Global Cyber Security has been threatening the world for the last 20 years, however, in the last couple of years we have seen businesses working overtime to gain an edge on these cyber threats. According to a recent report by Check Point Research the number of attacks on corporate networks increased by 50 percent in 2021 compared to 2020.
With cyber-attacks on the rise Harry Brelsford of SMB Nation sits down with Lori Tisinai of Computer Concepts USA to discuss what she is doing to fight cyber security and what recommendations she is giving her clients.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford
A nation nation back with Laurie in Chicago for quarterly check in how you doing, Laurie?
Lori Tisinai
I'm doing well. Thank you.
Harry Brelsford
Good. Hey, I, I was telling you earlier that I watched the I really enjoyed the Winter Olympics. And boy curling sure got a lot of airtime, especially in the secondary channels when that's something
Lori Tisinai
it was awesome to see. And it's great to see that a lot of people get excited about the sport. It's something new and different. I'm actually I'm wearing my curling jacket. Oh,
Harry Brelsford
wow. There we go. No, I didn't. Um, you brought up an interesting topic about your concern, that in the next several weeks, there's going to be a spike in cyber terrorism, security issues and incident response. So what's on your mind?
Lori Tisinai
Well, so I've been reading, right, and we've been seeing on the news, you know, with what's happening in the Ukraine. And I think Amy posted, it could have been Amy posted or commented about Microsoft just found, you know, a new virus, you know, in their mix within, you know, the last couple of days. I know, threat locker and other companies are seeing an increase of SAS alerts also sent out an email saying, you know, we're seeing large increases of lots of activity going on in the backend of people trying to hack into systems and get in. So to me, I believe we really need to come together. I know, a lot of companies have been creating checklists for us. But if I've never experienced an incident, what's my first call? What's my first step? Do I really know what I'm going to do when something goes wrong for a client? I don't know if we know all the ins and outs of every single incident. So that's my concern.
Harry Brelsford
Well, it's valid, you know, I, I, you know, read the New York Times, watch the cable channels and the local news and so on. And literally, this weekend, I sat down and just double clicked and double checked my, my own threat protection on my own laptop, you know, because I was like, you know, self, you know, this, this could be one of those things where it's the old car mechanics car, the, you know, the shoe cobblers, shoes, right, where, you know, the the worst car is the actual car mechanics car, you know, I'm trying to say,
Lori Tisinai
and I was doing the same thing, I'm, you know, well, plus we have the Microsoft, you know, changeover that's happening, you know, a couple days ago and topic, different topic, but, you know, you're go, I'm going in and I'm reviewing everything, and I'm implementing another, you know, piece of security, just just double checking everything, because I am concerned because I'm seeing the increases to
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, and you know, my text is chipping away. I didn't do it, by the way, I thought about it. And then I said, I, you know, I don't need to be a flame thrower up on the Facebook, MSP groups, but I did. I did. I had a thought. And it was just take it at face value, but it's like, you know, are you protecting your clients with Russian cybersecurity software? And I was gonna make it a little vote, you know? Yes, no, because I don't want to get into calling out brands and names. You know, they're, they're a lot of friends in the industry and prefer to keep it that way. But you see where I'm going with that is I literally am Saturday afternoon. It's like, okay, what, what, wait a minute.
Lori Tisinai
I emailed if I had two or three clients, that were still using it, because that's what they had. And I think one was using something else, but it was still on his machine. And I just said, I emailed all of them saying, I, I think it might be time for you to either remove this or think about this based upon what you do as a living. But, you know, this is my recommendation. I did it myself.
Harry Brelsford
Yeah, yeah, no, exactly. Well, a couple of other couple of thoughts. Last time we talked to you, you were extremely busy writing a surge, still still good times in your practice.
Lori Tisinai
Still very good times. Always getting new clients always trying to, I don't want to say up so my clients, but I am you know, just educate. It's really it's about educating my clients about what they need. And I really think some of the things that people need right now is, is password protection, because that's how the a lot of the hacks are happening and, and cyber security training and what not to click on. I mean, when sometimes people forward your stuff, they're like, didn't I just pay you for something like this and why am I getting this email? I'm like, Well, if you think that this email is real, You need some training like yeah, like I know you're these are educated people think they think that this email that they're receiving is real and it just, it just looks fake is fake can be to me. Yeah.
Harry Brelsford
Well hey, I gotta run we'll make that the final. We'll talk to you next quarter. Thanks Lori.
Lori Tisinai
Bye