Dark Web Questions Answered!
Do you have questions about the Dark Web? We have an easy to read FAQ sheet for you to download in this brief blog post.
What is the Dark Web?
You’ve heard of the dark web…but what exactly is it? Here are some FAQs courtesy of DARKWEB ID.
The Dark Web is a hidden universe contained within the “Deep Web”- a sub-layer of the Internet that is hidden from conventional search engines. Search engines like Google, BING and Yahoo only search .04% of the indexed or “surface” Internet. The other 99.96% of the Web consists of databases, private academic and government networks, and the Dark Web. The Dark Web is estimated at 550 times larger than the surface Web and growing. Because you can operate anonymously, the Dark Web holds a wealth of stolen data and illegal activity.
Free download
Download the free DARKWEB FAQ sheet now!
Download a free FAQ sheet that explains how to protect yourself, what it means if your organization’s credentials have been exposed and much more…
Information courtesy of DarkWeb ID.
Free Digital Risk Protection activity Book
This fun activity book teaches kids of all ages about Digital Risk Protection. In this book, three heroes work together to help people and businesses protect their information from being stolen by bad guys. Billy, Penny, and Danny work very hard to guard important Digital Data like passwords, files, banking documents, personal information, business secrets or anything else that is stored on a computer or in the cloud and keep it protected and safe!
DIGITAL RISK PROTECTION ACTIVITY BOOK
This fun activity book teaches kids of all ages about Digital Risk Protection. In this book, three heroes work together to help people and businesses protect their information from being stolen by bad guys. Billy, Penny, and Danny work very hard to guard important Digital Data like passwords, files, banking documents, personal information, business secrets or anything else that is stored on a computer or in the cloud and keep it protected and safe!
DOWNLOAD NOW
This book is courtesy of www.idagent.com.
Free Zoom Backgrounds
How many of us are using Zoom now that we are working from home? Here is a list of some of our favorite Zoom backgrounds. Take a look and update your next Zoom meeting with one of your favorite backgrounds.
![Zoom from your own private pool party! [Designed by West Elm Palm Springs: A Palm Springs Pool Party]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58cacc73414fb5ae72997f4a/1585929966820-LX160XBXBCUCL7H6Z0MF/image-asset.jpeg)
Zoom from your own private pool party! [Designed by West Elm Palm Springs: A Palm Springs Pool Party]
ZOOM MEETINGS
Let’s face-it. We’re all on Zoom for our meetings and why not make our meetings a little more interesting. Most devices can use a different background with a simple click of the button. Visit Zoom for more information on how to use Zoom Backgrounds or to see if your device is compatible.
The virtual background feature on Zoom allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom Meeting. Here is a few our favorite free Zoom backgrounds. Just right click and save on the following images. Or visit the hyperlinks listed below for more images.
FREE ZOOM BACKGROUNDS
Fox Backgrounds
What would be better than working in your favorite animated show? Fox created several Zoom backgrounds featuring our favorite shows including the Simpsons living room and a fan favorite from Bob's Burgers. You can also find some from Family Guy and other favorites here.
Fox - The Simpsons
Fox - Bob’s Burgers
DC COMICS
DC Comics assembled a collection of virtual backgrounds representing some of your favorite places within the DC Universe. From the gates of Arkham Asylum to the jungles of Gorilla City to the iconic globe of the Daily Planet, your home is about to seem a whole lot bigger! (At least to the people on the other end of your call.) Visit their site for even more DC Comics magic now.
DC Comics, Halls of Justice
DC Comics, Gotham City
Walt Disney Studios
How about your favorite Pixar locations? Who doesn’t love Finding Nemo or Up? Find more of your favorites here…
Up, Pixar Locations from the Walt Disney Studios
Finding Nemo, Pixar Locations from the Walt Disney Studios
POP CULTURE
Whether it’s a meme or a favorite Netflix series, here are several that are sure to entice you to update your background.
Tiger King on Netflix featuring Joe Exotic
@FERALCREACHRE, The infamous distracted boyfriend meme is sure to pull a few laughs on your next video call.
CLASSY HOME BACKGROUNDS
Home about just giving your home an upgrade? These chic backgrounds are from West Elm and can make it look like you’re working in an Industrial-Glam Loft to working in your Chic-Modern Kitchen. See? You didn’t have to move to NYC after all. Find more pads for your Zoom background here…
West Elm Oakbrook: Want an Industrial-Glam Loft Space?
Olivia Rink & John Philip Thompson’s apartment: NYC Waterfront Views with a Big Ol’ Bird of Paradise
Three Free Ways to Stay Connected from Home
Forget email. You can now communicate and collaborate with co-workers, colleagues, and other people for free with several different apps. As much of the workforce is working from home now or maybe even a self-quarantine has been established, it’s easy to start feeling isolated. Here are our three suggestions for staying connected even from your kitchen table, er, “home office”.
Forget email.
You can now communicate and collaborate with co-workers, colleagues, and other people for free with several different apps. As much of the workforce is working from home now or maybe even a self-quarantine has been established, it’s easy to start feeling isolated. Here are our three suggestions for staying connected even from your kitchen table, er, “home office”. And, don’t forget, if you use your computer (over your cellular phone) then you will need a webcam with microphone.
MICROSOFT TEAMS
If you have a Microsoft Office 365 account, then you have access to use a Business Teams for free! You can install this on your computer as well as your phones making it accessible and easy to use from anywhere. This is a fantastic resource that allows you to do a multitude of things across your business with all of your team:
Chat in Groups: Create one for each department as well as a General one for everyone.
Start a Live Virtual Meeting: Normal Tuesday meeting? Setup a virtual one and invite everyone through Teams for a video meeting.
Start a Private Chat: Only want to talk to Karen? Send her a direct chat message.
You can also attach files from your computer, send photos, post a gif.
It also has integrated apps that you can install like Trello or Asana.
ZOOM
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, conference, huddle, and training rooms, as well as offices and classrooms. This is a great option for Medical Offices trying to get telemedicine started pretty quickly.
Zoom offers a full-featured Basic Plan for free with unlimited meetings; however, it’s online only with no options to dial in for the free version. Your Basic plan has a 40 minutes time limit on meetings with three or more total participants.
MARCO POLO
How about something fun on the personal side? Marco Polo is a call-and-response video messaging app made for your phones. This is great to group chat with all your cousins across the country. Send a video message and they watch it when they are available. Often referred to as the video walkie-talkie, it’s fun and super easy to use. It does have silly filters to use and you can also sent likes and hearts as you watch others’ Polos.
A True Tale of Two Ransomware Attacks
Read a true tale about two different schools and how they each recovered from a ransomware attack. As you read, you’ll learn how an effective backup plan and a well-thought-out business continuity strategy is a critical part of your cyber security efforts. The similarities between the schools is that both ransomware attacks were thought to be started by the click of a phishing emails. The difference is in their disaster recovery plans.
RANSOMWARE PREVENTION
A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS
Imagine a world where ransomware didn’t exist. Now, snap back to reality and read a tale about two different schools and how they each recovered from a ransomware attack. As you read, you’ll learn how an effective backup plan and a well-thought-out business continuity strategy is a critical part of your cyber security efforts. The similarities between the schools is that both ransomware attacks were thought to be started by the click of a phishing email. The difference is in their disaster recovery plans.
The Allegheny Intermediate Unit School System, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
School A, The Allegheny Intermediate Unit school system, DID NOT have to engage with the criminals and were able to use the services of a third-party to get their critical data recovered quickly. When you read the wording on various articles related to this incident, it appears that the school system quickly engaged with their cyber insurance carrier. Their insurance carrier mobilized resources quickly to identify and remediate the attack and then restored from existing backs of critical data. THIS is how the process is supposed to work.
The University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
School B, The University of Maastricht, did not have an adequate plan in place and had to completely shut down information systems and pay the ransom in order to decrypt their computers and servers. The timeline on this attack is interesting; the original compromise occurred a little over two months before their networks were ransomed. Had they had an extra layer of defense like the RealTime Cyber Defense package, they could have potentially caught the attack during this phase.
LESSONS LEARNED?
The lessons that a school [or any business] that has been through an event like this one will make them better at risk-based decisions going forward. Now they know that they are vulnerable to an attack like this and will take positive steps to introduce better prevention and detection processes.
Todd Swartzman, RealTime CISO
TODD’S TAKE ON THE RECOVERY:
After paying the ransom, it was pretty fast to decrypt that many systems and perhaps most were using the same decryption keys – some victims aren’t that lucky and have to juggle hundreds or thousands of decryption keys that really slows down recovery. Part of the decision to pay was based on how much quicker it can be to decrypt machines rather than reloading from scratch. The statement by the university indicates that they may not have had backups of some of their critical data.
summary:
Be sure to have a good backup in place;
Cyber insurance is a great idea;
Adding a cyber security plan could have helped detect the internal attack during the months they “inside” the system rather than waiting.
WANT TO TALK?
Want to talk to our Chief Information Security Officer about a better strategy for your business?