Cybersecurity is Basic

Unlocked windows and doors, keys left in plan sight, the ease in which cyber thieves (and other threat actors) are able to access our crown jewels can often be thwarted by taking basic measures.

Here are a few steps that our friends at the FBI recommend agricultural businesses take to harden their posture.

• Be wary of email thread hijacking, where actors reply to legitimate previous conversations within a victim’s email in order to send additional phishing emails within a network from the victim’s account. If receiving a zipped document from an email previously communicated with, verify the document originated from the sender via another form of communication.
• Be wary of the “Enable Content” feature in Microsoft attachments.
• Back-up critical data offline.
• Ensure copies of critical data are in the cloud or on an external hard drive or storage device.
• Secure your back-ups and ensure data is not accessible for modification or deletion from the system where the data resides.
• Use two-factor authentication with strong passwords, including for remote access services.
• Keep computers, devices, and applications patched and up-to-date (basic, basic, basic).
• Install and regularly update anti-virus or anti-malware software on all hosts.
• Review the following additional resources.
  • The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency-Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center Joint Ransomware Guide covers additional best practices and ways to prevent, protect, and respond to a ransomware attack.
  • StopRansomware.gov is the U.S. Government’s official one-stop location for resources to tackle ransomware more effectively.
• Report cybersecurity attacks to IC3.gov.

 
We encourage your questions, comments, and thoughts. If you need a speaker, expert panel for an event, custom articles for your newsletters, or a media quote around these topics, contact us at [email protected]

For more information, visit our website at www.cyberag.org