Even if a user does click a link, a good web content filter can often protect your network when user training fails.

We notified the company’s outsourced IT providers, and they determined that the web protection gateway failed and was permitting all traffic into the network. Were it not for the audit, it would still be allowing clicked links to take users to malicious websites.

This firewall appliance is a well-known brand that starts with a B, but it could be any manufacturer. Computer hardware is far from perfect. A big concern is that the firewall failed and no one knew it. As auditors, it is common to find malfunctioning security equipment. Just because all the green lights are flashing on the outside of the firewall does not mean it is working correctly.

Now is an excellent time to ask your IT professionals, even outsourced companies, to devote time to checking your firewalls, routers, wireless network access points, and other devices. They need to apply all critical security patches, verify the filtering rules, and be sure the devices are working fast without hindering the flow of your information. If you want to, have them reach out to us for more technical recommendations.

You can even update your routers and devices at home if you have some extra time. An excellent place to start is at the device manufacturer’s website. There will be instructions to download and install the most recent firmware. Look at the support site about ways you can enable supported security features in your home devices including web content filtering. Be sure to leave time to tweak the settings. Depending on how familiar you are with the settings, this process might take you ten minutes or, if things get a little crazy, it could take an hour or more at home.

Please forward this to everyone you know so they can ask their IT professionals to make sure the firewalls and other devices are up and running correctly. Let’s keep your networks safe.

The post Ask IT Pros to Check Your Routers and Firewalls appeared first on Foster Institute.

An example tool that can help protect against users opening or clicking in an email is Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection. At least one of our clients use this tool and now we do too.  There are similar solutions that may work better in your situation.

Here’s what the tools do: When an inbound email contains one or more links and a user clicks, Mimecast will intercept the link and attempt to determine if the link goes to a website that is known to be malicious. If it is a known bad site, the click is blocked and the user receives a message. Your existing firewall (if you have the web content filtering feature enabled) may provide you with similar protection already for users inside your office, but not always for users who are travelling or working from home.

These tools scan email attachments in an effort to detect malicious code in the attachments. Your existing spam filtering mechanism may offer this feature.

Mimecast will also block email messages that seem to be from impostors. When a user receives an email that appears to be from someone impersonating the boss, requesting a wire transfer, the service will warn the user to be careful.

While there are no guarantees this kind of tool will stop an email phishing attack, any kind of protection is a welcomed improvement. Ask whomever is providing your anti-spam solution if they offer an add-on solution similar to Mimecast’s Targeted Threat Protection.

Please forward this to everyone you know who is concerned about their users clicking a link in an email message, opening an infected attachment, or responding to an email asking them to transfer money.

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