4 Ways St. Louis Business Can Defend Against Russian Hacking
Experts anticipate a series of Russian-based cyber attacks against US targets in the coming months. Discover a few simple and effective ways to defend your St. Louis business in this video by Alliance Technology Partners’ Bryan Ferrario.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, cyber warfare has been on the rise.
On Feb. 15, Ukraine suffered a major cyberattack on its governmental and banking systems, and subsequent attacks against western targets have occurred over the past few weeks. Do you know how to defend your St. Louis business against these types of attacks?
“I’m really concerned about our nation’s cybersecurity right here at home,” says Bryan Ferrario, Alliance Technology Partners. “Russia is a formidable threat in the cybersecurity space.”
Check out this new video by Alliance Technology Partners’ Bryan Ferrario to discover which cybersecurity layers you need to keep your business safe:
Russia Cyber Attacks Will Target St. Louis Businesses Like Yours
“I believe there’s going to be a major escalation as a result of this invasion,” says Bryan. “The Russian hackers are funded by their state—their goal is to steal money, hurt our economy and hurt our military.”
The recent attack against Ukraine is a textbook example of cyberwarfare. Ukraine confirmed that the systems compromised in the attack are all critical ministry and banking targets:
- Ministry of Defense website
- Water distribution systems
- Petroleum pipelines
- Citizen banking systems
The attacks used Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks which flood the target website host with multiple data requests, resulting in lags and crashes. They also employed a form of malware similar to ransomware, but instead of encrypting the data, it simply deletes it.
St. Louis Businesses Owners Must Be Concerned About Russian Cyber Attacks
“Cyber is going to be the theater of war that we’re going to see here in the United States,” says Bryan. “They’re already unleashing new attacks that we haven’t seen before.”
While there’s no need to panic, you do need to recognize the likelihood of Russian-based cyberattacks against the western world. It’s never been more important for everyone to remain vigilant, both as private citizens and as employees and owners in St. Louis.
Remember the Colonial Pipeline incident from last year? This ransomware attack resulted in a widespread shortage of gas across the country. The encryption of the petroleum supplier’s systems forced them to shut down operations for a number of days, highlighting the vulnerability of critical US infrastructure to cybercrime attacks.
This is exactly the type of attack that Russian-backed hacking groups could launch against the US. However, they’re just as likely to target private businesses.
The idea is that by causing chaos at the citizen level (disrupting their access to utilities, finances, and work), a target country will be that much less organized, and would consider appeasement (whether that’s Ukraine seeding land, or the US ending sanctions).
That’s why you need to take action right now to address any potential vulnerabilities in your cybersecurity posture. Simply by implementing a few basic measures, you can mitigate a majority of potential attack vectors.
4 Cybersecurity Measures St. Louis Business Must Have
- MFA: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a great way to add an extra layer of protection to the existing system and account logins. By requiring a second piece of information like a randomly-generated numerical code sent by text message, you’re able to make sure that the person using the login credentials is actually who they say they are. Biometrics like fingerprints, voice, or even iris scans are also options, as are physical objects like keycards.
- Layered Cybersecurity: Do you expect a simple cybersecurity defense to actually protect you from the many cybercrime threats out there? The only way to effectively develop cybersecurity is through a fully managed approach that builds a culture of best practices, in combination with a range of carefully chosen technologies. This means utilizing firewalls, antivirus, endpoint protection, intrusion detection, and more.
- Next-Generation Cybersecurity: In order to fight rapidly evolving and diverse cybersecurity threats, you need enterprise next-generation endpoint protection that leverages the power of advanced AI engines, automated endpoint protection, and rollback capabilities to keep your business safe. Known as “next-generation cybersecurity”, this advanced type of cybersecurity software uses artificial intelligence to better predict, identify, and eliminate harmful malware. Security based on advanced algorithms that can adapt and learn creates a system that can become familiar with the normal patterns associated with each user and device, detecting anomalies in those patterns quickly.
- SOC Monitoring: A Security Operations Center (SOC) is a team of people, employing a range of proven processes and using carefully implemented technologies that are often centralized, and that gather and analyze user reports and a range of data sources (such as logs) from information systems and cybersecurity controls. Typically, the main point of a SOC in the business setting is to identify, address and eliminate cybersecurity events that could negatively impact an organization’s information systems or data. ‘Most small businesses in the US are woefully unprepared for a serious cyberattack,” says Bryan. “It’s time now to look at the basics and get our house in order.”
Effective Cybersecurity In St. Louis Isn’t Expensive Or Complicated
This may sound like an expensive proposition, but when you compare it to the risks associated with Russian-based cybercrime, cybersecurity is a sound investment. These types of cybersecurity measures don’t have to bankrupt you—my team and I can show you how.
If you need cost-effective cybersecurity support, get in touch with the Alliance Technology Partners team. We offer comprehensive cybersecurity services, including SOC, SIEM, and more, to help you adequately protect your St. Louis organization against modern cyber threats, including nation-state attacks.
Get in touch with our team to get started.
