Hope Springs Eternal!
Alexander Pope penned these words in 1732 and it is a true today as it was then. As humans, we keep hoping at all costs and every once in awhile we are fortunate enough to see that hope come to fruition. As we enter Spring with the unnameable on the decline, my hope is that soon, if we stay focused in the last mile of the race, we will not stumble and be able to put the Pandemic of 2020 behind us.
However, as one problem subsides, there are always more problems to solve. The one I am writing about today isn’t a pandemic but it is worldwide in nature and that is security. With the proliferation of connected anywhere devices that are connected to everything, it is a great source of productivity but also a great security liability for all of us. I am sure you have all seen in the news or heard from us or your IT department the zero day attach on the Microsoft Exchange Platform named the Hafnium exploit. If you have Exchange servers you have been affected. I’m not going to get into the details here however, it has caused an immediate, emergent response by Acropolis for our clients with on premise or dedicated Exchange servers for mail.
If you are a client of ours that has been affected, you know we have been working around the clock since learning of the exploit. If you would like to read more, here is a Microsoft article on the subject https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/03/02/hafnium-targeting-exchange-servers/
All of this to say typical Anti-Virus or single layer approach doesn’t do enough anymore to protect you from outside threats. I wish I could write that there is one magical security solution that would keep us all safe but unfortunately, the best security is layered security. The more impactful a breach of your system would be, the more layers you need. The more layers, the more expense. To use one of my bad analogies that I am becoming known for is the The Louvre would be more impacted if it were breached than my home and although we both have security, I assure you The Louvre has invested more to protect their assets than I have personally. The days of putting your head in the sand and pretending that “no one cares about my data” or “no one is going to target my small business” is over. If you are a client of Acropolis, you will continue to hear ad nauseam about the importance of investing in Security. If you are not a client of Acropolis, you really need to be having a dialog with your technical teams about finding and implementing solutions that match the risk of breach. Bad actors use automation to target everyone and if their automation finds a possible exploit, I assure you, they will take interest in your small business.
In closing, I would just like to quote my late father and probably most of yours that used to say, “The more S*&t you throw at a wall, the more that will stick”. Todays hackers have tools and automation to coat many a wall and to target EVERYONE with very little effort. We hear everyday stories where “it sticks”. If you are a client of ours, continue to talk to us. If you are not, engage your team, develop a plan and review it often. Although Hope Springs Eternal, “Hope is not a strategy” (also from my father).
Take care, stay safe and stay hopeful!
Tracy Butler
President and Co-Founder of Acropolis Technology Group