to take a step back and understand the reality of the situation they’re dealing with. Cybercriminals are a lot more active than the general populace thinks, and sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the problem doesn’t fix anything. CEOs shouldn’t just be scared of cyberattacks – they should be terrified.

Cybersecurity is a big concern. CEOs need to be more concerned with cybersecurity than they currently are.

1. Hackers work tirelessly to steal your company’s data

One of the biggest mistakes company leaders make when discussing cybersecurity is underestimating what hackers can do. A lot of people have this idea in their heads that breaking the law is taking “the easy way out,” and as such many executives assume these individuals are lazy.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Although stealing information and data from helpless businesses is certainly a detestable act, being able to do so demands immense amounts of time and energy. Hackers are often highly skilled individuals, and one of the perks of a cybercriminal lifestyle is the challenge of breaking into new and interesting systems.

“Hackers created 317 million new bits of malware in 2014.”

Breaking into these networks often requires malware that has been designed to exploit a particular vulnerability, so it’s no surprise that hackers created 317 million new bits of malware in 2014, according to CNNMoney. These men and women are working constantly to steal what’s yours, and any CEO should keep this in mind when developing a cybersecurity strategy.

2. The company’s reputation may never recover

With all the data breach incidents covered by the news in recent years, clients are warier than ever about trusting companies with their personal information. Choosing the wrong business used to just mean a bad service, but now it could very well translate to losing money as well as control over your online life. The modern consumer is constantly taking this risk when he gives his personal information to a company, and he’ll drop any business that can’t adequately protect it.

This is why it isn’t shocking that the Ponemon Institute found that a data breach could force a decline in the value of your company’s reputation by as much as 31 percent, depending on the specific incident. clients simply cannot give second chances these days, and companies are quickly discovering the pitfalls of having a lax cybersecurity managed services provider. It just isn’t worth the risk, and any CEO who doesn’t value security should absolutely prepare herself for the inevitable reputation damage of a serious data breach.

3. Your reputation may never recover

Although you’re obviously very concerned about your company, let’s be honest: Your own reputation matters to you. It’s not vanity or an overinflated ego that’s driving that feeling; it just means you value all the hard work you’ve put into getting yourself to where you are today.

That being said, the only reputation that won’t recover as quickly as your company’s after a data breach will be yours. Clients are obviously extremely fickle in today’s market, but their opinion of your company can possibly be slowly swayed with a lot of hard work and rebranding.

A CEO’s reputation, on the other hand, will be pretty much destroyed if the company becomes the victim of a data breach on a large scale. Just take a look at Target’s former CEO, Gregg Steinhafel. After the dust settled from a 2013 hack that allowed 100 million clients’ personal data to be stolen, Steinhafel agreed to give up control of the company and step down, according to Forbes.

Steinhafel isn’t the only CEO to have his reputation irreparably damaged following a massive data breach. Noel Biderman, CEO of Ashley Madison, left the company he founded in 2001 after a massive cyberattack exposed the information of many of the site’s users in July 2015.

While the IT department is obviously very concerned about the possibility of a cyberattack, CEOs need to be even more involved in the process of looking into cybersecurity managed services. Malware removal, disaster recovery solutions in the event of a cyberattack and 100 other things all need to be considered in this modern world. Thankfully, CEOs don’t need to go about this alone.

ISG Technology has years of experience in the cybersecurity managed services space, and can help you make sure your company is as secure as it can be. Although hackers and cybercriminals are certainly scary, this fear doesn’t have to be paralyzing. Contact an ISG Technology cybersecurity expert today!