Protect Your Company Data | Find The Right Cybersecurity Vendor | The Cyber Review

June 10, 2021
Written by Ana R.

5 Tips To Protect Your Data From Increasing Cybersecurity Attacks

1. Get a VPN. It helps protect your information and prevents others from spying on you and your company.

2. Use a private search engine. You can still get great search results without being tracked by Google and targeted by using a private search engine.

3. Tune up your privacy settings. You can change your privacy settings on Facebook and Google. Most companies let you choose what should or should not be shared and others even let you choose what data should be deleted.

4. Have a Backup ”Public” Email or Unsubscribe From Unwanted Emails. It's good to have a separate email address to use publicly on the web and keeping a more personal email address for private use. If you use a bulk unsubscribe email service, make sure you are using a safe service. Some free services could collect and sell your data.

5. Check Permissions. By double checking the permissions an app has access to, you could be stopping an app from accessing certain data it doesn’t have to access. Similarly, if you have smart speakers at home such as a Google Home or Amazon Alexa, you can control if they store any of your audio recordings and if they send them to their server. You can also control other privacy settings and permissions with these devices.

The buyer’s dilemma: Insights and tips on finding the right cybersecurity vendor

1. Does the vendor understand my pain points?

3 Cyber attacks concerns are: loss of data, loss of revenue, and loss of reputation.

Vendors that highlight the sophistication of cyber attacks - particularly around data loss, revenue loss and how it impacts reputation - stand to gain more visibility, recognition and credibility among enterprise security professionals.

2. Are vendors reaching you where you are?

Enterprise security professionals indicated that when they want to stay abreast of the latest news and developments in the cybersecurity space, they look at the following: articles published in trusted cyber, tech and business publications; industry events/conferences; and thought leadership from product vendors, including case studies and white papers. Let’s consider this in more depth:

  • Thought leadership content that adds real value to security professionals is one of the best ways to build mindshare and credibility. ESPs should actively seek out vendors that take the time and effort to produce content that makes everyone smarter about the collective threats/ vulnerabilities, processes and solutions.
  • Media coverage of a vendor -- whether it be of a product, service or thought leadership -- is a ringing endorsement. ESPs should partner with vendors who are well credentialized  in the media and have gained the respect of journalists and other influencers.
  • Case studies are important and ESPs should demand to understand how the vendor has helped other like-minded companies tackle their cybersecurity problems.

3. Are vendors giving you what you want?

Buyers have purchased cyber products as a result of case studies, conference presentations, webinars, and news articles. Be skeptical of vendors that frequently employ “doomsday scenarios” and other fear tactics to scare you into buying a product. Be mindful of the overeager salesperson that is more interested in notching a sale under their belt as opposed to a thoughtful and nuanced approach that “shows” as opposed to simply “telling.”

Keeps these tips in mind when making your next cybersecurity purchase

Qatar's Al Jazeera network says it combated cyber attack

Source: Reuters

Pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera said there were hacking attempts on it over recent days but the cyber attack on Qatar's flagship broadcaster had been fended off.

Al Jazeera's websites and platforms experienced "continued electronic attacks aimed at accessing, disrupting and controlling some of the news platforms" from last Saturday to Tuesday, the network said in a statement.

"Al Jazeera's service provider was able to monitor and fend off all the hacking attacks and prevent them from achieving their goal," it said in the late Wednesday statement.

Most attacks came on Sunday ahead of a documentary described on Al Jazeera's Arabic YouTube channel as detailing indirect negotiations between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which included a voice recording purportedly of an Israeli held prisoner in Gaza.

The Qatar-funded channel's coverage of Middle East politics is regarded as inflammatory by many in the region and was one of the factors that led four Arab states to boycott Qatar in 2017.

Ahead of the embargo, Al Jazeera combated a large-scale cyber attack after Qatar's state news agency QNA was hacked.

Saudi Arabia and its allies last January announced the end of the row in which the boycotting states accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, an accusation it denies.