BNMC Blog

How much your business should spend on cybersecurity largely depends on a variety of factors, and you cannot lump yourself in with just any other business. The same IT budget will go to different lengths for different businesses. Your typical small business, for example, will not need the same level of security as a serious mega-corporation. But this doesn’t diminish the importance of cybersecurity spending; we’ll tell you why.

We've officially reached the point where humans have to prove they're, well, human just to access websites. One of the most common ways to do this? CAPTCHA. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It might sound long-winded, but the idea is simple. Computers still struggle to crack these tests, making them a solid way to block bots. But why exactly do they work so well?

Our phones, laptops, smart home devices, and even our cars are packed with data about our lives. But what happens when law enforcement wants access to that information? Whether you're an individual just trying to keep your personal data safe or a business owner handling customer information, here’s what you need to know.

Texts might make it convenient to communicate, but they’re a common medium for hackers to exploit others. Why are texts so dangerous, and what can you do about them? That’s what we’re covering today, including how you can detect and avoid these threats.

What would you do if you ever lost your phone—or worse, it was stolen? Mobile devices play an important role in most modern-day workplaces, so you’d probably be in for a rough go of it. Data loss, privacy, and security are all risks when you lose access to a mobile device, and often the only way to address these issues is to simply wipe the device and hope for the best… until now, that is.

If you think cybercrime doesn’t affect you or your business, think again. It’s more real a threat than you probably realize, especially with how common data theft is these days. Today, we want to highlight some of the ways that data theft can affect you, even if your data hasn’t necessarily been stolen.

There are all types of threats on the Internet, but one of the most interesting that has been in the news recently is the SS7 attacks that have the U.S. Department of Homeland Security scrambling to find a solution. In today’s blog, we’ll go through how an SS7 attack works and why they can be so dangerous. 

Keeping your data secure is more difficult today than in any time in history. Not only does everyone need to be vigilant in the way they operate online, they are constantly inundated with security-first protocols that can really get tiresome when you are working at a computer for dozens of hours a week. Unfortunately, this is the norm now and if you are not proactive when it comes to your cybersecurity efforts, you could find securing your business’ technology much more difficult.

You should never trust an app by default, as evidenced by a list of 15 applications which McAfee has identified as “predatory loan apps” on the Google Play Store. There are efforts in motion to remove them from the platform, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous–especially if you’ve already downloaded them. Today, we’re highlighting the issues with SpyLoan apps.

Disney is all about magic and wonder, but something shocking almost happened with their park menus. A former Disney employee got into a menu app and made some dangerous changes. They messed with the allergen info on the menus, saying some foods were safe for people with peanut allergies when they weren’t. That could’ve been deadly.

To help keep things fresh, we’ve decided to write this blog as though it were a scene from a daytime soap opera. Accordingly, please read all dialogue as though it is either being whispered, shouted, or forced out in anguish by an attractive cast of characters.

Data—ones and zeroes in sequence—runs the world… even in the quiet cape town of Oak Falls. Let’s check in on the residents of this little town, but beware. Threats exist even here, so make sure you’re keeping a close eye on… All My Data!

Ask yourself: “When was the last time I turned my phone off and back on?”

While restarting your phone might sound super basic, tech experts say it's a go-to troubleshooting trick. In fact, even the National Security Agency (NSA) suggests doing it every now and then.

There’s not a business out there today that doesn’t need to worry about cybersecurity. With this fact in mind, your employees also need to be involved in the conversation around cybersecurity in the workplace. If your employees aren’t following cybersecurity rules, they could be putting your business at risk.

Ransomware has been a major issue over the past couple of years. It has affected businesses of all types, government agencies, and many more. Today, we thought we would discuss how ransomware tactics have shifted in 2024. 

Have you ever been concerned about how your employees interact with your company’s technology, particularly in regard to security? If so, you’re not alone. Many companies are frustrated that their employees do not care as much about security as management or their IT staff, but this frustration can be addressed with the appropriate solutions and policies.

Recently, it was revealed that Slim CD, a payment gateway provider, experienced a data breach affecting nearly 1.7 million credit card accounts from August 17th, 2023, to June 15th, 2024.

Here’s a breakdown of the situation and the key takeaways that you can use to safeguard your own business.

Sextortion scams are anything but sexy. These attacks are when a scammer contacts a victim claiming to have captured photo or video footage of their target partaking in some adult debauchery—including on-screen content. They threaten to release the footage to their contacts unless they pay.

Scams are so common that everyone should fear them. That doesn’t mean we should be paralyzed by them, though. They’re mostly easy enough to spot, provided you know what to look for. Today, we’re covering these red flags and how you can identify a scam and consider all warning signs to make it out of such a situation unscathed.

It doesn’t take much to crack a low-effort password. To put a stop to hackers, you can use one extremely simple tactic: use long, random, complex strings of characters. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done for some people, as remembering passwords is also something that needs to happen. Today, we want to highlight the passphrase and how it can both bolster your password security and make your passwords easier to remember.

There is an important distinction in business between knowing what a problem is at the moment versus what a problem might be in the future. It’s crucial that businesses understand how to assess the risk of situations and determine what must be addressed immediately. Today, we want to help your business determine these problems and flip the script on them, turning them into opportunities for improvement.