We are happy to announce that SafeDNS web-filtering service has won the Best Value Software award at SoftwareSuggest Winter Recognition Awards 2022.

To quote SoftwareSuggest, “To save businesses’ resources and prevent their staff from wasting work time SafeDNS provides a sophisticated cloud-based solution for web filtering which also increases users’ safety online by blocking botnets, malware, and phishing resources filter out most internet ads and content users consider irrelevant and inappropriate.”

SafeDNS team would like to thank SoftwareSuggest for their high appraisal, as well as our partners and customers for their trust and feedback. They always help us work towards improving our service.

Not every cybersecurity threat is ransomware. Phishing is cybersecurity’s biggest threat. It’s one of the most common ways hackers can infiltrate your organization, and it can result in much more than identity theft.

Back in the 4th quarter of 2021, we were looking at a credential-stealing phishing attack on LinkedIn. The phishing email was sent from a compromised university email account and hosted its phishing page on Google Forms. The email claimed that the victims’ LinkedIn account had been suspended due to unusual activity and invited them to verify their account if they wanted to restore access.

This email attack employed the whole gamut of techniques to get past traditional email security filters and play a hoax on unsuspecting victims.

In the end of 2021, in December to be exact, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, filed a lawsuit in a California court against the operators of more than 39,000 phishing sites that have been hosted through the Ngrok service.

According to legal analysts, those lawsuits won’t go anywhere, but the reason for them to exist is that Meta is trying to say they are capable of identifying who is behind the phishing campaigns.

According to cybersecurity specialists, phishing attacks are very likely going to increase by 30%. And they are recommending both individuals and business owners to take all security precautions to decrease the risks of falling victim to one of those attacks.

· Difficulties in controlling app security risks

Many companies use SaaS apps in their work more and more often, especially when their employees must work remotely. This is when they hit a problem: it is necessary to adjust security settings correctly for each app considering their configurations. As there are many such apps, security departments are forced to do major volumes of work and are not always maximally efficient.

· Low level of knowledge in cybersecurity rules by privileged users

Employees who do not follow cybersecurity rules and have expanded access put confidential information at the threat of being hacked and increase the risk of it being revealed. And because SaaS use continues to grow, there appears the necessity for control of employees’ access to apps.

· Phishing via SaaS

Criminals attack companies’ email via SaaS using the following scheme:

– Criminals send an email with OAuth app.

– An employee follows the link and logs in to their account.

– The app requests access to emails.

– The employee accepts the request.

– OAuth token is created, which is subsequently used by the cybercriminal to gain access to and control email or the whole disc.

– The criminal encodes the disc and the user can get access to it back only after they  have paid ransom.

This is how ransomware works. Other types of cyberattacks can be organized using OAuth app as well.

Having installed special apps for protection against cyberattacks or using cloud services companies can protect themselves from such cyberattacks and identify changes in cybersecurity settings and SaaS apps in timely manner.

1. Don’t forget to change your passwords regularly.

Don’t use the same password for a long time – change it. A very popular mistake users make is having the same password for all accounts. In the event of a cyberattack they all become available to cybercriminals.

When creating a password, make it stronger by using special characters, introduce a short code phrase. This will help you protect all your data from being hacked.

2. Don’t click on suspicious links.

Before you click on a link, take a careful look at it in order to understand where it leads to. By clicking on suspicious ones, you jeopardize your gadget, because malware can infiltrate your phone or computer.

3. Delete suspicious emails.

Make sure the email you got is not phishing. Google the address it was sent from.

4. Ignore attachments with unknown file formats.

Don’t open messages or emails containing attachments with non-standard file formats, such as .reg, .scr, .exe, .hta, vbs. They may contain a code cybercriminals use to hack your gadgets and steal confidential information.

5. Use two-factor authentication.

It will be much more difficult to hack into your account if you install an app that enables two-factor authentication. 2-step authentication with the use of text messages has also proved efficient.