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Tag Archives: IT Security

Blog, IT Security & Recovery planning

Cyber Security Awareness

Posted on by wpdc
21
Apr
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With the growing reliance on IT infrastructure a business needs to maintain high levels of security in order to protect itself from attack. Welcome to this introduction to cyber security awareness brought to you by DNA IT Solutions. This guide is one of a series that we hope will be useful to give you an insight into what you can do to protect your business from attack. Sharing these useful tips with your team could help protect your business.

Do you understand the cyber risks your business is facing? This checklist can deliver the knowledge your company needs to lower its cyber risk status.

MANAGEMENT

  • How often does the board discuss cybersecurity and how it might impact your business?
  • Are security policies enforced and updated regularly?
  • If your organisation changes direction do you have a developed plan in place to address any new cyber risks?
  • Have you established ownership across all data?

IT STAFF

  • Do you ensure that users have anti-virus software loaded and activated on systems?
  • Do you know what to do when your security has been breached?
  • Do you have programmes in place to identify and respond to cyber incidents?
  • Do you know what the biggest cyber risks are in your industry? Cyber Security Check List

USERS

  • Do you have effective cyber awareness training within every area of your business?
  • Do you delete emails from unknown sources without opening them?
  • Do you utilise strong, difficult-to-compromise passwords?
  • Are you suspicious of unsolicited contact from individuals seeking the company’s data?

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

  • Do you know what information and systems your business needs to keep operating?
  • Do you know where your business’s critical information and data is stored and who has access to it?
  • If you lost a critical system, do you have a pre-determined plan of how to restore the system?
  • Do you know what the costs will be for your business to respond to a serious cyber incident, including recovery?

If you are unable to answer any of these questions or some answers make you uncomfortable, then it could be worth you seeking out expert advice. 


Blog, IT Security & Recovery planning

Disaster Recovery

Posted on by wpdc
21
Apr

In this guide we look at Disaster Recovery Planning and explain why it is so important to business today.

Welcome to another of our user guides that takes the mystery out of IT for business owners. In this guide we explain what disaster recovery is and why it is vital to have a robust plan in place should the unexpected occur.

DRaaS Disaster Recovery as a Service

Disasters can and do happen. Cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and system failures are just a few of the uncontrollable events that could potentially harm your company. Regardless of the size of your business, a physical or technological disaster could result in a significant financial loss. However, although disasters are not always preventable, it is possible to minimise their impact.

In the event of a disaster, a recovery plan will enable you to minimise downtime and reassure your customers.

Reduce the Impact of Natural Disasters

Floods, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are difficult to predict and almost impossible to control. Such disasters can result in significant downtime for businesses. You may lose access to phone lines, to customer files, and even to your office. Without a predetermined disaster recovery plan, you risk damaging the health of your company.

Human Error

People make mistakes. Unfortunately, a single error can sometimes result in the loss of data or a major product flaw. Of course, one of the best ways to minimise human error is to train your employees to a high standard. But it’s also important to be prepared by having a disaster recovery system. Putting a disaster recovery plan in place is one of the most important steps a company can take. A thorough plan ensures that you will have no unnecessary downtime after a disaster and that you will continue to have access to data.

Cyber Attack

Cybercrime in Ireland is double global levels and businesses of all sizes and in all sectors have been affected. Looking at these trends, those cyber- attacks are only going to increase in the coming years. All size businesses must assess their risks individually. It’s been shown that the chances of a smaller business having a breach is much greater and the likelihood of them making a full recovery is a lot less. Why? Because they don’t have the infrastructure in place to both protect them from attack and help them recover should such a disaster occur.

More data:
There has never been so much processing and storage of information as there is today. There is also more dependency on IT systems and therefore cybercrime has become very lucrative. The hackers know the high impact they can create on a business. It’s not just something related to the ‘computer systems going down’, it could be the business going down the drain.

An attack can mean loss of data and downtime which in turn could affect your business negatively. Losing customers, loss of revenue and damage to reputation are all scary notions.

How to Protect Having the correct processes in place to help prevent that attack is the first priority. And also having a plan in place should a disaster occur so you can recover quickly from it and ensure business continuity. Disaster Recover not only for on premise but also for the cloud environment.

A Solid Disaster Plan

Consider your business, what would happen if you lost some data? Or data was compromised? Think about what the cost to your organisation would be. Not only the loss of reputation, clients or money but the regulations in your sector could result in the closure of the business. That is why it is so important to have a plan in place when it comes to business continuity and disaster recovery.

What is Business Continuity?

These attacks can and do happen regularly. However, having a plan in place to ensure your critical business applications can continue during a disaster is the best solution.

Attacks can be man-made, natural or via cyber criminals, you need a robust plan and systems in place that offer peace of mind should the worst happen. The impact on your business of downtime and data loss can be significant and you need to be back up in hours not days. You need to have backups that are minutes old, not days old.

DNA IT Solutions work with clients to assess their risks, look at their particular challenges and needs. We then design a strategy around disaster recovery that is the right fit. We test and re-test to ensure peace of mind for all. Ensuring your business can continue after an attack, be it natural or cyber.

DNA IT Solutions will help you to create an appropriate disaster recovery system and can also help you implement it if becomes necessary. Preparing a thorough recovery plan is an investment for the future health of your business.


News

How to Reduce Cyber Insurance Premiums: Security Measures That Lower Your Costs

Posted on by Deirdre Cashion
27
Oct

This week, our Sales Manager, Andrew Pearsall had a fascinating conversation with a client about the evolving landscape of cyber insurance and how it’s increased in scope and importance over the years.

Up until very recently, the questions on the cyber insurance proposal form were relatively basic. However, as more and more security threats emerge, the questionnaire and the information required by clients to provide, has become more onerous.

Premiums continue to rise.

The cyber insurance market in Ireland is growing rapidly and according to PwC’s 2026 Global Digital Trust Insights report, 41 per cent of Irish organisations are looking to update cyber insurance to mitigate risk and build resiliency.

However, an insurance policy alone will not provide adequate protection in an environment where cyber threats are flourishing.

Proper cyber resilience is based on actionable, practical plans, underpinned by people, processes and technology solutions that support business continuity in the event of a breach.

It’s a stark finding from PwC’s survey that just 28% of Irish organisations have implemented robust cyber resilience actions, well behind their global counterparts at 33%.

In addition to this, less than one in 10 (8%) of Irish organisations invest significantly more on proactive cybersecurity measures than reactive measures, lagging well behind their global counterparts at 24%.

This raises the question: why spend money on being reactive after an incident, when you can invest in your cyber security and be proactive? You get more protection, at a reduced cost.

Key Takeaways:

  • Cyber insurance is no longer just about coverage – it’s about your proactive security posture.
  • Insurers are increasingly rewarding organisations that demonstrate strong cybersecurity frameworks.
  • A well-structured security wrap with DNA’s layered defence and 24/7 SOC team incident response can significantly reduce your premiums.
  • The process of completing insurance forms is a valuable exercise in identifying gaps and strengthening internal policies.
  • Testing is not an option; it’s an absolute must! DR Testing, Pen Testing all need to be done to make sure there’s no gaps

Advice for IT and Business Leaders

If you’re reviewing your cyber insurance this quarter, don’t just tick the boxes. Let’s use it as an opportunity to audit your security stack, align with best practices, and negotiate better terms. The stronger your defences, the better your coverage and the lower your costs.

News

Network Security – are you secure?

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Are You Secure network security DNA IT Solutions
13
Dec

What is Network security?  It is the practice of preventing unauthorised access to a private network or the monitoring of use of a public access network.

In simple terms this protects your company data, protects your users and in turn protects your reputation.  In this age of GDPR and data protection, it is more important than ever to ensure what you have stored remains secure.   With increased security threats coming from cyber criminals there are new risks to consider all the time.

Access  

Sometimes the biggest threat can be quite innocent and will come from within the walls of your office.  Do you know who has access to your system?  Now think about that question very carefully before answering.  Even with your staff, not all of them should have the same access level.  Then contractors should have even more limited access and outside agencies none at all.  Consider former employees, interns and short term visitors to your office.   Do they still have access once they leave the building?

Misuse of technology

Misuse or modification of both hardware and software technologies are a big threat.  There should be procedures in place to avoid this happening.  The right network security will target various threats and stop them from entering the network and spreading.  And just in case they do get through, it’s important that you have the most up to date anti-virus and anti-malware software in place.

All the applications that you are running to operate the business should be secure and kept up to date.  This will ensure you are not allowing any vulnerabilities.  It’s easy to do this but sometimes it will get forgotten about.  Firewalls will stop some major risks in their tracks, before they start to cause havoc but they only work in conjunction with everything else.

Online Security

Web security will control what websites your users can access, thereby keeping them on reputable and safe websites.  Lessening the risk with email network systems makes real sense.  This will filter potential issues before they land in the user’s in-box.  Talk to your team about data loss prevention.  Make sure they know how to keep information secure by not forwarding or sharing in a non-secure way.

The Wi-Fi code

Another aspect of network security pertains to wireless.  You would do well to protect the network by not having the same for all users.  It is recommended to have separate Wi-Fi access for staff, visitors and public.

As with all security, IT or physical security of buildings, there is no one-size-for-all solution.  A combination of layers of security is the best option.  If you do not have the confidence that your network security is up to scratch, maybe it is time you spoke to the experts at DNA IT Solutions.

 

News

Stay Safe on Cyber Monday

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Cyber Monday Stay safe DNA IT Solutions
26
Nov

Today is one of the biggest online shopping days in Ireland.  Black Friday may be the day we queue outside shops to pick up a bargain, but Cyber Monday is when we become keyboard warriors in search of great deals.

Cyber Criminals Love it

While the retailers love the extra revenue and we certainly love the deals, unfortunately the hackers also love this special day.  They can really catch us off guard today.  We can get caught up in the drama of the day and in a frenzy we may click on dangerous email links leading us to dodgy websites.

New websites

On this day we know time is limited and there is a real FMO (fear of missing out), our friends may get the bargain of the day.  So we are more likely to be on new websites searching for the best offers.   Most of these websites are absolutely fine but we can end up on a dangerous one very easily if we don’t take care.   We are watching social media for offers and when we click we arrive somewhere that looks kind of familiar but on closer inspection it can be a website that is collecting payment details for products that don’t exist.   Many of these sites are created to look very like a popular retailer so you must be vigilant.

Phishing emails

While looking for bargains, all sense goes out the window.  We might get an email telling us about this amazing deal and normally we would be wary but on the day that is in it, we will probably just click without thinking.  Stop!  Phishing emails, social engineering, identity theft are all rife on a day like today.  Offers that are too good to be true, are normally not genuine.

What to do  

Ensure your security software is up to date and all patches have been updated.  Check that the firewall and antivirus is working.  In the office, share your cyber security knowledge with your team to help them stay safe.

It seems obvious but here is a reminder:  Think before you click, only visit trusted sites, check carefully before you give any payment details, look for any signs that the email might be fake or spam.  Stay safe this cyber Monday.

News

Security Made Simple for Retail

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Security Made Simple For Retail DNA IT Solutions
05
Nov

Sophos – A complete security solution for traditional and online retail

Your entire company, starting with your employees, those in charge of the distribution, collaborators and business partners can all benefit from the presence of Sophos. Besides creating the best connectivity environment and increasing POS security, Sophos makes sure that everything is extremely safe.

POS network that is secure together with protected databases

Sophos is a solution that offers a high degree of security for every aspect of your business, by practicing prevention methods. Your server, endpoint, and the network will all benefit from the preventative measures of Sophos, so even the newest developed threats won’t be able to produce any harm or damage. The Sophos Security Heartbeat™, a feature that can be provided only by Sophos, keeps malware at bay by detecting and isolating threats as soon as they are noticed, with the help of health status and telemetry measures.

Security for retail businesses of all types

You can easily develop your retail company with the help of Sophos, opening up new headquarters, creating new branches, increasing your number of stores, as this solution will continue offering the same degree of protection. To make sure that the new extensions are under the safe armor of Sophos,  just make the necessary changes to customise it according to your needs.

All threats can be blocked right away

It doesn’t matter what kind of threat you are dealing with, whether you know what it is or not, with Sophos you can block it before it has the chance to cause any damage. This complete solution offers a powerful XG Firewall and APTs to keep everything in control at all times. Thus, you can forget all about worms, hacks, ill-intended bots, and more. You will also have the possibility to keep an eye on the potential threats by monitoring and analysing the status of your networks around the clock. This way, you will be able to take proper measures in a timely manner.

Safe Wi-Fi services for guests

We all know that offering Wi-Fi services for free to potential clients is recommended. But free Wi-Fi services are often seen as not secure, so you need to rise to the expectancy of your store’s visitors and enhance their experiences in a secure manner. With the help of a Sophos firewall, visitors and customers will enjoy better connectivity and security, regardless of the devices they will use.

To find out more about Sophos and protecting your retail business you should speak to the expert team at DNA IT Solutions.  We work with Sophos to keep our clients protected at all times.

News

Be Password Clever

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Be password clever DNA IT Solutions
21
Oct

A password is not just a string of letters and numbers, it is the key to gaining access to a valuable place.  Passwords allow access to bank accounts, email accounts and more.  In the wrong hands, access to your accounts can result in disaster.

Online each day 

We access so many tools and accounts online each day. Our phones and a few codes allow us to be on social media, monitor our banking and send emails.  We are fortunate to have all this technology literally at our fingertips.  However, with this easy access comes the cyber criminal always trying to make some money.

Password Terms

Hackers try to gain access to accounts by a some common methods.  ‘Brute force’ tries the most common passwords against the account until it figures it out.  You can reduce the chances of getting hit with this by having a limiter on the account, this is a good security layer.

‘Password spraying’ is trying to figure out the same common password over many accounts.  This operates at a slower rate so they won’t be noticed.   We can tend to use the same password over several accounts so we can remember it easily, that is not such a good idea.  If one is compromised, then it can be used to access other accounts.

Here are some simple tips to help keep you password safe:  

  • Remember longer is stronger. Passwords need to be a minimum of eight characters long.
  • Passwords should contain a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
  • Don’t use personal information in your password such as date of birth, pet’s name or your favourite football team. That’s too easy to guess.
  • Use a different password for each account.
  • Do not write your passwords down or store them on your mobile or PC.
  • To store them, use an up-to-date digital password vault. This encrypts them and provides you with an access code.
  • Remember to change your passwords regularly.
  • Do not use the default password that comes with software installation. Change it immediately.
  • Beware of shoulder surfers, when keying in passwords.

By following those simple steps, you could save yourself from having your online accounts compromised.  Human error is often the cause of data breaches so be password clever to help avoid it.   For more advice on staying safe on line you can speak to the expert team at DNA IT Solutions.

News

Security is Vital for Better Business Success

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Security vital for business success DNA IT Solutions
24
Sep

When you are building a business you will have a series of goals to meet that, for you, will measure your success.  On your journey to success you will no doubt change and adapt to whatever challenges you meet.  Digital transformation will be part of that journey.

Security and Trust

As you grow, your reputation will be one of the key factors in your success.  When it comes to brands, having the trust of the customers will aid growth through confidence.  Once that trust is broken in any way, not only is it a PR disaster but it will start to affect sales almost immediately and into the future.

Security Plan

Having a robust security plan in place for your business should be a priority.  Doing a full audit of the current situation and identifying what areas need to be looked at is the first step.  Seeing what data you have and how and where it is stored will be valuable.  Ensuring systems and platforms are as secure as you can make them is the next priority.  Having your team aware of cyber security and giving them the tools to protect themselves so they in turn can protect your business is key.

Mobile Security

Increasing use of mobile devices both within the business and by customers’ needs to be reviewed.  The security of WiFi within the organisation building but also the use of it by remote staff needs to be addressed.  Security of email and protocols should be in place to prevent phishing and ransomware attacks.  There are so many areas for attention which may include risks of hacking of any new technology such as chatbots or IoT products.  Alot centers around the concerns of your customer personal data being vulnerable.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery will be on the agenda when it comes to security.  Deciding on where in the cloud information is stored and backed up and having a plan around business continuity should an attack occur.  All these security concerns need to be addressed for ultimate business success.

Planning what you need to do and implementing it is the goal.  Knowing that there is not just one solution that fits all is a start.  Planning a set of different layers with different priorities that build up to a robust protective cloak will keep your business safe.  Plan your security strategy today and plan for business success.

News

4 Major Information Security Threats for Business Today

Posted on by Sean Lucas
4 information security threats DNA IT Solutions
30
Jul

There are many opportunities for businesses today.  With the economy thriving and disposable incomes increasing we see success at every corner.  However, where you see opportunities you will also see threats.

There will always be the threat from a new competitor or the threat of losing a customer and these are hard to control   However, when it comes to IT Security threats there are quite a few things you can do to protect your business.

Here we look at the 4 biggest information security threats for businesses today:

Cyber Attack

Many smaller businesses will not have a formal IT expert or department and will not have the knowledge to put in place even basic internet security measures.  The cybercriminal will know this and this vulnerability leaves many Irish companies open to attack.  An easy target will be what they will look for.   The cost of an attack can not only cost a significant amount of money; in certain circumstances it could close a business down.  Having the right layers of security for your business will in many cases prevent the attack and at worst, will get you back up and running should it occur.

Data Breach

With more information being held and processed than ever before it’s no wonder that GDPR was introduced recently.   Having your company and client information secure is now not only important – it is law.  A data breach can occur during an attack but in many cases it will be simple human error by a staff member.  No matter how it occurs it can lead to issues costing time and money.  The right technology and systems in place will make this occurrence less likely to happen, giving management peace of mind day to day.

Mobile Devices

Very few employees sit at a PC from nine until five each day.  With the modern mobile office, we are often checking emails on our phone, inputting information into a tablet to transmit back to the office or even working on our laptops in hotels and airports while on the move.  Again this leads to vulnerabilities if the correct security systems are not in place.  Encryption and other forms of security measures will protect users, devices, network and data.  Allowing the team to work freely and be more effective than before.

Natural Disruption

Taking away threats from those horrible hackers, we must then consider the real world.  Natural disasters can be every bit as devastating and hard to predict for business owners.   When storms happen then power can go out.  We have no control over the weather but we can put in place systems to ensure workers can still continue and data is not lost.   When technology is not enabling you to get your work done it will be frustrating at the least and affect the overall revenue of the business at worst.

No matter what the threat to your business is, once you recognise it and put in place some plans to minimise the risk then you are doing all you can.  When it comes to IT threats you need to speak to an expert team so call us today to see how we can minimise your threats and let you raise your opportunities.

News

The Impact of a Security Breach

Posted on by Sean Lucas
Impact of a security breach DNA IT Solutions
01
Jul

A recent report stated that cybercrime in Ireland is double global levels.

Businesses of all sizes and in all sectors have been affected.  Looking at these trends, those cyber-attacks are only going to increase in the coming years.

Devastating Costs

Traditional crimes such as burglary or arson will have a detrimental effect on any business.  However, the costs of computer crime can be even higher and more devastating in many ways.

All size businesses must assess their risks individually.  It’s been shown that the chances of a smaller business having a breach is much greater and the likelihood of them making a full recovery is a lot less.  Why?  Because they don’t have the infrastructure in place to both protect them from attack and help them recover should such a disaster occur.

More Information

Both the attacks and risk of attack have been there for some time but there has never been so much processing and storage of information as there is today.  There is also more dependency on IT systems and therefore cyber crime has become very lucrative.  The hackers know the high impact they can create on a business.  Their knowledge is growing and the attacks are increasingly becoming more sophisticated.

It’s not just something related to the ‘computer systems going down’, it could be the business going down the drain.   An attack can mean loss of data and downtime which in turn could affect your business negatively.  Losing customers, loss of revenue and damage to reputation are all scary notions. There may be an impact on cash flow, possible fines for regulations broken and higher premiums for insurance at the least.

 

How to Protect

Having the correct processes in place to help prevent that attack is the first priority.  This will include having the right software to identify an issue and prevent it.  User training is also a key part of protecting your business, informing staff on simple safety measures they can implement.  And having a plan in place should a disaster occur so you can recover quickly from it and ensure business continuity.

You need to have a plan in place and you need expert advice for that.  Don’t leave your business open to attack, talk to the team at DNA IT Solutions to see how we can help.