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Why Zero Trust Security Should Be A Priority in 2024 For Washington DC Associations and Nonprofits

Why Zero Trust Security Should Be A Priority in 2024 For Washington DC Associations and Nonprofits

Why Zero Trust Security Should Be A Priority in 2024 For Washington DC Associations and Nonprofits

DesignDATA
Why Zero Trust Security Should Be A Priority in 2024 For Washington DC Associations and Nonprofits

Achieving their core mission and maintaining stakeholder relationships are critical priorities for nonprofits and associations. Unfortunately, a data breach can jeopardize an organization’s focus and community trust, thanks to the likely downtime and loss of sensitive and confidential information.

Heading into 2024, organizations face increasingly sophisticated and more large-scale cyberattacks. Picture more incidents like the 2023 attack against the file-transfer software company MOVEit, which likely impacted over 2,000 organizations worldwide and hundreds of millions of individuals just from cybercriminals exploiting one zero-day vulnerability.

In the new year and beyond, focusing on implementing a zero-trust cybersecurity framework will be your best defense for preserving your online safety in that environment.

Need a real-world case study for proof?

At a recent session at our VisionCSI conference titled “Securing the Future: Building Trust in a Zero Trust World,” attendees learned the story of how the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians applied a Zero Trust architecture to help recover from a devastating cyberattack and experience more advanced data protection.

Below, we give an in-depth overview of the Zero Trust fundamentals discussed at the session. Keep reading to gain actionable insights to improve your information security and keep your organization resilient amidst an uncertain and risky environment.

What is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is a modern security framework that follows the motto “Never trust, always verify.” Previously, traditional perimeter-based cybersecurity treated internal users as trustworthy and everything outside its network as unsafe. This new model sees every identity as suspicious, a more effective approach that can help organizations reduce their likelihood of a data breach by 50%.

The zero-trust framework has three fundamental principles:

  1. Verify explicitly: Prioritize comprehensive and continuous authentication throughout an identity’s journey with your IT infrastructure.
  2. Least privileged access: Restrict access to resources so users can only interact with the specific data necessary for their work and the exact duration required.
  3. Assume breach: Act as if a malicious actor has already breached your system, and work to prevent lateral movement and minimize an intruder’s potential attack surface.
How to Implement a Zero Trust Paradigm to Improve Your Cyber Defense

Your Zero Trust approach should focus on gaining visibility into six key pillars:

  1. Our data
  2. Endpoints
  3. Identity
  4. Applications
  5. Network
  6. Infrastructure

With so much area to cover, organizations must seamlessly orchestrate security controls and policies into a comprehensive defense system. Automation will be critical for streamlining the process and detecting threats in real-time.

How can you get started on establishing this new model in your workplace?
  1. Assess your existing security posture and evaluate your current environment based on Zero Trust principles.
  2. Build or outsource a security operations team that can execute the project.
  3. Implement multi-factor authentication that prioritizes the security of your identities, devices, and legacy applications.
  4. Establish governance, including data loss prevention policies and data classification systems.
  5. Proactively and routinely identify gaps in your posture to optimize your cybersecurity infrastructure continuously.
Cybersecurity Best Practices To Complement Your New Framework

Associations and nonprofits need industry-proven strategies to stay ahead of emerging threats.

To improve your online safety, your organization should adopt several cybersecurity best practices before and alongside your Zero-Trust approach.

Do the following:

Establish policies
Before adopting a zero-trust framework, your organization must develop procedures addressing your data’s privacy and confidentiality. Consider which team members can access your data and how they can use it. Then, document those decisions to ensure your employees approach data security cohesively. Written documentation also allows for accountability in case a compliance issue pops up.

Assess your inventory
Effective data protection starts with understanding the resources you need to keep safe. Focus on building an inventory of information assets such as addresses, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and physical assets like laptops, mobile devices, and IoT devices. This process will allow you to address incidents and breaches quickly.

Conduct cybersecurity training
Help your team protect your data as the first line of defense. Organizations should invest in regular staff cybersecurity training so employees understand how to navigate risks, avoid scams, and use technology securely.

Prioritize incident response and disaster recovery
Your staff should have a roadmap for containing security incidents and promptly restoring operations. Define roles, assign responsibilities, and establish reporting mechanisms. Also, develop a communication plan and a process for analyzing an incident’s severity.

Remember, your incident response planning should never be static! Continuously reassess your plans to enhance how your team recovers from future incidents.

Administer regular cybersecurity risk assessments
Your organization should systematically audit your information assets, systems, security policies, and controls to identify potential vulnerabilities. Your current setup may not be compliant with regulatory requirements, aligned with best practices, or effective in mitigating risk.

This cybersecurity risk assessment will help you pinpoint areas for improvement and take action to allocate your resources to manage threats better.

Tailored IT support for Washington DC Associations and Non-Profits

A proactive zero-trust security framework, in combination with evidence-based security measures and best practices, can help associations and nonprofits protect their sensitive data and business continuity—which is critical for the communities that depend on your organization.

Collaborating with cybersecurity experts and service providers will make implementing a new IT architecture simpler and more efficient.

When you partner with designDATA to address your information technology needs, your organization will benefit from our robust cybersecurity solutions and specialized expertise. From dark web scans and endpoint protection to Layer 7 Firewall and managed drive encryption, our tools will give you the security and peace of mind you need. With our offices in Washington, DC, and Maryland, local organizations from the region can benefit from more regular hands-on support.

Are you curious about attending future educational sessions to boost your cybersecurity and technology knowledge? Join our training webinar mailing list HERE.

Interested in talking about your cybersecurity? Discover how a no-pressure conversation can provide peace of mind and improve your digital safety.

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Essential Building Blocks for a Strong Cybersecurity Framework

Essential Building Blocks for a Strong Cybersecurity Framework

Essential Building Blocks for a Strong Cybersecurity Framework

DesignDATA
Essential Building Blocks for a Strong Cybersecurity Framework

Four-minute read

Cybersecurity risks have become a standard feature of doing business in our digital era, with organizations facing potential harm regularly, whether it’s an insider threat like the recent Tesla data breach or the rise of malicious QR code phishing campaigns.

And when they aren’t handled properly, threats can compromise your information, disrupt your access to critical resources, and destabilize your operations – so prioritizing protection has never been more important.

So, how can your organization take action to reinforce your virtual armor and hone your resilience?

By proactively applying this rock-solid cybersecurity approach, based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework.

When you follow this systemic method with clearly outlined and tangible action items, online safety will feel achievable and inevitable. Read on to discover the necessary components of a cybersecurity strategy that transforms your IT from a risky obstacle into an asset.

Introducing the Cybersecurity Framework

Embracing digital tools doesn’t have to jeopardize your business’s security. With the right approach, it’s possible to leverage the benefits of these resources while keeping your data free from danger.

A comprehensive cybersecurity framework should center around five pivotal functions, which work together to ensure you tackle your security holistically.Introducing the Cybersecurity Framework

*Based on NIST Cybersecurity Framework (ftc.gov) for Small Businesses

With each of these overarching functions, you can break them up into smaller subfunctions that focus on more specific security-related tasks. This structure gives you a carefully plotted path, with each stepping stone contributing to the strategy’s overall effectiveness – like small pieces of a giant puzzle.

Identify

Before you can take action, you need to identify what you’re actually trying to protect. Once you’ve systematically assessed your particular organization’s digital ecosystem, you can make a more effective plan that addresses your business’s unique challenges. 

Asset Management

Identifying your needs and tailoring your strategy requires meticulously evaluating, categorizing, and inventorying your:

  • Physical devices and systems 

  • Software platforms and applications 

  • External information systems

  • Resources, such as hardware, devices, data, time, and software 

After creating this inventory, you’ll need to look at your assets and rank them in terms of their classification, their importance to your operations, and their overall business value. You also need to establish the roles and responsibilities that your staff will fulfill when it comes to your cybersecurity, as well as any third-party stakeholders like suppliers, customers, or partners.

Risk Management

Once you’ve got a clear picture of what you’re trying to protect, you must proactively identify your organization’s potential risks and vulnerabilities, whether it’s disruptive malware, electronic financial theft, fraud, or even an internal threat.

Your strategy should address these specific challenges in your environment, and you can use this information to allocate resources effectively.  Ultimately, this will maximize your strategy’s impact. If you do encounter a threat, you’ll be able to build the appropriate disaster recovery plan to respond swiftly and minimize damage.

Finally, after knowing your risk landscape, all organizational stakeholders must agree on the appropriate risk management processes for your business and work together to establish and manage them. 

Supply Chain Risk Management

Your cybersecurity approach needs to extend beyond your immediate internal environment and include the people you regularly connect with outside of your business – whether it’s the people who provide your information systems, components or services.

By employing a meticulous supply chain risk assessment process, your business can assess, identify, and prioritize the suppliers and third-party partners that will be critical to consider in your strategy.

Remember, assessing your suppliers’ and third-party partners’ cybersecurity risk should be ongoing. Your business must routinely evaluate them to ensure they meet their contractual obligations, whether through an audit, test results, or another type of inspection.

It’s also critical to conduct response and recovery planning and testing with those suppliers and third-party partners so you can make sure your entire business ecosystem remains resilient and that your business won’t suffer due to a disruption somewhere in the chain.

Protect

Once you’ve got the knowledge, it’s time to actually put it in motion! Implementing various defense measures will be necessary to prevent a cyber threat from wreaking havoc.

Identity Management and Access Control

Keeping your business’s critical systems and sensitive data safe means ensuring that only authorized devices, users, and processes can access them. This involves:

  • Issuing, managing, verifying (and if necessary, revoking) identities and credentials,

  • Managing remote access,

  • Overseeing all permissions and authorizations, incorporating the Zero Trust concept of “least-privileged access” so that only the staff who need a specific data set to carry out their duties access it, and

  • Implementing tactics such as network segregation and segmentation to protect network integrity.

Awareness and Training

Enhancing your business’s security is about more than just introducing new tools. You must foster a workplace culture where employees understand the risks and feel responsible for protecting your data. Regular education and training sessions can also ensure all employees understand cybersecurity best practices and your organization’s distinct approach.

Data Security

In order to have the always-available data needed to keep your critical operations disruption-free, your business needs to establish policies that protect your data while it’s at rest and in transit. 

Whether it’s your data, hardware, software, or other valuable resources, creating a formal system for managing assets throughout their entire lifecycle will be crucial – particularly during removal, transfers, and disposition.

You can also enact integrity-checking mechanisms that verify hardware integrity, which proactively addresses vulnerabilities before they lead to serious incidents.

Information Protection Process and Procedures

A truly comprehensive security strategy requires a structured approach to your organization’s most valuable asset – your information:

  • Create and maintain a baseline configuration of your business’s information technology and control systems.

  • Incorporate organization-wide security principles, like the concept of least functionality, where an entity only receives access to the resources and authorizations necessary to perform its required function.

  • Conduct, maintain, and regularly test your information backups.

  • Develop and enforce a policy for data destruction.

  • Establish, manage, and regularly test your business’s response plans (Incident Response and Business Continuity) and recovery plans (Incident Recovery and Disaster Recovery).

Maintenance

All businesses should implement a system so that when maintaining your organizational assets remotely, you can automatically approve and log any actions to prevent unauthorized access.

Protective Technology

The right tools will be crucial for making sure all the elements in your strategy work effectively to mitigate damage – especially when paired with policies to ensure compliance. This includes:

  • Determining, documenting, implementing, and regularly reviewing your audit and log records.

  • Protecting communications and control networks.

  • Protecting and restricting removable media.

Detect

It’s reasonable to expect that your organization may face a threat at some time in the near future – especially given that security experts estimate that small businesses experience 43% of all cyberattacks.

Unfortunately, the cost of this for SMBs is high, with some research showing that within six months of getting hacked, 60% of small businesses are forced to close their doors for good and cease operations.

Luckily, if a cyber threat infiltrates your organization, a good detection strategy can help businesses respond rapidly and minimize the damage.

Anomalies and Events

By collecting and correlating event data from multiple sources and sensors, a network trained to recognize familiar activity will quickly notice if there’s any weird behavior that could signal a potential security threat.

Security Continuous Monitoring

By staying vigilant and gaining real-time visibility into what’s happening on your network, you can detect potential cybersecurity events, malicious code, or the presence of unauthorized personnel, connections, devices, and software.

Detection Process

Your organization needs to clearly communicate relevant information about event detection, and explain and define your employees’ roles and responsibilities for detection – so they remain accountable and nothing slips through the cracks. 

Respond

Once you’ve detected a security incident, your business should already have the resources in place to respond promptly and effectively. 

Response Planning

Your business should develop a ready-to-go response plan to execute during or after the incident. A pre-established response plan means your entire team can be better coordinated and prepared to immediately contain and mitigate an incident’s impact.

Communications

When it’s necessary to respond to a security incident, all personnel should:

  • Understand the role they play during the response.

  • Know the steps they must take and in which order. 

  • Report incidents based on pre-established criteria.

  • Share information and coordinate with stakeholders in a way that follows the guidelines in your response plan.

Your organization should also voluntarily share information with your external stakeholders to inform everyone about potential risks.

Analysis and Improvement

Responding to a security event should go beyond immediate intervention to looking ahead to the future. Once your organization finishes responding to a security incident, take the time to classify the event based on your pre-determined categories from your response plan. And importantly, change your response plan and update your response strategies to incorporate the lessons you’ve learned from the recent incident

Recover

After you’ve contained and neutralized the security threat, you must systemically restore any affected assets to function normally. Like with response planning, this means developing a recovery plan to execute during or after a cybersecurity incident.

You must prioritize managing your public relations, repairing reputational damage, and communicating recovery activities to internal and external stakeholders and executive and management teams.

After the recovery process, look back to see where you could’ve improved. Then, update your recovery plan and strategies with what you’ve learned so that you can recover more effectively next time. 

We Can Craft You a Robust Defense for a Resilient Tomorrow

Building an organization that can withstand today’s threat landscape should be a top priority. If you want to apply this systematic cybersecurity approach but need some help, our experts are here to empower better digital safety for your employees.

At designDATA, our team will work as your partner in online security, implementing our robust cybersecurity solutions that address your unique vulnerabilities. From security assessments, incident response, and disaster recovery plans to security awareness training and regulation compliance, we empower you to navigate your digital operations safely.

Contact us today to create a tailored defense for your organization that guarantees a brighter, more resilient future.

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Cybersecurity in Operational Strategy for Nonprofits

The Critical Role of Cybersecurity in Operational Strategy for Nonprofits

The Critical Role of Cybersecurity in Operational Strategy for Nonprofits

A man with curly hair wearing glasses is intently working at a computer with virtual cybersecurity and data analytics graphics overlaying the image. These visuals include a lock symbol and various statistical data points.

It is no longer shocking news to declare that cyberattacks are rising across every industry and with businesses of all sizes. Just in the first quarter of 2024’s, Blackberry identified three million cyberattacks, which is more than 37,000 cyberattacks daily on average. That research is just from one company alone; many more threats are wreaking havoc across society. Most notable, a hacking group recently claimed that they stole social security numbers from 2.7 billion people, including every American. 

This increasing risk is understandably making Chief Operating Officers (COO) concerned about their operational sustainability, especially when their limited resources and sensitive data make them attractive targets for bad actors.  

The need for data protection is becoming more pressing than ever. Proactive IT management is the key to achieving that goal and fostering robust cybersecurity. Below, we discuss the importance of prioritizing cybersecurity and outline clear steps for COOs to safeguard their digital assets to ensure business continuity. 

Why Cybersecurity is Crucial for Nonprofits 

Nonprofits have communities that depend on them. They provide critical services to their beneficiaries for their well-being and quality of life. 

That’s why cybersecurity threats can profoundly impact these organizations. Beyond the potentially irrevocable damage to community trust, if they can’t access the IT infrastructure that underpins their activities, that may disrupt their services and ability to continue their mission. Recovering from a data breach or other attack can also strain already tight budgets and prevent the organization from delivering its programs.  

Taking action to prevent these outcomes should be a top priority, especially if your organization conducts e-commerce online or stores personally identifiable information in the cloud. When your organization proactively implements a zero-trust cybersecurity framework and advanced security measures, you can prevent unauthorized access to your data, minimize downtime, and reduce unexpected expenses to direct funds toward your core objectives. 

The Proactive Role of COOs in Enhancing Cybersecurity 

As the person in charge of your organization’s operations, the Chief Operating Officer oversees strategic planning and its execution during the day-to-day workflow. They work to develop an environment that keeps their team performing optimally, equipped with the capabilities to match their activities with the organization’s long-term vision. In a nutshell, their job is all about organizational resilience.  

As part of achieving that goal, they are responsible for ensuring that your operations don’t compromise your security and vice versa. This will require proactively approaching risk management at an organizational level — identifying weaknesses and then implementing measures across departments that defend your data holistically. The COO will likely be involved in procuring new technologies and supervising regular compliance reviews to confirm your infrastructure aligns with internal and external government standards. 

However, in one study, 78% of COOs reported that they are responsible for securing operational processes, but lack training and experience in doing so. The task is especially getting harder as organizational IT infrastructures grow and expand the potential attack surface for cybercriminals. They must also balance these responsibilities with their other duties, which can be challenging.  In many cases, they would benefit from working with a managed IT services provider to achieve operational stability.  

Best Practices for Integrating Cybersecurity into Operations 

Now that you understand the critical role of COOs in cybersecurity, it’s time to learn the practical steps for integrating cybersecurity into your operations. 

Conduct a risk assessment 

Creating operational sustainability with your technology will require a strategic approach that begins with a thorough risk assessment. This will help you understand your organization’s specific vulnerabilities and prioritize cybersecurity measures that address them. Start by assessing how much a cyber incident would impact your assets, resources, and workflows. 

Develop a cybersecurity strategy 

Once you’ve mapped out the risks, create a comprehensive strategy that aligns your cybersecurity needs with your operational goals. You should include clear policies, procedures, and protocols for handling your technology and data, outlining how cybersecurity will be embedded into the day-to-day work environment. 

Focus on incident response planning 

Your cybersecurity strategy should involve developing a detailed incident response plan that prepares your entire team to effectively identify and address cybersecurity incidents. This allows you to minimize any damage. 

 In advance, you can: 

  • Document the roles and responsibilities around communicating an issue to relevant stakeholders 
  • Develop detailed procedures that explain how to contain and eradicate incidents   
  • Create an inventory of your assets 
  • Prepare playbooks for dealing with various scenarios 
  • Conduct regular crisis simulation drills where the team can get hands-on, experiential learning and test your plan 
Implement advanced protection solutions 

It is critical for organizations to focus on the future when it comes to cybersecurity. Building a proactive IT infrastructure will involve implementing various technologies.

Examples include: 

  • Continuous monitoring and maintenance, ideally through a 24/7 security operations center that can leverage artificial intelligence to detect intrusions in real time and address them swiftly 
  • Strong identity management, including introducing robust authentication mechanisms like single-sign-on passwords and strict access controls and permissions for your infrastructure’s users. 
  • Endpoint and Server Protection, which focuses on protecting your servers and workstations safe from malware using antivirus software, firewalls and other solutions. 
Provide cybersecurity awareness training 

Sophisticated tools will not protect you from threats alone. Research points to human error as a significant factor in cybersecurity incidents, with employee mistakes likely being the cause 88-95% of the time.  

You need to equip your employees with the necessary skills for recognizing and preventing potential threats, such as avoiding becoming victims of social engineering attacks and understanding the importance of safe online behaviors. When our company provided thorough training to an organization’s staff, we observed that they were able to improve security by their employees reliably following process and governance expectations. 

Outsource your IT to a managed IT services provider 

Hiring external IT professionals can strengthen your organization’s cybersecurity posture without diverting internal resources from important initiatives. These experts live and breathe IT, meaning they also have the specialized knowledge to maintain protection.  

Before partnering with our team, a local association relied on on-premises systems for their email, website, and management tools. That means they dealt with constant vulnerabilities in their infrastructure and regular severe outages that cut off access to their data and infrastructure, grinding their operations to a halt. As skilled IT professionals, we helped them shift to a secure cloud environment and implement a comprehensive disaster recovery and data backup plan, which allowed the organization to have a more stress-free technology experience.  

Secure your nonprofit with designDATA’s support 

In our digital business environment, efficient operational performance in a nonprofit is only possible with a secure and dependable IT infrastructure.  

Chief Operating Officers should proactively build their organization’s capacity to both respond and prevent incidents from threatening their mission. You do not have to cultivate this organizational resilience on your own: when you work with designDATA, we offer comprehensive IT managed services that create a well-functioning technological foundation for your operations. Paired with our cybersecurity solutions, you can have peace of mind that your data remains protected and your ability to make a difference isn’t compromised. 

Contact designDATA today to explore how we can help your organization enhance its cybersecurity measures and strengthen operational sustainability. 

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Managed IT Services

10 Signs Your Association Needs Managed IT Services to Enhance Operational Efficiency 

10 Signs Your Association Needs Managed IT Services to Enhance Operational Efficiency 

A man and a woman in a dark, modern office environment, analyzing data on multiple computer screens late at night. The man is seated and the woman stands next to him, both focused intently on the monitors displaying graphs and analytics. There is a blue number 10 laid on top of the image.

With the right IT infrastructure, employees at associations can streamline their access to relevant data and focus on meaningful projects. By addressing common challenges like data accessibility and security concerns, organizations can create a more efficient and stress-free environment for their teams. 

Your IT underpins all your activities. Reliable and cost-effective technology solutions are essential to avoid straining resources and preventing operational disruptions that can hinder your ability to serve your members effectively. Additionally, investing in robust technology can help reduce employee turnover, as research shows that inadequate technology leads 70% of young people to leave or consider leaving their company. 

Associations need to prioritize effective IT management to maintain efficiency. If overseeing and maintaining a thriving IT ecosystem is challenging, outsourcing to a managed IT services provider can be an excellent solution. Below, we outline ten signs that indicate it’s time to bring in professional IT services to align your infrastructure with the demands of modern operations and your long-term goals. 

The 10 Signs Your Association Needs Managed IT Services 

  1. Frequent IT issues and downtime

Research shows that the world’s largest companies spend roughly $9000 for every minute their systems aren’t functioning properly. It’s expensive for associations, too, no matter their size, if their employees regularly face common technological hurdles that delay their work, like lagging computers, slow network speeds, unreliable communication tools, software glitches, and even system failures.   

If this is your reality, you may need a managed IT services provider to ensure your team can consistently access essential tools and your key activities run smoothly. 

  1. Inadequate IT support and slow response times

Sometimes, the complexity of an association’s technology can outpace the capacity of its limited in-house teams or the external service providers it works with. You may be in that situation if you experience delays in addressing technical issues, extending your team’s timelines for completing their vital tasks and projects. 

If you don’t currently receive timely and reliable IT support, a managed IT services provider is your answer: they typically outline their guaranteed response times in their service level agreements so you can predict how long something should take. Accessing their team of skilled specialists will also ensure you can always access the required knowledge to tackle your problem promptly. 

  1. High IT maintenance and repair costs

Without an adequately skilled team that consistently and proactively maintains its technology infrastructure, associations often deal with frequent problems that divert resources from more important initiatives.  

Has your association had the experience of minor issues in their technology that end up escalating into critical situations? You may have had to spend a lot of unplanned money on expensive emergency interventions and replacements, which prevented you from investing in strategic growth or member services.  

This shows a clear need for a managed IT services provider who can provide a more stable environment. 

  1. Outdated technology and lack of modernization

Operational efficiency in associations can decline if they rely on outdated hardware and software. Are your staff struggling to leverage newer technologies or encountering compatibility issues when trying to integrate advanced solutions into your infrastructure? This may be due to infrequent technology evaluations and upgrades, or uncertainty about how to safely incorporate innovations like AI. In such cases, a managed IT service provider can help guide you in modernizing your environment. 

  1. Data security vulnerabilities and breaches

Relying on outdated technologies can also increase your association’s cybersecurity risks by creating vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit. This is a serious concern, as the rate of third-party data breaches or security incidents has grown by 49% in the past year, with 61% of companies reporting such incidents. 

Has your association experienced a data breach or other cybersecurity threat? Even if not, it’s important to consider if your data protection measures are sufficient, including patch management, threat detection, security audits, strong passwords, and staff training on cybersecurity best practices. By adopting a comprehensive zero-trust cybersecurity approach through managed IT services, you can enhance your data security and protect your organization. 

  1. Difficulty in scaling IT infrastructure

Your association isn’t static: the needs of your members are constantly changing, and so will how you support them.  

Are your existing technology systems struggling to keep up with your growing operations? Perhaps you’re unsure how to conduct the strategic planning needed to expand your IT infrastructure cohesively, or you might be dealing with a patchwork of siloed systems resulting from years of ad-hoc solutions. 

In that case, partnering with a managed IT services provider can help you build a well-integrated IT environment, empowering you to meet the evolving needs of your community effectively. 

  1. Poor member experience and engagement due to IT problems

Often, association staff feel demotivated when they constantly handle frustrated members who can’t access online resources, register for events, or communicate with the organization. These challenges can lead to decreased member participation and engagement with your valuable initiatives, making it harder for your team to fulfill your mission and achieve long-term success. 

If this situation sounds familiar, it may be time to seek assistance in maintaining a reliable IT environment for your members. 

  1. Non-compliance with industry regulations

Depending on your specific focus and location, many federal and state data privacy laws in the U.S. could influence your association’s operations. These include the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CDPA), or DC’s Security Breach Protection Amendment Act, among others.  

Non-compliance can lead to serious consequences, including legal penalties and fines. If your organization struggles to adhere to the relevant standards governing your technology use, you may benefit from support in conducting regular audits, updates, and risk assessments. 

  1. Inefficient IT management and missing strategic direction

Examine your current technology practices and policies to determine if they are yielding optimal outcomes. Consider whether your association frequently makes reactive technology decisions, resulting in investments that don’t align with your operational goals. 

If this sounds familiar, you may benefit from partnering with a managed IT services provider to guide you towards achieving operational sustainability with your technology. 

  1. Overwhelmed in-house IT staff

Your internal IT team likely handles a wide array of responsibilities, from managing system updates and user requests to troubleshooting technical issues and implementing security measures. This often results in them focusing on immediate problems rather than strategic IT projects, which can hinder their efficiency in maintaining a well-functioning IT infrastructure that boosts organizational productivity. 

If this resonates with you, partnering with a managed IT services provider can provide the resources and specialized expertise needed, allowing your team to concentrate on more mission-critical initiatives. 

Partner with designDATA to streamline your association’s operations 

Often, associations struggle with an inadequate IT environment that fails to meet their needs and maintain efficiency. 

By partnering with designDATA for our managed IT services and strategic IT consulting, your association can benefit from expert support to ensure your technology empowers your work instead of hindering it. 

With our deep expertise in IT management for associations, we can help you streamline your IT operations and proactively maintain your infrastructure, minimizing disruptive downtime. Our experts will also implement cost-effective solutions, allowing you to allocate resources to projects that directly impact your members. 

Contact designDATA today to learn how our managed IT services can streamline your association’s operations and enhance strategic management. 

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Cybersecurity Tips for Protecting Yourself Against IRS-Related Scams During Tax Season

Cybersecurity Tips for Protecting Yourself Against IRS-Related Scams During Tax Season

Cybersecurity Tips for Protecting Yourself Against IRS-Related Scams During Tax Season

DesignDATA
Cybersecurity Tips for Protecting Yourself Against IRS-Related Scams During Tax Season

Navigating tax season can be incredibly stressful, requiring us to undergo immense work to accurately report our finances and comply with complex requirements. Nowadays, most people use digital tools to simplify the process, with 93.8% of individual tax returns filed electronically for the 2022 fiscal year. However, this shift towards digital methods raises significant cybersecurity concerns. By exchanging such massive quantities of personally identifiable information online, people tend to sacrifice security for convenience. This leads to an increased risk of encountering IRS-related scams, highlighting the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures during this process.

These frauds are a year-round concern, but bad actors intensify their attacks during tax season, exploiting the heightened sense of urgency around filing deadlines. This period, marked by increased communication and pressure, makes people more susceptible to mistakes, creating an ideal environment for scammers to deploy their deceptive tactics effectively.

To reduce your risk, it’s crucial to stay vigilant and informed. In the following sections, we delve into the most prevalent IRS-related scams, outline strategies for safeguarding yourself, and provide guidance on steps to take if you unfortunately become a victim, aiming to minimize the damage caused.

Common Scams

In an IRS-related fraud scheme, a malicious actor impersonates the Internal Revenue Service to obtain your personal information, employing tactics like phishing or smishing (smartphone phishing). These fraudsters craft messages containing malicious links, using sophisticated documents and professionally designed landing pages to enhance authenticity. Using social engineering, they craft messages that may:

  • Prompt you to collect unclaimed refunds,
  • Threaten legal action for alleged fraud,
  • Inquire about supposed unpaid fees,
  • Request verification of unusual account activity, etc.

Once the link is clicked, it can be used to install malware or ransomware on your device.

You may also receive phone calls from impersonators who leave vague, pre-recorded voicemails threatening your arrest if you don’t immediately call back to provide payment. They may use spoofing technology to make them appear to be a legitimate government source.

In other cases, these criminals may engage in tax filing fraud, using your social security number to file a fraudulent tax return and claim your refund. This is a huge issue, with the IRS identifying over one million tax returns as potential identity theft cases during the 2023 tax season. 

What are the red flags and warning signs? 

Be aware of subtle signs that might suggest you are dealing with an impersonator rather than the legitimate agency. These include:

  • Unsolicited documents like a tax transcript, an Employer Identification Number, or a W-2 from an unknown source.
  • Unexpected messages from a tax preparation service claiming to have represented you.
  • Aggressive calls or messages demanding specific payment methods, such as gift cards or wire transfers, for an alleged debt. These may also ask for personal information like credit card numbers over the phone – practices never used by the IRS! 
  • Communications from unofficial or misspelled URL or email domains, or other grammatical errors in the content
  • Messages about unrealistic refunds or other far-fetched incentives

For additional insights, our guide on identifying business email compromises
 offers valuable tips on recognizing phishing and other deceptive impersonation tactics.

How can you protect your data from falling prey? 

You can implement various proactive measures to avoid these incidents, such as:

  • Use Strong Passwords: Implement strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication for all accounts
  • Verify Communications: Avoid clicking links in unsolicited messages. Instead, directly visit the official website for any legitimate notices. Remember, the Internal Revenue Service primarily communicates through traditional mail, not text or email.
  • File Taxes Early:  Submit your taxes promptly to prevent fraudsters from filing fraudulently in your name.
  • Consult Trusted Advisors: Work with reputable financial and tax advisors for tax preparation.
  • Obtain an  Identity Protection Pin: This adds an extra layer of security to your account, as it’s required for filing tax returns with your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
  • Verify Unknown Calls: If you receive a call from an unknown number claiming to be the IRS, hang up and call the official number to confirm its legitimacy.
  • Update Devices and Software: Regularly update your devices and software to close any security gaps that bad actors could exploit.

Organizations can also help create a more secure business environment by adopting a zero-trust cybersecurity approach, which involves continuously validating users on your network to minimize unauthorized data access. 

What should you do if you fall victim?

If you suspect you may have been tricked into exposing your data and finances, you must act immediately to minimize potential damage. 

  • Confirm and Report: After determining the unsolicited communication is fraudulent, report it to the appropriate authorities. You can find specific reporting methods for different types of schemes on the IRS website.
  • Notify Financial Institutions: If you made any payments during the interaction, inform your bank and/or credit card company immediately to secure your accounts.
  • Monitor Your Credit: Keep a close eye on your credit reports for signs of potential identity theft. Consider signing up for identity theft protection services for expert monitoring and assistance.

Partner with designDATA to protect your data 

Falling victim to a scam can have devastating effects, including significant monetary losses, drained bank accounts, and a tarnished credit history. Such consequences can hinder your ability to rent a home, purchase a car, secure employment, and perform other essential activities.

To prevent these outcomes, it’s crucial to safeguard your personal information proactively. This means not only implementing the measures we have outlined in this article, but also staying informed about the latest IRS-related scams. Equally important is sharing this knowledge with your colleagues, friends, and family to foster a safer community for everyone. 

While personal vigilance plays a crucial role in safeguarding individual tax information, its principles are equally vital in the business world. The same attention to detail and proactive mindset are essential in protecting an organization’s data. Partnering with a Managed Services Provider like designDATA can help you build a robust IT infrastructure that keeps your critical information and resources available and confidential. With our
cybersecurity solutions, you can minimize disruptions in the workplace and empower your team to do their best work, securely. 

Learn how we can protect your organization from evolving cyber risks with an advanced multi-layered defense by getting in touch with us.

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Sophos Firewall: The Next Generation of Network Safety

Sophos Firewall: The Next Generation of Network Safety

Sophos Firewall: The Next Generation of Network Safety

DesignDATA
Sophos Firewall: The Next Generation of Network Safety

hree-minute read

designDATA is committed to curating the best-of-breed products from our large array of industry-leading partners, so our clients can have the best network protection on the market today. Sophos Firewall is our go-to for SMBs and enterprise organizations because it is backed by high-performance security technology that centralizes, synchronizes and automates network monitoring in ways that are not offered by other vendors.

Below, we will explain three reasons why our partnership with Sophos gets our clients the network security they need to keep their organization safe.

So, What is a Firewall? 

First, let’s define our terms. You have probably seen movies and TV shows where firewalls are broken down with some quick keyboard mashing and an exclamation of “I’m in!” Luckily, designDATA and Sophos do not offer movie-quality network protection.

Firewalls are a combination of software and firmware that stop threats and unauthorized access to a company’s network. It scans all incoming and outgoing traffic using filtering rules to identify and detect threats. They are essential components of any company’s IT infrastructure.

Sophos Offers a Next Generation Firewall

A Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is not a single piece of technology but a group of technologies that work collaboratively to meet the network security needs of businesses operating in an era of heightened threats. Sophos XGS Firewall is an industry leading NGFW.

Today, the average business network has so many different entry points and varying kinds of users that a multi-layer approach is necessary.

What distinguishes an NGFW from less sophisticated firewalls is that they are paired with other security components, like intrusion detection and prevention systems, and they are Layer 7 firewalls.

Firewalls are ranked by the depth they filter data in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI). This model describes the seven layers that computer systems typically use to communicate and share data between networks.

What is special about Layer 7 firewalls is that they scan the contents, not just the IP addresses, of data packets that come into your network for malware and other cyber threats and allow for advanced traffic filtering rules.

Threats that could hamstring your ability to do business can pass through firewalls that are less stringent than NGFWs; that is why designDATA settles for nothing less than the highest standard of network security for our clients by using the Sophos Firewall.

Why Should You Care?

It is easy to get bogged down by technical information, so you can entrust designDATA to make these quality determinations on your behalf and convey its value succinctly. In simple terms, this firewall is the most advanced kind available today and is what SMBs and enterprise organizations need to protect their networks.

Sophos Central

This all-in-one dashboard allows the user to manage and observe all firewalls and interact with other Sophos security products on one screen for one price. They can access this unified managed console on any device to deploy, optimize and monitor multiple firewalls, gather security insights and neutralize threats.

Why Do You Need This?

Centralization means increased productivity. It allows your MSP to save you time and money by not jumping between different portals, dashboards and services and using more of their billable hours productively meeting your network security needs.

Why Do You Need This?

Synchronized Security 

This advanced, pioneering approach to reactive containment means firewalls, endpoints and servers synchronize and communicate to share real-time information. This patented Security Heartbeat™ shares network and endpoint data to automatically detect and respond to stop threats.

Sophos offers the only network security solution capable of completely identifying the user and source of a network intrusion to quarantine them and shut off their access to the broader network.

This advanced form of zero-touch incident response reduces your exposure to threats while freeing up time and resources to invest in other aspects of business or IT infrastructure.

If you fear losing the human touch, don’t worry, as the Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) team is ready 24 hours a day to hunt, detect and respond to cyber threats. Real breathing security experts backed by machine learning are available as a fully managed service. Around-the-clock expert help backing you up when no one else can is yet another reason Sophos is a vendor that’s hard to beat.

Get Support Against Cyber Threats

The big takeaway here is that the Sophos Firewall offers an exclusive bit of technology that gives your network an extra layer of high-performance protection that is not available from any other vendor. The partnership between designDATA and Sophos allows you to use this technology and get the peace of mind to focus on other parts of your business and not constantly look over your shoulder for the next business-ending cyber threat.

Talk with us today about how designDATA with our friends at Sophos can keep you safe, secure and productive with world-class cybersecurity solutions.

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