Cybersecurity recommendations from Ben Climer and Safe Network Solutions today: One common misconception we hear is that investment in cybersecurity means safety. As hackers, malicious actors, malware authors, and cybercriminals evolve, so do their techniques and capabilities. Even though you may have installed the latest and greatest firewall, if your employees aren’t trained to identify security threats and phishing emails, your business may still be vulnerable. It’s imperative to complete a thorough review of your devices, configurations, and people to ensure you business data is protected. The best way to ensure your network is safe is to partner with Safe Network Solutions to review your system from top to bottom. The purpose of our assessment is to provide an unbiased glimpse into the security of your office systems. See additional information on Ben Climer.
Ben Climer has been in the Service Team Lead and Solution Architect role for 5 years. His favorite aspect of SNS is the great team we have, which allows us to deliver excellent service to our clients. When there’s a challenging problem at hand, Ben is the one we can count on for complete answers and elegant solutions. Ben built his first computer at the age of 8, started building web applications at 12 and before joining SNS, went on to compete in National Computer Repair competitions. He worked for HP as well as music row clients prior to joining SNS. Outside of work, Ben enjoys working on cars and traveling.
With over 10 years of work experience in the IT industry, Ben Climer is a passionate and skilled CTO at Safe Network Solutions, a leading provider of network security and cloud solutions. Ben Climer has a strong background in technical sales, network administration, and solution architecture. His mission is to deliver innovative, reliable, and cost-effective solutions that meet the needs and expectations of our clients. Collaboration, learning, and excellence, and striving to create a culture of trust, empowerment, accountability within the team are Ben Climer’s goals.
As the CTO, Ben Climer is responsible for overseeing the technical direction, strategy, and vision of the company, as well as mentoring a team of talented engineers and consultants. He has successfully implemented and troubleshooted various projects involving Hyper-V, Azure, Office 365, AWS, and wireless point-to-point technologies, ensuring high performance, security, and scalability. He also participated in various CTF competitions, demonstrating proficiency in cloud and cybersecurity. Ben Climer enjoys staying updated on the latest trends and developments in the IT field, and sharing his knowledge and insights with the community.
Anyone who wants to do your company harm can infiltrate in a number of ways — through your computer network or your website, using phony emails or other scams to obtain account names, passwords and other sensitive information. It used to be enough to protect the data that existed within the physical walls of your business, but that’s no longer sufficient. Many businesses don’t even have physical walls anymore: They might exist entirely on the Internet, with employees working independently all over the globe. On top of protecting your own systems, you also have to protect your customers’ information. And the laptops and smartphones that make our lives easier also present new and challenging security issues.
Conduct an Inside Threat Analysis. An insider threat analysis will uncover any potential threats to your IT infrastructure that come from within your organization. This could be anything from employees and former employees to contractors, vendors, third party data suppliers or associates. Ensure that you have preparations to respond quickly and efficiently when you are faced with a cyber-attack. Communicate this plan to the rest of your organization and have someone in charge of ensuring the plan is carried out.
Lock Devices Down. Most smartphones, laptops, and tablets come equipped with security settings that will enable you to lock the device using a PIN number or fingerprint ID. Do this on every available device. While traveling, change the PIN numbers you regularly use. In the event that any of your devices have been momentarily misplaced or forgotten, this will be the first line of defense against a security breach.
With the recent Equifax breach, it’s more important than ever for consumers to safeguard their online accounts and monitor their credit reports. A credit freeze is the most effective way for you to protect your personal credit information from cyber criminals right now. Essentially, it allows you to lock your credit and use a personal identification number (PIN) that only you will know. You can then use this PIN when you need to apply for credit. Hacking, phishing, and malware incidents are becoming the number one cause of security breaches today. But, what’s more troubling, these hacking attempts are the result of human errors in some way. Education and awareness are critically important in the fight against cybercriminal activity and preventing security breaches.
Ben Climer and Safe Network Solutions on data breaches: Malicious criminals tend to follow a basic pattern: targeting an organization for a breach takes planning. They research their victims to learn where the vulnerabilities are, such as missing or failed updates and employee susceptibility to phishing campaigns. Hackers learn a target’s weak points, then develop a campaign to get insiders to mistakenly download malware. Sometimes they go after the network directly. Once inside, malicious criminals have the freedom to search for the data they want — and lots of time to do it, as the average breach takes more than five months to detect. In many cases, data breaches cannot just be patched up with some password changes. The effects of a data leak can be a lasting issue for your reputation, finances, and more.