ExchangeDefender User Security Best Practices Webinar
Every month we get a ton of new ExchangeDefender users. We work harder than others to keep you safe — and we want to get you up to speed with all the unique security benefits you get with ExchangeDefender and how to best take advantage of them.
The webinar is not overly technical AND it’s a great opportunity to get any questions you may have answered by the very people that manage ExchangeDefender. Here is what we will cover:
– How to spot and manage phishing attacks
– Importance of strong passwords
– Why you need MFA/OTP and how it works
– What to do when messages bounce
– What to do when your email is down
– How to lock down ExchangeDefender
– How to deal with spoofing and identity theft
Attacks on IT are only getting more efficient and sophisticated with each passing day – and ExchangeDefender is here to help you stay secure and adopt the best practices of our most successful partners and clients.
* First webinar in series, we will post recordings in our portal on March 1, 2023 after all the live sessions have been recorded & edited.
Register for the webinar here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/457089402282191197
ExchangeDefender MFA Service Upgrades
ExchangeDefender has beefed up our MFA (multi-factor authentication aka 2FA / OTP) service with addition of new vendors and a wider reach.
Setting up MFA involves either installing an authenticator app or authorizing us to send you a text message. When you login to our service the system will expect you to provide the 6 digit code that will only* be known to your trusted device. Essentially, it keeps people who only know your username and password out of your account.
While we would prefer a more secure and reliable model in which our clients rely on MFA authenticator apps over the less secure SMS, we understand that is not a practical solution everywhere and absolutely every needs this second layer of authentication when accessing mission critical systems such as email and file sharing.
As you may remember, we had an issue with SMS MFA before Christmas and thanks to some heavy lifting by our team over the holidays the new SMS infrastructure is truly global, scalable – and will be delivered by multiple providers for better redundancy (eliminating the 10DLC compliance issues).
With the retirement of ExchangeDefender Essentials and all the compromises it required, you will be seeing a flurry of new security features in the ExchangeDefender Email Security service. First of many will be the access restrictions and the ability to restrict access to ExchangeDefender services based on location, time, etc. The attacks on email infrastructure are only getting more numerous and more sophisticated by the day and traditional (or cheap) security methods are no longer viable in 2023 and certainly not beyond. We look forward to continuing the best email security money can buy and we thank you all in advance for trusting us with your email.
Data leaks in healthcare is the reason why millions are stolen, no security is the culprit
Most medical offices are prime targets for cybercriminals because they have little, or no security. In fact, in 2020 and 2021, 50 million people were affected by a data breach coming from their doctor’s office or other medical services. Orlando-based Cybersecurity company, 365 Defender wants to help the healthcare industry protect their patient’s data, and safeguard their businesses from online attacks.
“Phishing has become a major threat in every industry. The hardest hit has been healthcare, with about 88% of its workers having opened phishing emails on the job. To be fair, just because they opened it, doesn’t mean they fell prey to the attack. Still, having protection against today’s biggest threats are crucial for survival.” — 365 Defender CEO, Vlad Mazek
Service offerings range from email security for Outlook and Gmail, to email encryption software that can send secure messages to emails, urls, and text messages. The monthly fees are budget friendly with the cheapest service being just $5 per user, per month. There is no yearly contract commitment, giving medical offices complete flexibility to satisfy their ever-changing IT needs.
The need for data security is critical, and protecting patient privacy should be a top priority second only to healing them. To learn more about 365 Defender, and how to get started securing your company, please visit our website www.365defender.com. There is currently a 14-day free trial offer for any 365 Defender service.
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365 Defender is owned and powered by cybersecurity leader, ExchangeDefender. ExchangeDefender specializes in providing email and data security to enterprise since 1997. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida – the IT firm has just launched service plans for small business in hopes of keeping companies safe regardless of their size and budget.
oAuth Launch Scheduled for May 19th, 2022
In January 2021 we launched *our oAuth implementation* to help clients get rid of passwords. On May 19th, 2022 our legacy systems (existing email/txt 2FA/MFA) will be shut down and all ExchangeDefender services will rely on oAuth for authentication. Clients will not see a major difference and will login the same way they always have at https://admin.exchangedefender.com:
The new authorization backend will help improve the security of all users that rely on ExchangeDefender to keep them safe: better password policies, no need to reauthenticate every time you visit our services, support for hardware authentication devices and tokens, support for software authentication such as Google/Microsoft/Authy authenticator solutions, and a lot more.
The era where someone can get access to all your data just by guessing or hacking your password is coming to an end. More importantly, industry standards and cybersecurity insurance underwriters are requiring 2FA/MFA and this is a huge opportunity for our partners to deploy a more secure access to the arguably most insecure and public endpoint in every organization: email.
We look forward to keeping all your data secure and your users safe from dangerous email exploits.
Cybersecurity and Healthcare: what you need to know
Ransomware attacks on U.S healthcare organizations are predicted to quadruple by 2021, according to recent industry reports. Hackers are increasingly targeting healthcare due to the vast amounts of personal health information, which is considered 50 times more valuable on the black web than their financial information. The need for the ability to secure personal information is urgent, and requires immediate attention of the medical industry.
2022 CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES
Malware, ransomware, and viruses
M365 application threats
Phishing attacks
Information protection
Misleading websites
Employee error
Account takeovers
Hackers deploy malware and ransomware to shut down and control devices, and even servers. Many healthcare organizations tend store health information without proper encryption leaving them vulnerable to external threats. Phishing attacks have been the newest and most successful method of cyber-attacks in which cyber criminals send mass emails from “reputable” sources to obtain sensitive information. Hackers link these emails to misleading websites to entice the user to enter their personal information, mainly their username and password to gain complete access, and commence in account takeover efforts.
OUR SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTHCARE
Thousands of Healthcare organizations trust ExchangeDefender to protect their data, and to keep their employees, and client information safe and secure. We protect your practice from malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks using Email Security, our advanced multilayered security suite. We secure patients’ information by enabling our Email Encryption which offers military grade security and prevents data leaks. Healthcare practices must be HIPAA compliant, and rely on ExchangeDefender for Email Archiving and Compliance. This service ensures compliance with long-term tamper-proof email archiving and unlimited storage. Our Web File Server protects your organization from cloud application threats, enables your team members to upload, manage, and share documents securely. The service is encrypted, and provides full reporting of all activity for accountability and transparency. Security tip: To increase your organization’s resistance against cyber-threats, start with powerful email security, add web security and data protection, and to ensure that you always have access to email even during service disruptions, our email outage protection.
Are you a medical office looking for IT solutions? We can help, visit www.365defender.com to see our services!
ExchangeDefender CEO talks email-borne threats with Cybernews
Recently, Cybernews reached out to ExchangeDefender CEO, Vlad Mazek to learn more about how we keep businesses safe from cyber-attacks using top of the line security solutions. The informative discussion centers around the topic of cybersecurity, and what that means for the modern business.
With the recent rise in phishing attacks, it is smart to double-check if it’s really your coworker that emailed you.
By now, it’s probably hard to find an Internet user who has never received emails from someone claiming to be a long-lost relative who wants to share their fortune. While the majority of us are familiar with this type of malware, phishing attacks shouldn’t be underestimated. Nowadays, when threat actors start to include more personal details, posing as coworkers or even bosses, staying vigilant is key.
To discuss the topic of cybersecurity and phishing prevention, we reached out to Vlad Mazek, the CEO of ExchangeDefender, a company eliminating email threats before they even reach your inbox.
ExchangeDefender has been providing various security solutions for more than 2 decades. What was your journey like throughout the years?
We originally started ExchangeDefender to improve the reliability of our Microsoft Exchange servers by offloading all the security tools to a more scalable infrastructure. Over the years we’ve expanded our security portfolio to protect other email servers, as well as deliver more secure ways to rely on common office tasks such as file sharing, collaboration, and compliance.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? What are the main problems you help solve?
We used to say “We kill SPAM for a living” and to this day we simply eliminate common threats that lead to security compromises and service outages by providing email encryption, long-term archiving & eDiscovery.
We make it easier to rely on email for secure and reliable communication; which we do by keeping potentially dangerous content away from your webmail, mailbox, desktop, or phone. Simply put, we make it easy to get things done more securely.
What technologies do you use to detect and stop threats in their tracks?
We primarily rely on our internal early warning system which tracks unusual activity from known threat actors. Because of our size and client base, we often have the luxury of being among the first to be targeted which helps us identify safe and unsafe developments before they go “viral”.
We also participate in many proprietary, open-source, and data/intel sharing projects that help raise the security profile of everyone involved.
How did the pandemic affect the cybersecurity landscape? Were there any new features added to your services?
Pandemic actually improved the security landscape for our clients because they suddenly had to shift to a remote work model which inherently came with more stringent security requirements and more awareness for security policies and secure collaboration.
We noticed a significant shift from traditional office communication methods to SMS/TXT and we moved quickly to make all of our services SMS-aware. Mobile phones have become a security identification token, a mobile presence device, and far too often a failover computer. That’s why we invested heavily in extending our services to meet our clients’ needs to go beyond just sending email messages.
What sectors (for example, financial, healthcare, etc.) do you think should put extra attention towards email security?
The best way to answer this question is to think like a hacker because for them it’s not personal, it’s business.
Organizations get compromised for one of two reasons:
- They have assets (data) that are valuable
- They have a reputation that is valuable
If you have a lot of valuable data or a trustworthy relationship with your clients, you’re a valuable target regardless of your industry. It would be difficult to hack a financial institution because they have dedicated IT and security teams, go through routine audits, and can respond to threats quickly. Compare that to a small CPA firm that uses standard tools and an antivirus bundle that came with their PC.
When it comes to cyber threats carried out via email, what are the most common ones?
Email is the most popular way to get cyber threats into an organization, according to a recent study over 90% of security compromises started with email and it has not changed significantly in the past few years: the #1 cyber threat is from spear phishing. Spear phishing is a practice of forging the identity of the sender and the look of the email to something the recipient would find trustworthy enough to click on. What has changed significantly is the end goal of spear phishing:
- Deployment of RAT (Remote Access Trojan) software
- Theft of PII (personally identifiable information)
- Theft of security credentials
This list actually flipped in the last two years mostly due to the sophistication of RAT software that can give an attacker access to the entire network instead of just a single PC or cloud account. The latest variants target UEFI bios which keep the threat in place even after you get rid of the infected hard drives. As these threats evolve, they also highlight other security issues on the network which makes them difficult to remove and require constant monitoring.
With so many teams working remotely nowadays, what are the best practices when it comes to secure file sharing?
The single most important recent advancement in overall IT security that really deserves wider adoption is the use of MFA/2FA/OTP: multi-factor authentication that requires secondary verification before accessing any sensitive system or information. Working remotely, outside of a managed network and access to IT staff, creates a new universe of security threats that should be mitigated by:
- Deploying & requiring MFA for access
- Deploying a more aggressive backup and imaging solution
- Controlling and reducing the attack surface (by limiting access only to required web sites & services)
Besides secure collaboration solutions, what other security measures do you think modern companies should invest in?
You are probably already spending too much on overlapping, redundant, and underutilized security solutions.
The best security investment you can make today is to get an audit of your existing security portfolio and its integration. Being secure doesn’t come simply from paying for a security software/service license – it has to be properly integrated, configured, and monitored in order to truly keep users away from dangerous content. Due to the chronic lack of security focus and the habit of deprioritizing security for the sake of end-user comfort, many organizations find themselves in a perilous situation with cyber insurance demands.
We are seeing organizations getting compromised not because they don’t have security solutions or adequate training but because they don’t take the time to properly and fully implement the security solutions they are already paying for. An overwhelming majority of ExchangeDefender subscribers rely on less than 30% of the security features they already pay for.
Can you give us a sneak peek into some of your future plans for ExchangeDefender?
Our biggest technical investment for 2022/2023 is to make it possible to access external content (email attachments, files, messages, sites & services) in a secure online sandbox environment where dangerous content wouldn’t even have a chance to reach the user’s desktop, phone, or network.
Our biggest investment is in the area of security audits and assessments. While there is always a shiny new tool or service that promises better security, our data indicates that it’s rarely the lack of a tool, and more often the lack of proper deployment and management of sensitive information that leads to a security compromise.
We’ve helped countless businesses that have been compromised over the years and it usually comes down to neglect of security processes combined with a lack of a plan to respond and recover from a hack. Our future plans are to help organizations change that scenario because cybersecurity isn’t something you buy, it’s something you do.
To celebrate the launch of our new small business service plans, we are currently offering 30-day free trials for any service. Interested in ExchangeDefender? Please visit www.exchangedefender.com/business to request your free trial today!
4 cybersecurity stats that every lawyer should know
Cyber-attacks on the legal sector are on the rise. Legal practices are big targets for hackers due to their access to sensitive information, and severe lack of security.
Here are four statistics that ring alarm bells in the industry:
Number one: One in four law firms have experienced a security breach of some kind. Even more have had malware or viruses according to a 2019 American Bar Association survey.
Number two: Data breaches cost your local small practice an estimated average of $36,000 dollars. To put in perspective, a new legal assistant salary for the year would costs the firm about the same price. Also, at least 31% of their clients terminate their relationship with the firm afterwards.
Number three: 61% of ransomware victims in the legal sector were Law Firms in 2020. It is the highest of the legal profession, with Courts, and Legal Services coming in second.
Number four: 94% of malware and ransomware attacks were delivered by email in 2020. There are new malware and viruses being discovered every day.
The bottom line
Law firms pose a higher risk for data leaks due to their business nature of storing and sharing sensitive information. ExchangeDefender provides affordable email security, email archiving, and email continuity solutions to the legal industry. One of our largest client bases, the legal industry relies on ExchangeDefender to mitigate risks of cyber and email attacks.
Secure your law firm, explore our small business plans today!
ExchangeDefender Outbound Email Bypass
ExchangeDefender Bypass builds on our commitment to helping users deliver email – not to mention making it easier to troubleshoot and work around mail security restrictions. We’ve all experience the “email bounce” when a message we send to someone promptly returns with some cryptic error and the bottom line is the recipient isn’t getting your email.
ExchangeDefender Outbound Bypass helps remedy this problem.
Email non-delivery can happen for a number of reasons – insufficient resources, misconfiguration, outage, local system policy, etc. When your mail bounces there are no easy ways around it, and most savvy users will just go to their free mail account (gmail, yahoo, ISP) which can cause a number of legal and HR complications. We can do better: with ExchangeDefender Outbound Bypass.
Much like our inbound bypass feature, the mail transiting this system does not rely on ExchangeDefender IP address space, network policies, or restrictions. We further designed it to rely on the public cloud infrastructure which is typically trusted and not subject to extra SPAM check (it’s where all your Amazon receipts & promotions come from).
So how does it work?
Simply open your browser and go to https://admin.exchangedefender.com.
Click on Bypass and select “I have problems sending mail” – fill out the form, attach anything you may need to and the message is sent instantly. When the recipient hits reply the message will go to your regular email address. That’s all there is to it. When the recipient receives your email it will still show your name, your email address, and include any HTML, images, or attachments you’ve put in the message when you composed it. It can also be used to help us open a communication channel with the recipients IT provider to resolve the original bounce as well. We hope this helps our partners troubleshoot problems faster and provide our clients a more reliable and resilient email experience.
P.S. ExchangeDefender Bypass is intended for legitimate, person-to-person email. Use of this system for UCE, bulk, sales, or otherwise commercial mail can expose you to steep fines.
2022: New cybersecurity services revealed
Today, in our “Managed Cybersecurity services” webinar, we revealed new services for 2022. The meeting focused on how we can solve today’s email problems with ease. ExchangeDefender recently launched three solutions that will empower clients, and reduce their time wasted on email issues.
Solution #1 – Bypass ExchangeDefender
Bypass ExchangeDefender helps you receive email that doesn’t meet ExchangeDefender’s security needs. The reason why clients would use this is because it completely bypasses ExchangeDefender security infrastructure entirely. Bypass ignores DNS security and authorization requirements like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. It also bypasses established security restrictions for attachments and domains. The biggest bonus here is that it is self-service and does not require any interaction with IT staff.
Outbound Bypass
ExchangeDefender Outbound Bypass helps you deliver important email despite of outages, blacklists, throttling, and other IT problems. The email service does not use any of our networks or systems. Instead, it relies on public cloud infrastructure. Pro user? ExchangeDefender PRO users get this solution for free.
Solution #2 – Recurring Emails
ExchangeDefender Recurring Email enables you to schedule recurring emails to send in the future. You can schedule emails to be sent at a certain time of day, any day of the week. The new feature is for standardized and compliance-oriented recurring email campaigns. So, how would you use it? Our team has been using it for recurring tasks and maintenance requests, payroll and HR requests, and client reminders.
Solution #3 – ExchangeDefender Guardian
Introducing ExchangeDefender Guardian, the cybersecurity analyst that lives in your inbox. Your dedicated analyst has the ability to triage, evaluate, and advise on any email that you deem suspicious. The guardian is mean for high-profile personnel. Anyone whose credentials, access, or role provide a lucrative entry into an organization. Price? The service is currently being offered invitation-only, and prices range from just $39 per month up to $399 dollars.
Interested? Contact us, or submit a ticket if you are an existing client to get started!
Password Security Policy Enforcement & Enhancements
Over the past year we’ve been introducing enterprise security measures to help protect our clients from an increasing volume of attacks. Email is the single most abused gateway for email threats – with 91% of corporate breaches starting through email – and it’s only getting worse.
If you’ve used Yahoo, MySpace, or hundreds of popular free web sites (go to https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see how/who exposed your data) your credentials and other information is available on the web. Hackers are using these passwords and personal information to guess their way into other sites that haven’t been breached – so if you use the same or similar password (or only change the site id, or one number or letter to make it different) then you’re making it very simple for hackers to get into your account.
And we get it. Dealing with security, passwords, and locking down online services is time consuming. But as the company whose main purpose and mission is to keep you secure – we want to help save you time and make it easier for you to be secure.
For the details on all the stuff we’ve got coming in September, we’d like to invite you to our webinar:
ExchangeDefender Security Upgrade
Tuesday, September 10th, 2019
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6898777257651237900
In the meantime, we’re going to help our partners and clients not make things “stupid easy” for hackers – by globally resetting ExchangeDefender passwords that are older than 1 year. We’ll do this on September 1st, in a very minimally intrusive way, and for those that don’t use ExchangeDefender on the daily basis (and mainly just release SPAM from quarantines) the password change won’t affect them.
Using an OTP/2FA or VPN services or all the free features that are built into ExchangeDefender to keep you secure is obviously our preferred way but as we’ve noted – the realities of SMB concern for IT security – so we need to try something else. We really hope our partners and clients can take the time to attend the September Webinar, as we believe the stuff we’ve built will help lock down your organization and make security manageable again.