Small businesses rely on professional email security to protect customer and financial data from phishing and hacks.
You’re running your business, responding to client messages, when suddenly strange duplicate messages and failed delivery emails flood your inbox. This is what happened to a business owner who discovered her emails—including sensitive financial data—were silently copied to hackers for weeks without her knowledge.
For small and midsized businesses (SMBs), this type of attack can result in financial loss, leaked company secrets, and damaged relationships with clients.
What Happened in This Email Breach
Hackers guessed or stole an email password.
They set up secret rules to forward every incoming message.
Confidential information like Social Security numbers, tax data, and financial records were exposed.
Farmhouse Networking responded by:
Removing malicious rules.
Securing the account with new password protections and recovery options.
Advising the business owner on how to monitor for ongoing fraud.
Practical Steps for SMBs
SMBs aren’t too small to be targeted. In fact, they’re often prime targets. Protect your business with these key actions:
Set strong passwords and enable MFA: Critical first layer of defense.
Regularly review email rules: Look for forwarding or auto-delete actions you didn’t create.
Encrypt sensitive documents: Especially contracts, employee data, and customer details.
Train employees: Staff should recognize phishing emails before they trigger a hack.
Backup systems: Ensure backups of both email and company files are offline-protected.
Have an incident response plan: Know what to do if a breach occurs.
Questions Your Clients May Ask
“Did hackers see my information?” If emails contained contracts, billing, or sensitive attachments—possibly.
“Could this affect my payments or records?” Yes. Compromised invoices or payment requests can be used in fraud scams.
“Can clients continue to trust our company?” By demonstrating enhanced security measures and a clear recovery plan, clients can regain confidence.
How Farmhouse Networking Helps SMBs
Farmhouse Networking empowers SMBs with:
Affordable enterprise-grade email security.
24/7 monitoring for account breaches.
Employee training to reduce phishing success rates.
Scalable security solutions for growing businesses.
Your business reputation is too valuable to be left to chance. Secure your email systems and protect your clients’ trust with Farmhouse Networking. Reach out today at support@farmhousenetworking.com.
Strategies securing small business inboxes from phishing and BEC gateway attacks
Email is the backbone of communication for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). You use it for everything from sending invoices to internal memos, making your business heavily reliant on this tool. However, this reliance also makes you vulnerable to cyber threats, especially Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, which are increasingly targeting SMBs. These attacks can have devastating consequences, but with the right email security measures, you can protect your business from falling victim.
Understanding the Threat: Phishing and BEC
Phishing is a cybercrime that uses deceptive emails to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information or taking harmful actions. These emails often look like they come from legitimate sources, such as banks or well-known companies, but they are actually designed to steal your data.
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated type of phishing attack where cybercriminals impersonate trusted individuals within a company to trick employees into transferring money, sharing sensitive data, or granting access to critical systems. BEC scams often target individuals in finance, human resources, or operations, with the goal of initiating fraudulent transactions or stealing confidential information. According to the FBI, there are five primary types of BEC attacks.
BEC attacks are particularly effective because they exploit human psychology. Attackers rely on impersonating authority figures, creating a sense of urgency, or crafting highly convincing emails to make employees act without questioning.
Email is the number one attack vector, responsible for 90% of phishing incidents. In 2023, BEC attacks led to $3 billion in losses.
Why SMBs are Prime Targets
While large corporations invest heavily in cybersecurity, SMBs are often more vulnerable. Cybercriminals view smaller businesses as easier targets due to their typically less robust security measures and lower awareness of emerging threats.
Here’s why SMBs are at greater risk:
Limited Cybersecurity Resources: Many SMBs have limited budgets for cybersecurity and often lack dedicated IT teams to monitor email systems for suspicious activity.
Employee Vulnerability: Employees in SMBs may not be as well-trained in spotting phishing attempts or recognizing the signs of a BEC scam.
Lack of Email Security Awareness: Small businesses may overlook the importance of securing business email accounts with multi-factor authentication (MFA) and other safeguards, leaving them exposed to attacks.
Simple Steps to Bolster Your Email Security
Employee Training: Regularly train employees to recognize and respond to threats. Run security awareness training to help your team spot phishing attempts and other common threats. Use simulated phishing exercises to test their readiness, uncover weak spots, and highlight potential weaknesses.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Add an extra layer of security to your email accounts with multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Advanced Email Filters: Use advanced spam filters to detect and block phishing emails before they reach your employees’ inboxes. Scan links automatically to spot anything suspicious.
Email Encryption: Encrypt emails, both in transit and at rest, to prevent unauthorized access.
Regular Security Audits: Schedule regular audits to spot vulnerabilities and keep an eye out for unauthorized access. Take time to review your email system’s settings, permissions, and logs for anything unusual.
Incident Response Plan: Prepare for email threats with a clear, actionable response plan. Outline the steps to contain, investigate, and recover from incidents, so your team knows exactly what to do
Cybercrime is a business, not a hobby, and incredibly lucrative. Taking a proactive approach to email security is essential for protecting sensitive information, preventing data breaches, and maintaining trust with your team and clients.
Is your business protected? Contact Farmhouse Networking today for a comprehensive email security solution tailored to your SMB’s unique needs. Don’t let your inbox be a gateway for cybercrime!
Safeguarding your business data is paramount. Cyber threats are ever-evolving, and data breaches can have severe consequences. To fortify your business defenses, consider implementing the following security and encryption tools:
Operating System Encryption
Encryption is the process where normal data is transformed into something unreadable without the keys unlock it. Windows has encryption built in using BitLocker software in conjunction with modern hardware to keep data safe on physical hard drives. In case a computer is stolen or lost the data is unreadable (assuming the password protecting the computer is strong).
Virtual Private Network / Zero Trust Network Access
Whenever employees are remote or working from home they need to be able to connect to company resources without endangering company data. This is best done through Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) which is the next-gen replacement for the older virtual private network connection ZTNA assumes that all connections are threats unless proven otherwise and those who are connecting must have their computers tested to make sure they are safe. This approach also only allows users to connect to the resources that are specifically needed to function.
Antivirus / Extended Detection and Response
One key to staying cyber secure is to recognize and repel threats before they do any damage. Utilizing AI and automation extended detection and response (XDR) is the modern replacement for antivirus. It is able to detect behavior patterns that malicious software and hackers use when attacking your systems then automatically undue any changes they have made.
Email Encryption and SPAM Filtering
When sending sensitive data via email it is now the standard to send it via encrypted channels with each message also being encrypted. Most companies that provide encryption also provide SPAM filtering which keeps phishing, spoofing, and malicious emails from targeting employees. This is often the most effective means hackers use to gain a foot hold in networks.
Backups
There will inevitably be times when hackers are able to breach even the best defenses, so the only recourse at that time is to have good backups in multiple locations to recover once the attacker is repelled. Without good backups many companies have had to pay ransoms and hope for a response or go out of business.
Remember, data security is an ongoing process. Combine these tools with user education and strong password practices,. Stay vigilant, adapt to new threats, and invest wisely in protecting your digital assets and reputation. Call Farmhouse Networking to advise you on how to best secure your business.
Secure endpoints don’t guarantee cloud safety—address cloud-specific risks now
The ability to store and access data remotely in the cloud has revolutionized the way organizations operate, providing flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency. However, with this convenience comes the need for robust security measures to protect sensitive information from cyber threats. This article explores the importance of cloud security and provides strategies to safeguard your company’s data in the cloud.
Understanding Cloud Security
Cloud security encompasses a set of controls, processes, technologies, and policies designed to protect cloud-based systems, infrastructure, and data. It is one part of computer security and information security, aiming to safeguard businesses from financial, legal, and reputational repercussions of data breaches and loss.
Cloud security involves various strategies and best practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cloud resources. It includes measures such as real-time monitoring, multi-factor authentication (MFA), identity and access management (IAM), cloud-to-cloud backup solutions, systematic off-boarding processes, and anti-phishing training.
Real-time Monitoring
Real-time monitoring is a crucial strategy to detect and respond to suspicious threats promptly. By implementing real-time monitoring tools, businesses can gain visibility into their employee activity and cloud systems to proactively identify any potential cyber attacks. This allows for immediate action to mitigate risks and minimize the impact of data breaches. According to IBM, the global average total cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, highlighting the financial implications of inadequate security measures.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Traditional username and password combinations are no longer sufficient to protect user accounts from hackers. MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple pieces of evidence to verify their identities. This could include a combination of something they know (password), something they have (a mobile device or security key), or something they are (biometric data like a fingerprint or facial recognition). By implementing MFA, businesses can significantly reduce the risk of account compromise attacks and prevent unauthorized access to cloud applications.
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Identity and access management (IAM) is a critical component of cloud security. It involves assigning proper levels of authorization and access controls to ensure that employees only have access to the information and resources necessary for their roles. IAM not only prevents accidental data breaches but also protects businesses from external threats by limiting the potential attack surface. By implementing IAM solutions, organizations can enforce strict access controls, reduce the risk of unauthorized data access, and maintain data privacy.
Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Solutions
While cloud providers typically have robust data protection measures in place, businesses should not solely rely on them for data backup. Cloud-to-cloud backup solutions provide an additional layer of protection by replicating data from one cloud service to another. This helps mitigate the risk of data loss due to cloud provider mistakes or system failures. Organizations using software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications can benefit from cloud-to-cloud backup solutions, ensuring advanced data protection beyond the basic safeguards provided by the applications themselves.
Systematic Off-boarding Process
When employees leave a company, it is crucial to have a systematic off-boarding process in place to revoke their access rights immediately. According to a survey conducted by Cyberark, “88% of IT workers would take sensitive data with them or abscond with company passwords if they were fired.” Additionally, 50% of ex-employees can still access corporate apps. To prevent unauthorized access and protect sensitive data, organizations should ensure that departing employees’ access rights are promptly revoked. This includes revoking access to systems, data, cloud storage, intellectual property, and consumer information.
Offering Anti-Phishing Training
Phishing remains a prevalent threat in the cybersecurity landscape. Hackers often gain access to secure information by stealing employees’ login credentials or utilizing social engineering techniques. Offering anti-phishing training to employees can help raise awareness about these scams and prevent them from falling victim to phishing attacks. By educating employees on how to identify and report phishing attempts, organizations can safeguard their sensitive data without compromising productivity.
Strengthening Cloud Security Measures
While the above strategies are crucial for securing cloud operations, it is essential to adopt a comprehensive approach to cloud security. Here are additional best practices to strengthen your cloud security measures:
Enforce reliable passwords: Implement password policies that require complex, unique passwords and regular password updates. Encourage the use of password managers to reduce the risk of weak passwords.
Use encryption: Encrypting sensitive data helps protect it from unauthorized access. Implement encryption measures for data at rest and in transit.
Test security continuously: Regularly conduct vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify and address security weaknesses in your cloud infrastructure. This proactive approach ensures that potential vulnerabilities are discovered and remediated before they can be exploited.
Ensure local backup: In addition to cloud-to-cloud backup solutions, consider implementing local backups of critical data. This provides an extra layer of protection in case of cloud provider outages or data loss incidents.
Implement additional security measures: Explore additional security solutions such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), firewalls, and data loss prevention (DLP) tools to enhance your overall cloud security posture.
Avoid storage of sensitive data: Minimize the storage of sensitive data in the cloud. Identify and classify data based on its sensitivity and apply appropriate security controls accordingly. This reduces the risk of data breaches and ensures compliance with data protection regulations.
Why Is Cloud Security Important?
Cloud security is crucial for organizations migrating their sensitive data and applications to the cloud. By adopting secure cloud practices, businesses can protect highly sensitive data from hackers and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Here are a few reasons why cloud security is important:
Control Access
Cloud security enables organizations to monitor and regulate access to their data. By formulating policies and implementing access controls, businesses can prevent unauthorized users from accessing sensitive information. Cloud management tools provide visibility into user behavior and help maintain strong access controls.
Encrypting Sensitive Data
Encryption plays a vital role in securing data in the cloud. By encrypting data at rest and in transit, organizations can protect it from unauthorized access. Implementing encryption with strong access and control policies minimizes the impact of compromised keys and ensures data confidentiality.
Using Automation
Automation helps minimize human errors and misconfigurations in cloud environments. By automating routine tasks and configurations, organizations can ensure that their infrastructure is deployed and maintained correctly. Cloud automation tools streamline everyday configuration items and provisioning, reducing the risk of security vulnerabilities.
Extend Vulnerability Management Tools
Vulnerability management tools scan networks to identify potential threats or weaknesses that attackers can exploit. These tools help manage and mitigate attacks on the network by suggesting remedies and actions to reduce the prospect of network breaches. Regular scanning and remediation of vulnerabilities are essential to maintain a secure cloud environment.
Implementing Enhancements
Continuous improvement is crucial for maintaining cloud security. Organizations should continuously enhance their security measures throughout the entire lifecycle of their operations. As new threats emerge, businesses must adapt and implement necessary enhancements to safeguard against potential risks.
Deploying Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Deploying MFA increases security and authentication for enterprise applications. Weak or reused passwords are a significant cause of data breaches. By implementing MFA, businesses can protect their cloud applications from unauthorized access attempts. Authorized personnel are granted access, minimizing the risk of data breaches.
Local businesses rely on Farmhouse Networking to simplify their cloud security management and enhance overall security posture. Click here to get started.
Mimecast KnowBe4 phishing simulation risk scoring employee training dashboard
As you know, we take cybersecurity and the protection of your accounts and data very seriously. That’s why we are always striving to provide you with tools and resources to help keep you and your employees safe from cybercrime.
The most common threat we are seeing is phishing messages delivering malware or stealing credentials. Even though your company might be protected with spam filtering, there are instances where these malicious messages could still appear in your employee’s inboxes. And it’s important we both arm them with as much education and resources as possible to understand and identify these phishes.
We have a new tool that we’d love to demonstrate for your or talk more about. It’s called Catch Phish, and it’s an email analysis and training tool. It connects right to your employee’s Outlook as a clickable application on every message. When clicked, the tool quickly, but safely, scans the important details of the message to find potential threats such as suspicious links or attachments, sender details, or message details such as threatening language or deactivation scares.
This tool is included in our cybersecurity training packages and can help provide the much needed cybersecurity education to all levels of staff.
Do you have 30 minutes to talk about reducing your risks with Catch Phish and our other cybersecurity awareness training tools, then contact us for assistance.
83% of employees continue accessing old employer’s accounts
Farmhouse Networking Grants Pass implements robust employee offboarding to revoke access and secure networks for Oregon businesses.
A study was performed by Beyond Identity throughout the US, UK, and Ireland which found that 83% of employees admitted to maintaining continued access to accounts from a previous employer. Also a shocking 56% admitted to using this access to harm their former employer.
The study also states that a professional and details offboarding process can prevent unauthorized access by former employees by eliminating their passwords and other insecure authentication methods. Strangely enough this also creates a sense of goodwill in the company that helps to lessen the motivation for employees to attempt this kind of malicious access. This kind of process is vital considering the current employment market and high turn over rates at almost all companies.
If your company does not have a detailed and documented offboarding process, thencontact usfor assistance.
Read a recent study on the origins of malicious software aka malware. Here are the highlights:
Current Malware Statistics
29% – Malware is previously unknown to security vendors due to the continued efforts of malware creators to hide the software or make it undetectable.
88% – Malware is delivered to people’s inboxes and some of it bypassing normal SPAM filters.
8.8 Days – Time before regular antivirus vendors have discovered the malware and added it to their lists for detection.
$50 – The cost of a pre-fabricated malware kit that can be bought currently on the dark web.
“The most common type of malicious attachments were: documents (Word – 31%), archive files (ZIP & RAR – 28%), spreadsheets (Excel – 19%) and executable files (EXE – 17%).”
What can be done?
A multi-tiered approach to security remains the best solution:
Moving from traditional antivirus to Enhanced Detection & Response (EDR) software to go beyond lists of know infections to behavior tracking of software
Moving from traditional SPAM filters to Email Advanced Threat Protection which scans each email and opens each attachment to see if there is any malicious activity cause by them
Moving from traditional router to a business class firewall with Intrusion Prevention System to monitor traffic for suspicious activity
Employee training is also key to keep your staff aware of immerging trends and threats
If your company is looking to enhance your network security posture, then contact us for assistance.
Zero-trust filtering stops explicit spam before employee exposure
Here are a couple recent SPAM emails that were received by clients and myself. They are explicit in nature but they a good lesson about the scare tactics of SPAMMERS. The first message seems to be the better SPAM message as it has better English and is even tries to be humorous, while the second is more direct and extortionary. Time to dissect these messages.
SPAM Message #1
Password – This message starts by stating that it knows your password. How can this be? There have been several information breaches from the government, retailers, healthcare, etc over the past couple of years. The majority of these breaches are eventually posted online with emails and passwords – hence the reason Farmhouse Networking has started offering Dark Web scanning and advises passwords be changed often.
Remote Access – The SPAMMER then goes on to provide a detailed explanation of how they got into the computer. It sounds convincing but deeper analysis by someone who is in the IT Security industry would reveal that their explanation is flawed. To do what they proposed would take several different exploits of various portions of the computer and would likely take longer than video would be playing.
Contacts – For their “computer software” to get contacts from all these various sources would require that the password mentioned earlier in the email be the same for all these services. It is recommended by Farmhouse Networking that different passwords be used for each service so that if one is compromised then the rest are not in jeopardy. It might be asked how to keep track and the answer is a password keeping software like LastPass.
SPAM Message #2
Threats – The message starts immediately with the intimidating remarks and threats. It may be true that alerting the authorities will not bring any immediate assistance, but if we are all upstanding citizens then there is nothing to worry about their threats. It is always good to submit these messages to the authorities (FBI) for analysis so they can take these guys down over time. I do find it sad that this SPAMMER did not take the time to explain how they gained access to my computer.
Webcam – It is very possible that if your computer is infected properly that the hacker could gain access to your webcam, but again if we are upstanding citizens and don’t do anything inappropriate in front of our computers then there is nothing to worry about here.
Bitcoin – The demands continue with a sense of expediency in the matter giving only 28 hours before the big reveal. This particular SPAMMER either knows the value of the first SPAMMERS creativity in producing a video or are selling themselves short at the $400 ransom in Bitcoin. Finally, they even try to give a bit of legitimacy to their claim by stating that they can send the video to a partial list of contacts.
If your company is interested in Dark Web Scanning for on-going breach protection or worried about SPAM, then contact us for assistance.
Thought that I would share a recently received new SPAM email variant that could easily be overlooked and possibly be a scammer looking to take your money. This one is strange to me and I wanted to share my insites.
Starting from the Top
Look closely at the From portion of the email:
This email is from a legitimate email marketing firm called AWeber. The SPAMMER is actually using a website designed to help bypass SPAM filtering to deliver mail. There is also the fact that the email is form someone that I don’t do business with. Always fight the urge to look at things that are not yours.
Stick to the Subject
Now to take a look at the Subject line of the email:
The email marketing firm this SPAM is sent from is required that you confirm someone who is joining your email campaign. Guess I would have to agree to be scammed by this person.
And now the rest…
The final thing that caught my eye was the title of the email campaign in the email:
The enticing title “Clickbank – 30k project” sounded interesting. By clicking on the button I would confirm my existence as a real person and would likely kick off a communication from someone who is likely an “African Prince” with a money making opportunity. Hope this little tutorial helps you detect other phishing attempts in the future.
If your company is having trouble with SPAM or phishing, then contact us for assistance.
Working with a webhost to tighten their security settings to get PCI compliant. In doing so we ended up breaking many of their clients email access by turning off SSLv3 and TLSv1.0. I was given the task of helping all the clients fix this issue (see separate blog post for the fix). One in particular ended up not having issues beyond the normal problems with TLS and it turned out being ESET Antivirus. Here is the story:
Unable to Access Website:
The client first mentioned that they could not access a particular website that they needed to submit government paperwork. The error was related to the certificate being out of date. I checked the site on my own computer, and it came up just fine, so looked at their certificate and it was current with plenty of time left before expiring. Cleared the cache and all the normal troubleshooting steps to no avail, so had to dig deeper. Remembered that some antivirus programs scan HTTPS traffic by putting their own certificate in place of the actual certificate from the site. Looked inside ESET Antivirus and found the culprit. Under Internet Protection > Web Access Protection I turned off the HTTPS Scanner. Restarted the browser and was able to surf to the site without issues.
Hidden Messages Stuck in Outlook Outbox:
The client then mentioned that some messages weren’t sending, so looked into it and found a couple messages that were 2MB+ which I told them were too large to send. We got rid of those but then messages were still stuck but were now hidden from view. I used the typical fix for read receipts that are hidden using the MFCMAPI tool but found nothing there. Tried removing the account and re-adding it to Outlook. After the clients 8,000+ emails downloaded via IMAP the same problem began occurring again. Remembering the issues with ESET Antivirus web filtering, I decided to take a look at that again. Under Internet Protection > Email client protection I turned off all the Email Clients, Email Protocols, and Antispam Protection. Restarted Outlook and the problem persisted. Had to remove the account and re-add it to Outlook. After the clients 8,000+ emails downloaded via IMAP the problem was fixed.
All that being said, these kinds of problems are another reason that I recommend SentinelOne to my clients for their antivirus protection. I prefer to have the Website filtering happen at the DNS level via a company like DNSFilter.com and the SPAM / Email filtering to happen via the email provider or an email protection service like Mailprotector.com.
If your company is interested in using a real layered approach to security not just putting a software band-aid on it, then contact us for assistance.
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. - 2 Corinthians 9:8-10
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