Councils across Northern Ireland are acting to combat the current “heightened” threat of cyber attacks.
ne council has admitted it is dealing with “daily” attempted attacks on its computer systems.
Indiana National Guard Adjutant General Dale Lyles, right, and Gov. Eric Holcomb, second from right, speak with service members Sept. 8 at Camp Atterbury. The Indiana National Guard is expanding into the cyber realm by establishing an intelligence and electronic warfare battalion.
The Indiana National Guard is taking its more than two centuries of battlefield experience into the cyber realm by establishing an intelligence and electronic warfare battalion.
The new electronic fighting force, operating from inside the Indiana Intelligence Center in Indianapolis, will use advanced technologies to protect and defend Hoosiers, Americans and the nation’s allies from cyberwarfare and other technology threats.
“We are committed to bring a new, cutting-edge skill set to the Indiana National Guard,” said Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard.
“This new intelligence and electronic warfare battalion will do just that and will be a showcase to not only the nation, but also the Hoosier State.”
The Be Well Crisis Helpline is accessed by dialing 211 or 866-211-9966. After entering their zip code and selecting the helpline, the caller is connected to a trained, compassionate counselor available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The guard currently is working to fill approximately 200 positions in the new battalion, both from within the existing force of some 13,500 citizen-soldiers and among recruits interested in acquiring the…
We are well and truly involved in the holiday season now. For the small business owner in retail, of course, it means (hopefully) a crush of customers and transactions. And even the enterprise involved in non-retail business has to contend with an above average number of vacations and year-end summarizing and reporting.
Clients of the Illinois Small Business Development Center of McLean County at Illinois Wesleyan University (SBDC) are being encouraged to take extra steps at this time of year to beef up their cybersecurity. Consider it an early New Year’s resolution.
Cyber criminals will victimize small businesses to the tune of around 3 billion dollars this year if past trends continue. We all go to great lengths to lock and secure our vehicles and homes from unwanted intrusion. Why would we do any less to protect our customers, our financial information, and our identities from cyber-burglars who can cause infinitely more inconvenience and misery to our lives than somebody who perpetrates a physical break-in?
Above and beyond using common sense to avoid scams and phishing schemes, small business owners can take steps to improve their cyber safety by simply being smart and diligent about creating and maintaining strong usernames and passwords.
I know it’s annoying, but passwords should always be of at least ten characters and should combine special characters (&, $, @, etc.) with a mix of numbers, upper, and lower case letters. Key words or dates are not enough. Think about how easy it is to search the entire internet for a word’s definition. Super computers can try every combination of words in the dictionary as a “key” in your password “lock” in a matter of seconds.
One idea is to take a phrase like “Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light” and translate the initials into something like “0ScUCbtD3l1tE.”
Remember in old movies when the soldier coming upon a sentry had to answer “Who goes there?” with the password of the day? Yes, they changed that password every day. You should routinely change yours and have your employees change theirs a minimum of every 90 days.
You should use different passwords for every application and supplier…
As remote working has been a prime opportunity for cyber attacks, Three Ireland’s focus on education, awareness and easy-to-use solutions has been key to keeping customers safe.
Phishing and smishing attacks have been part of the threat landscape for a long time, but this year saw a significant increase in their frequency across the country.
Since the summer, scammers have pretended to be entities like the Department of Social Welfare, banks, delivery companies or other businesses to trick people into handing over personal or sensitive details.
Add to that SMS scams like FluBot, which try to get recipients to click on a link (ostensibly to get details on perceived information like missing package delivery), and it becomes easier for the unaware or time-poor individual to fall for such tricks.
For these fraudsters, issuing high-volume attempts is worthwhile if one attempt is successful.
Such events only highlight the importance of good cybersecurity awareness and requires effort from all stakeholders. For Three Ireland, this means working with organisations like An Garda Síochána, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), ComReg and other relevant stakeholders to ensure measures are up to date.
Not only that, the crucial element behind all these measures is awareness, ensuring that there’s a joined-up approach in dealing with an issue that transcends countries and continents.
“We’ve an important role to play, but it all complements what the Garda, NCSC, ComReg and other organisations do to promote fraud awareness,” said Justin Moran, head of governance and security for Three Ireland. “These criminals use classic tactics to create a sense of urgency, and different people will have varying degrees of tech-savviness.
“Unfortunately, fraudsters are constantly looking for opportunities and they will often target the more vulnerable, so that’s why communications and awareness are key.”
To achieve this, Three Ireland ensures that from both the sector and as a company, its message to customers is clear, consistent, and easy to follow. Its advice ranges from not engaging with suspect calls or texts, and not sharing sensitive information, to advice if you…