Category: Cybersecurity

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Are You Aware Of Ransomware Attacks?

Ransomware – a malicious software that threatens you in various ways including denying you to access your data. The attacker demands a ransom to restore data access. Despite the fact that there has been a recent decline, ransomware is still a serious threat. ESET – an IT security company in a recent survey of 3000+ people in the US and Canada showed that many are unaware of ransomware and how to defend against it. The following is based upon the data collected by ESET:

Ransomware attacks
  1. 85% would never pay the ransom fee
  2. 42% had no idea about their Internet security
  3. 31% never back up their files
  4. 30% did not know about ransomware

In order for organizations to be safe from ransomware attacks, all employees must be educated about hacking and informed of the resources they can use to protect their data. Here are some measures everyone should take to be safe from malicious software.

  • Keep your system software updated to ensure you have fewer vulnerabilities to exploit.
  • Never install any unknown software on your system or give it administrative privileges.
  • Keep a reliable and paid antivirus product in your system which detects malicious programs like ransomware as they arrive.

Backup your files, frequently and automatically. Though it won’t stop a malware attack, but it can make the damage less significant.

Should ransom be paid to the attackers?

If your system has been infected with malware and your data is at risk, should you pay the ransom?  Most law enforcement agencies urge you not to pay ransomware attackers because it encourages hackers’ attacks. According to research from Trend Micro, while 66% of companies agree to never pay a ransom as a point of principle,  65% actually do pay the ransom when they get hit.

There are a couple of things to remember before you decide to deal with these cyber criminals. Firstly, what appears to be ransomware may not have encrypted your data at all, make sure you are not dealing with “scareware” before you send any money to the attacker. Secondly, paying the attacker does not guarantee that you will get back your data. Sometimes the attackers take the money and may not have even built a decryption functionality into the malware.

The best way is to take precautions to minimize the impact of such attacks. To gain more knowledge for keeping your system safe, check out uCertify CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst courses.

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Three Things Your Cybersecurity Training Is Probably Lacking

These days, it’s no longer possible to deny the role your employees have in keeping your data – and your business – safe. Cybersecurity training programs are now more critical than ever. With that in mind, though, you need to ensure your own training isn’t missing the mark. Let’s talk about that.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity training is critical, now more than ever. You’re doubtless already aware of that – you probably even have a program in place to teach your staff the basics. And that program is probably missing quite a bit.

Fact is, most businesses seem to focus solely on the informational side of cybersecurity training. But if you want your training to be effective – if you want it to resonate with your workers – you need to take things further. You need to focus on what your training – on what most training – is missing.

An Understanding of Social Engineering

Phishing is one of the most common cyber attack tactics for a reason – it works. It doesn’t take much for even a well-informed person to fall victim to a phishing email, either. Stress-based carelessness and simple fatigue impact us all at one point or another.

Security awareness education and training simply aren’t enough to mitigate this threat. Sure, teaching people about some of the common tactics used by scammers can help them better recognize the signs that they’re being targeted. But at the same time, it won’t address the incaution that ultimately makes phishing successful.

Instead of solely focusing on information, your training should also focus on mindfulness – on teaching your workers to think differently and be more cautious in how they conduct themselves. This need not apply just to cybersecurity, either. Framing your exercises as a way your staff can further enrich their personal lives can go a long way towards helping them embrace it.

A Focus On Emerging Threats

The cybersecurity market is in constant flux. Every day, new threats emerge, new tactics by which hackers may attempt to compromise your organization. It’s your job to stay abreast of these threats – to pay attention to security researchers and media releases so you can better stay on top of things.

But how exactly does any of this apply to employee training programs?

Whenever a major breach occurs or a major vulnerability is revealed, discuss with your team how the target may have done things better. Keep your training material up to date with lessons that may be gleaned from those breaches.

User Engagement

Last but certainly not least, you need to make your training something employees will actually want to bother with. Establish why your training program is important – why your workers should pay attention to it. Be transparent about why security matters, and about their agency and role in keeping your business safe.

Beyond that, your goal should be to make them actually feel motivated to engage with whatever programs you’ve implemented. Create an interesting narrative that focuses less on the technical side of cyber attacks and more on stories of what happens when cyberattacks succeed. Know and understand the sort of things your staff finds interesting, and structure the narrative on that.

And of course, there’s gamification – that buzzword everyone’s on about. By offering incentives and rewards, visual aids, and entertaining activities, you can get people far more interested in your cybersecurity processes and policies than you ever could with simple information.

Closing thoughts

Too often, businesses treat cyber training as a way to simply vomit information at their staff. This rarely works. In order for your cybersecurity training programs to actually be effective, you need to go a little further. You need to focus on the above items – on exactly what you’re missing.


About the Author: Max Emelianov started HostForWeb in 2001. In his role as HostForWeb’s CEO, he focuses on teamwork and providing the best support for his customers while delivering cutting-edge web hosting services.

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Know About Cybersecurity Job Trends

There is a lot written about cybersecurity jobs than almost any other IT job. However, most of the articles emphasize the increased number of cyber-attacks. The recent surveys projected 28% increase in cybersecurity jobs in the United States by 2026. Demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals is growing 4 times faster than the overall IT job market. Currently, there are more than 1 million jobs opening for cybersecurity positions around the world.

Cybersecurity

You might think of cybersecurity as a career option—not a skill that is very important in today’s job market. In the age of our digital world, every professional should have the idea of simple things about keeping security up to par.


Nowadays, organizations understand that the only way to achieve and maintain success in our data-driven, the digital world is by having a team of highly skilled cybersecurity professionals. The 68% of the organizations said that there is a global shortage of skilled professionals and 74% said that there is a lack of talent. This is the reason that 47% of the organizations plan to hire cybersecurity professionals in the upcoming years. This high job growth is because of the increased expansion in the interconnectedness of devices and computing systems, increasing the potential points of intrusion. Moreover, the skills of cybersecurity specialists is not limited to IT architecture but it also goes to cloud services, business processes, and mobile devices.

With so many jobs available, and the need to fill them, many organizations like CompTIA, ISC2, and others are offering certifications in cybersecurity. The certifications will help you kick start your career in this field and become a successful professional. uCertify offers comprehensive cert guides for such certification exams like CISSP, CySA+, and many more. So, get enrolled in the cert guide that will help you pass the exam with flying colors.

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The Enduring Appeal Of Information Security- Cybersecurity Certifications

For past few years that we’ve been updating the list of the IT certifications, there’s never been a time that we didn’t include at least three information security credentials in the list which shows the importance of Information Security in this advanced world. As per the research, it is stated that most of the security breaches are due to the human error in the organizations that clearly makes the cybersecurity training essential for its employees. Understand that individuals have constantly represented the most serious threats to data security in any organization. Most of those people do not get security training of any sort to comprehend this extensive risk, so they can stay prepared from known cyber risks and issues, and figure out how to control such potential threats.

Start Your Career With uCertify Cybersecurity Cert Courses

That’s the reason why information security is still a huge concern for the organizations of all sizes, and why job opportunities in this field are great and will stay in the future. For IT experts who work specifically in the field, to assist build, design, install, and manage data security tools for associations, and who work in the large number of organizations that provide such services, tools, and technologies to help these endeavors. If you are also interested in starting your career in this field then you can go for different Information Security certifications such as CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP), CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+), and an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

  1. CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) Certification:

CompTIA CASP credential is a universally perceived vendor-neutral credential that validates the skills in the field of business security; risk management and incident response; technical integration of business segments; integration of computing; correspondences and business disciplines.

  1. CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) Certification:

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst certification is a globally acknowledged, vendor-neutral certification that validates basic learning and aptitudes required to anticipate, identify, and fight cybersecurity vulnerabilities and to evaluate the outcomes to recognize vulnerabilities, threats, and risks to an association with the ultimate objective of defending and securing applications and systems inside an organization.

  1. ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Certification:

ISC2 CISSP certification is the vendor-neutral certification for those with demonstrated profound technical and administrative skills to design, engineer, execute, and manage the general data security program to secure organizations.

uCertify provides the cert guide for all the certifications mentioned above and covers all the topics and concepts as per the exam objectives. The information and cybersecurity cert guides give candidates an upper hand in understanding and mastering the concepts through practical exposure with performance-based labs included in it. Kick start your preparations for Information and Cybersecurity certifications and become an expert in this profession so that you avoid known problems and issues and take mitigation actions against the same to protect you and your organization. Do not forget to take our Special Bundle Sale offer on the courses you purchase for the cart value of USD 239 and above. Apply the promo code SB20 while checking out and get 20% off on the site-wide purchase.

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Cyber Attacks? Is Your Organization Prepared? Explore Now!

Cybersecurity education and training is important for everyone, especially for small businesses as the number of cyber attacks are increasing at a very high rate these days. Major companies have suffered from data loss because of cyber attacks, making this the prime concern for the organizations. The cyber threats and cyber attacks are growing and changing as quickly as online technology. The question that arises is how well is your business prepared for a cyber attack? The answer to this question is disappointing, only a quarter of small businesses are prepared for a cyber-attack on their company. According to a recent survey on IT risks organizations, provided a visibility platform for data security and risk mitigation in hybrid environments. The need for improved cybersecurity has increased following a recent rise in the cyber attacks.

Is Your Organization Prepared For Cyber Attacks? Explore uCertify

Organizations Not Fully Prepared For The Cyber Attacks

According to IT Risks Report, only 26% of organizations are prepared to fight against the cyber attacks. Why is this so? Lack of budget (57% organizations are dealing with lack of budget) and insufficient staff training (37% organizations are running with the insufficiently trained staff) were named by small businesses as the main obstacles to better security. Lack of time (54% organizations are lacking time) was also pointed out as a key obstacle to better security. Biggest security risks for any organization is its employees and hackers.

Plans to Strengthen Data Security

The surveys in recent times have shown that 58% of cyber attacks target small businesses. Organizations are improving their security policies and making strict rules for the data security. Organizations are keeping an eye on the actions taken by their employees on the cloud, mobile devices, and on-premises systems. Surveys show that 38% of organizations are planning to invest in protection against cyber attacks and data breaches, 34% in intellectual property theft, and 33% in fraud. There are few more things that are used by the organizations to protect their data, like updating your software regularly, backing up data regularly, and encrypting sensitive data. Every organization should have their data security rules to help protect business-sensitive data. Most businesses consider security as an IT issue; however, it has to be an organization-wide issue and serious actions should be taken in order to protect the organizations from data theft.

So, now you must understand the importance of trained security professionals in an organization. E-Learning platforms such as uCertify that offers cybersecurity certification training programs affordable to anytime, anywhere, accessible to anyone. We offer in-depth and most practical programs for beginners planning to start a career in cybersecurity field as well as the professionals seeking to gain advanced level knowledge in devising cybersecurity strategies. uCertify’s course and labs help learners gain a practical understanding of the various cybersecurity concepts. Our user-generated content encourages job aspirants, employees, professionals, and businesses to discuss and share knowledge on the latest and trending topics in the world of cybersecurity and computer programming.