By Rick Boyles, President, Computer Networks, Inc.
According to Security Metrics forensics investigation data of breached organizations during 2014, insecure remote access played a role in 93 percent of cases.
Remote access makes doing business extremely convenient. However, it’s critical to understand that with this ease, comes vulnerability. Insecure remote access is the number one attack pathway used by hackers throughout the world, including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Hampton Roads.
Remote access technology is an incredibly valuable business tool – as long as there is an Internet connection, it allows workforce members to easily access the office network from anywhere.
However, without proper IT support, insecure remote access gives hackers a pathway to compromise organization networks and gain access to medical records. This is where IT consulting firms in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Hampton Roads can help.
Remember Target’s massive data compromise in 2013? It is believed that the incident began when a hacker gained access to one of Target’s systems via a remote access account belonging to an HVAC company. Hackers were able to use that access to gain a foothold on an internal system and then leapfrog to other systems inside the retailer’s network.
How do hackers do it?
Many healthcare organizations open up their networks to vendors, partners, suppliers, and other business associates to streamline processes and enable better service and support. Few implement processes governing third-party access, which reputable IT consulting firms can accomplish.
It’s no coincidence that the exploitation of improperly configured remote management tools is the plan of attack most frequently used by hackers. If not properly secured, remote access puts organizations at a severe security disadvantage by allowing attackers to bypass the firewall and most other system security measures and remotely gain access to the POS or other systems in the payment environment.
It’s simply that easy for hackers, especially because while there tend to be rules in place for employees using remote access, the same rules are not always applied to external parties.
About our IT Support and IT Consulting Firm
Our IT support and IT consulting firm was founded in 2004 by Rick Boyles. Our typical customer has 10 to 150 workstations, is a small business or medical practice, and relies heavily on e-mail, the Internet, and their computer network for running their business or medical office. Clients hire us to provide HIPAA Security Risk Analysis, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Network Administration, secure remote access, and more. They do not want to incur the overhead and cost of a full-time IT staff, and they do not want to risk their IT to a self-taught employee who knows “a few things” about computers. We serve medical offices and professional services in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Hampton Roads, Virginia.