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A firewall is a device that acts like a security cop watching over your computer network to detect unauthorized access and activity – and EVERY business and individual needs one.

However, your firewall is completely useless if it’s not set up or maintained properly. Your firewall needs to be upgraded and patched on a continual and consistent basis, and security policies and configurations set. This is not something you want to try and handle on your own – you are best served by letting the pros (us!) handle that for you.

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Episode Show Notes: 

  • Intro.

Hey everybody, welcome to episode 14 of Stupid or irresponsible! We have host, Justin Shelley, CEO of Phoenix IT Advisors and co-host Joe Melot, CIO of Phoenix IT Advisors back with some updates, tips, headlines and more!

 

  • What’s the most interesting thing that happened to you this week?

Joe:

    • Different for sure. Been diving into CMMC Framework, excited about that for the SPRs for the DOD. Basically, a new PCI, stuff for the Department of Defense contracts, contractor vendors and that kind of stuff. Nothing exciting there. A lot of pencil pushing a lot of paperwork. My personal life, fixing things in the new house, fix some broken shit, some fun, some not so much.

Justin:

    • The most exciting thing that happened to me last week – was I got stood up for a podcast interview!

 

  • Reminder why we call it “Stupid or Irresponsible”. 4:50
    • It started with an ad campaign, saying how when you get hit or WHEN You Get Breached, Are They Going To Call Your Stupid…or Just Irresponsible??
      • I used to subscribe to the victim mentality, but that will get us nowhere. Also, I tried for a full year to give this away free of charge and very few took me up on the offer. That is stupid. If we are not giving this our full attention, we are stupid. We should know better. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Even BASIC security measures could be the difference of going out of business or not.
  • Stupid Update.
    • Justin’s stupid update he says “You’re looking at it…I clicked on a stupid email this week, and sure enough it was a phishing email.”

 

We broke down phishing scams a few episodes ago and talked recently about just how outrageous they are becoming, and here I am, falling for one.

I fell for the subject line “Check Number 01328” and I opened it.

 

(It got through numerous spam filters; this is how smart they are getting.)

 

It came from someone who I am acquainted with, and their email got breached. So, then open email and an there is this image of a check that is small enough that you do not really see it, so I click on it trying to figure out what the hell it is, and now THERE WE GO. The portal to login to your Microsoft account…stupid move on my part. LUCKILY, we have been talking about this week after week during our podcasts and I was able to save it before it went any further. It could have been just as easily a link that I clicked and downloads malicious payloads, but luckily it was not.

 

  • Security/Productivity tip. 9:45:  Joe, we are talking about firewalls today and the title is kind of interesting. Your firewall is useless. Start Joe, break it down for people. What is a firewall, Joe?
    • What is a firewall?
      • So, Firewalls. It is a device that kind of acts like the security cop that watches over your network. This is going to be like the very end of your network, logically and literally everything. Every Internet activity that happens within an organization of building your house, you name, it goes through this. That is the cop that is watching everything that is going back and forth.

 

The deal is, though, that your firewall is completely useless if it is not set up if it is not maintained properly. If it is not, you could buy the most top of the line firewall. You might also hear the word router that is kind of street lingo. But really, this is a router, But the technical jargon now is UTM. Basically, it is just the cop. Making sure that only the good stuff comes in.

But now all the bad guys are coming in. None of the good stuff's going out. You have got all kinds of problems, so it's worthless. What is the point? Why even spend the money in the first place? -  If you are not going to maintain it, you're not going to get it set up properly. If you’re not going to keep it patched. These things hackers are always looking for the biggest vulnerability, and then once they get, this is basically your front door. If they get in through your front door, they have got full access to all your bedrooms.

      • So, making sure that it is up to date that it has got the newest patches got the newest updates. It is set up correctly. You have got the right filtering engine, you have got the right, you are blocking the right things, etc.

 

  • Stupid Headlines:
    • Spam email campaigns – they are just going crazy. Like all over the place. I've been scouring all of our client’s spam filters kind of seeing, you know, because the fact that it got to your mailbox, it just that intrigued me. That is interesting because we have got so many filters, is so many blocks and stuff. But these guys are getting so smart. The latest thing they have been doing is having a website where it's just a link. There are no malicious payloads. There is no anything. All it is a redirect.
      • Problem is - You cannot make hyperlinks; you know warning flag for your spam filter.
      • Why? -  Because half of the world uses in their signature. They have a link to their Facebook, their website, you name it.
      • How hackers do this? - A lot of this times they are like legitimate links. Maybe it is a OneDrive. Or maybe it is, you go the OneDrive, and then THAT is the actual fake. So, it has been a breached OneDrive, page, or OneDrive document that they make the look like a page really is just a credential steel or something like that. Asking you to log in.
    • How do you fix that?
      • So, it is really coming down to user training. End user training.

We have really been pushing that hard and again speaking to what I was talking about earlier. What I have been jumping into is, this CMMC this Department of Defense contracting stuff, and they require it. It is part of it, you cannot get a government contract anymore without having specific training, itemized, and listed out.

 

  • Stupid Teaser. Coming up next week. The next stupid thing we are going to break down. a huge WARNING if you handle, process, or store credit cards… And give a checklist for you.

 

  • Smart Call to Action. We talk a lot about stupid (nothing bad ever happens to me; head in the sand; too busy; I will do it later).

 

    • So, what’s smart? Taking this seriously TODAY, RIGHT NOW!

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