MailGuard Partners Blog

Your customers' business data is being held hostage, encrypted with only their attackers holding the keys. So, should they pay up the ransom, or try to recover without handing over company profits to cybercriminals?

“By any measure, 2020 was the worst year ever when it comes to ransomware and related extortion events. And if we don’t break the back of this cycle, a problem that’s already bad is going to get worse.”

- Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), April 2021

Earlier this month, we announced a new security enhancement to the MailGuard Console – enforced Single Sign-On (SSO) login. For those who missed it, here's a recap of what this enhancement entails. 

It’s been called the “largest cyber-attack on a media company in Australia's history," something that has never been seen before in the country. 

Business email compromise (BEC) scams have been around for a while, but their continued success at bringing down organisations (both large & small) shows we’re dealing with an adversary that is constantly looking for ways to exploit our systems, our psychology & our trust.  

It’s integral that businesses proactively take steps to enhance identity-related security measures like MFA because since the COVID-19 pandemic, “identity has become the new security perimeter” according to many experts, including Microsoft. 

Commenting on paradigm shifts in cybersecurity in 2020, Ann Johnson, Corporate Vice President, SCI Business Development at Microsoft wrote: 

A PwC survey released at the end of 2020 highlighted fears of growing cyber-attacks targeting local critical infrastructure. 

Cybersecurity was a significant catalyst in facilitating productive remote work and ensuring business continuity in 2020. 

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, and with more businesses operating remotely, the global scourge of cybercrime became even more calamitous in 2020.