Diminishing global boundaries in businesses and services have increased the use of the internet and internet-based services. This has proven to be a boom for businesses across all industries by providing newer opportunities and widening the consumer base. However, this has also opened a haven of opportunities for cybercriminals.
AUSTIN, Texas – Austin-based tech leader Abdul Subhani is invariably passionate about IT and innovation.
When he isn’t guiding the work of his IT consulting firm, Centex Technologies, he can often be found teaching advanced computer science courses to college students, writing textbooks on information security, or speaking to the nuances of the rapidly changing IT field.
The BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) industry has recently seen significant technical developments. Most banking and insurance operations have gone digital, and the BFSI sector is now processing massive amounts of digital data from various sources. The data being processed is typically of a sensitive nature, containing PII and financial information. As a result, BFSI firms are among the most valuable targets for cybercriminals. Cybersecurity rules around the world, as well as the constant threat from cybercriminals, necessitate a solid data protection solution to defend BFSI operations. Here are five examples of some security practices you should make sure your bank is using.
Is your educational institution a soft target for hackers? Who does your web hosting? Are there any vulnerabilities in your network infrastructure that could make it easy for someone to infiltrate? Who has access to your network, and how is that access being managed? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you could potentially be compromising your educational institution’s sensitive data. Recently, education institutions not focused on cybersecurity have become easy targets for hackers.
Educational institutions need to adopt strict protocols to combat cybersecurity breaches. Here is how to begin a security protocol.
Understand your infrastructure and the network access points.
It is important to understand the network, its components and the people who have access to parts of the infrastructure. Get help from an IT professional to learn about possible security vulnerabilities in the network and to understand the best ways to manage risks posed by them.
The rise in demand for transportation services has led to the industry-wide adoption of fleet management software. The use of these types of software systems has given hackers multiple attack points through which they can disrupt the operations of a fleet. Hackers could take control of the entire fleet and destroy or steal valuable customer and operator data. Such a disruption can cause a loss of business and lead to costly legal implications.
Here are five best practices to protect your connected fleet from cybercriminals:
1. Update and upgrade the vehicle’s software and hardware.
It is important to update and upgrade the firmware and software applications used in the vehicle as per the vendor’s suggestions. Your IT team must notify end users every time a new hardware or software update is available. It is also important to set up encryption and multifactor authentication wherever warranted to secure those assets.
In 2019, Microsoft announced an initiative to design secured-core PCs. This was a direct action to counter growing threats and attacks that were exploiting firmware-level vulnerabilities. In October 2021, Microsoft released Windows 11, which came with tons of features to provide enhanced user protection at the hardware level. This is a giant step toward providing zero-trust security from the device to the cloud.
Here are five enhanced security features included with Windows 11.
• Trusted platform module (TPM) security. All certified Windows 11 devices will come with a TPM 2.0 chip. This TPM chip protects sensitive information like encryption keys, user credentials and more by building a hardware fence from attacks.
Zero trust is a security architecture that ensures all users, whether inside or outside the organization’s network, are verified, approved and constantly checked for security configuration.
The zero-trust architecture was first introduced by John Kindervag, a research analyst at Forrester. It simply means, “never trust, always verify.” Zero trust is one of the favored frameworks for protecting infrastructure and data. It is designed to protect digital environments by using network segmentation and providing threat prevention.
AdventHealth-Central Texas in Killeen recently welcomed three new members to its hospital board.
These individuals are Dr. Vani Paleti, incoming hospital chief of staff at AdeventHealth-Central Texas; Abdul B. Subhani, president/CEO for Centex Technologies and civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, Texas Capital Region; and Stephen E. Brooks, executive secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Southwestern Union.
The U.S. Army has appointed Killeen business owner Abdul Subhani as civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army for the second term in a row.
“Your contributions have been exceptional, and your continued service will greatly benefit our Soldiers, their families and our civilians in your community and throughout the Army,” said
Ransomware attacks have been making headlines in recent years. It is a kind of malware that encrypts files on a victim’s computer and makes them inaccessible to the victim. Like other forms of malware, it also infects all connected systems. The attacker holds the encryption keys, promising to share them with the victims in exchange for ransom money. The victim can only hope to get the decryption keys by paying a ransom to the attacker or possibly from other victims or agencies that make them publicly available. Though the data remains intact, it is inaccessible until the keys are supplied so the data may be decrypted.