Expert Data Labs Blog

Cyber crimes happen everyday, and everyday IT security companies track and record details around these attacks. Microsoft is upping its game and releasing a real-time threat feed to ensure that its fellow partners can study existing threats it finds and discover the best steps to proactively take against them.

Microsoft currently has a process set up to take down destructive botnets. Microsoft “swallows” the botnets and permits them to infect accounts that are highly controlled by Microsoft’s team. After the botnets infect the accounts, Microsoft learns how they work and eliminates them as a threat.

Microsoft is now able to collect threat information and share it with ISPs, government agencies, private companies, and CERTs. The outcome of such a move by Microsoft could be dramatic. Analysts say that while a real-time threat feed won't lower the amount of attacks, it will help information security specialists respond to these threats faster. This could limit the level of damage caused by these attacks.

Another great result a real-time threat feed could have is an increase in overall information sharing between IT security companies. For too long IT companies have been hesitant to share threat information for the fear that it could fuel more attacks. Most analysts say this an unsupported fear.  The cyber criminal “community” has already been sharing and learning from each other.  It is only logical therefore that IT security professional share as much information as possible to battle the seemingly endless barrage of new cyber threats.

Let’s hope that security professionals soon realize that sharing information is more important than secrecy. And let’s hope that Microsoft’s move is a first step in this change of attitude.

Disasters can happen to any organization and they come in many forms and severities. They can be anything from a natural disaster, to a well-meaning employee accidently downloading a dangerous virus, to something crucial getting mistakenly deleted. These what-ifs can keep you up at night, so for your own peace of mind develop a disaster recovery plan.

Decide What’s Important

The first step is knowing what you have and what’s important. Take an inventory of all the data that is critical for your company to run. This will lead you to the data that should be backed up. Using an online provider or the cloud to store all of your data is one way to guarantee data recovery if your hard drive crashes and burns.

Make a Plan

Your next step is to contemplate what steps you need to take if something happens. Start with the worst possible scenario and create a plan for that. What technology do you require if everything is destroyed, what data, and what systems must be back up ASAP? Write down all of these in order of importance.

Know Your Workflows

I’m sure you have the big picture of your company processes, but what about all the day-to-day processes that you don’t have memorized? Ask your staff to document their workflows and the specific tasks they preform. This way, if something does happen, anyone can pick up where they left off and nothing gets looked over.

Decide Who is in Charge

Depending on the kind of disaster you experience, your employees could panic.  Before this happens, select one levelheaded person in the company to be “in charge” of the disaster recovery plan. They ought to know the plan as well as you do and possibly have helped you create it. This is the person you turn to for execution of the plan, so that you can be the strong leader your employees need at a time like this.

Disaster can happen to anyone! So before it does, develop a good plan so that you know what to do. It will make both your employees and you feel more secure.