For many people, 2020 may have seemed like it has dragged on forever. But we are finally approaching the end of the year, which means business owners in Sturgeon Bay should be thinking about year-end upgrades that can be deducted from this year’s taxes. [Read more…]
When’s the last time you updated your router’s firmware? Do you require mobile anti-malware be installed on employee smartphones used for business? [Read more…]
If you had to unexpectedly work from home back in March due to the coronavirus, you’ve likely settled into the “work from home” environment by now. [Read more…]
As the summer comes to a close, back to school and back to work is a reality for many families. Both are coming with a mix of remote and in-person days here in Sturgeon Bay, WI and the rest of the country. [Read more…]
Home networks have gotten a workout during the pandemic, with people relying on them to support remote work and handle video conferences for online learning and more. [Read more…]
Microsoft 365 is the most popular cloud software in the world by user count. Approximately 600,000 U.S. companies rely on the platform for their daily productivity and the app has surpassed over 200 million monthly active users. [Read more…]
Google detects anywhere between 600-800 new malware infected websites per week. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online threats.
A majority of phishing attacks now use links rather than file attachments to get past antivirus applications and other forms of cybersecurity. They also send users to fake online login forms designed to steal their password for platforms like PayPal and Microsoft 365.
Online security can be a real problem for businesses and one that often slips through the cracks. Spoofed sites are prevalent, and they’re designed so well that most users can’t tell them from the real thing.
Malicious websites can be just as much of a threat to mobile devices as they are to desktop and laptop computers. They also can inject a device with malware as soon as the site loads in the browser, before the user can react or click the “back” button.
How can you protect your business from online dangers? By deploying DNS filtering.
DNS filtering is also called web protection because it protects users from dangerous online websites.
DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is the mechanism that matches a website server’s IP address to its commonly known URL (i.e. the www.something.com address).
Without the DNS system people would have to know the exact IP address of every website they wanted to visit, making the web pretty difficult to use. When a domain (www) name is purchased for a website, it’s assigned a unique IP address according to the name server the site is residing on.
This translation of the domain name you type in the browser to the IP address of the site all happens automatically behind the scenes when you visit websites. What a DNS filter does is put itself in between your device and that system so it can check the validity of the site before loading it into your browser.
DNS filters access a blacklist of malicious websites and use predefined policies to detect any potential security violations on a site. If it finds that a site is malicious or potentially dangerous, instead of sending the user there, it will redirect their browser to a warning page.
DNS filters can either be set up to allow users to bypass the warning or to block the content completely so users can’t bypass the security to get to the site.
DNS filtering is often included in many network solutions, such as firewalls or VPNs. The threat landscape online has only become more dangerous, which is why you need to protect your users from landing on malicious sites.
Here are key reasons to put DNS filtering in place.
According to Symantec, 1 in 13 web requests lead to malware. That’s a pretty high percentage when you consider the number of websites you visit every day.
Going online has become like walking through a minefield, you never know when you’re going to hit a malicious site or a legitimate site that’s been hacked and had malware injected.
DNS filtering puts an important safety barrier in between your users and all those dangerous websites.
Cybercriminals set up malicious websites to download a malware file as soon as the site loads in a user’s browser. This means that if they try to leave after getting to the site, it’s often too late.
Because a DNS filter will block malicious sites even after a user clicks a link to one, the site never loads in the user’s browser, thus it stops those auto-downloads of malware.
Credential theft has become #1 form of phishing attack. Hackers are looking for that easy entry into a cloud service which bypasses multiple security protections, the user login.
Users are often fooled into clicking a link they think is for “an urgent password reset” or another phishing tactic. They land on a page that spoofs the look of the legitimate page and their credentials are instantly stolen.
DNS filtering can detect these types of spoofed login pages and keep users from making that critical mistake that exposes their login.
One wrong click can cause a user to accidentally load an inappropriate site. This can be particularly embarrassing if they’re sharing a screen during a video conference.
DNS filtering allows companies to block certain sites. These can include inappropriate sites or productivity draining sites (like social media). This gives you more control over the types of web content that can be accessed through company devices.
Quantum PC Services can get your devices protected with DNS filtering to block malicious websites and provide other network protections you may need.
Contact us today to learn more! Call 920-256-1214 or reach us online.
The pandemic has meant that people have to find new ways to stay connected to work, family and friends. [Read more…]
As computers age, they naturally begin to have problems, get slower, and cause more downtime for businesses. But knowing when you need to set your replacement cycle can be confusing. [Read more…]
Millions of Americans have downloaded the video social sharing app TikTok since the pandemic started. Some for entertainment, others to try to reach small business customers in a new way. [Read more…]
