Yesterday, I presented an executive summary regarding 2019 Q1 security attacks and the targeted shift from consumers to businesses.  Further to that information, the following is presented:

More than 1.5 million malicious and spam emails were transmitted from thousands of compromised Office 365 accounts in the period of one month.  Thanks to a surge in Account Takeovers (ATOs), the wild-wild west approach to United States’ business technology practices and quite frankly, a lack of belief from organizations and users, the onslaught continues.

Twenty Nine percent (29%) of organizations that have been monitored have Office 365 compromised accounts whereby the attackers are continuing to monitor, collect information, and develop a real fruitful attack, often via credential stuffing using previously breached credentials, stolen passwords from the same user’s email account (personal as well), brute force attacks, and other web and application vehicles.  Compromising user’s email accounts allows cyber criminals the opportunity to sit, monitor, develop and launch a highly successful attack on the organization.  What the attackers have learned is that while casting a wide net without much thought to the cast, they can get some useful information.  However, by stopping short of the wide-net cast, they can put in a little more work and their success rate is exponentially more successful.

Phishing emails remain the easiest way to gain access into an organization’s heart through impersonating Microsoft Office 365 logins from the users.  Again, review that email carefully as discussed in yesterday’s post.

As part of their attack approach, hackers will establish mailbox rules to hide or delete any emails they send from the compromised account in addition to collecting information for the future attack.  Once inside, the cyber criminals can also garner information about your vendors and determine high value targets and further go after those organization.  Does the store security breach, Target in 2013, ring a bell?

How can you help yourself?  Turn on Multi-factor Authentication (MFA).  This is a great start.  If you have Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, use them.  It’s like a gym membership.  If you don’t go to the gym, your membership does nothing for you.  Use the tools that are built into Microsoft Office 365 daily.  There are an immense number of tools included with your product to help you with defense of your accounts.  And as discussed yesterday, education, education, education, is your first line of defense.  Train your team members.

To learn more about your potential data loss and how to better protect yourself and your business, contact Ion Technology Group today.  We can help you stop the proliferation of data into the wild and assist you through IT Managed Services.  We know you want to focus on your core delivery of services and products and we can help you rest easier knowing data proliferation of your customer’s data isn’t happening at your business.  You can be confident you are not part of the problem and confidently tell your clients the same.

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