8 Ways to Avoid Windows-Based Attacks

These experts know how to take advantage of every loophole in the system to break into your network and steal data or use it as a springboard for further attacks. To stay protected from these sophisticated attackers and reduce the risk of becoming a target, you need to implement multiple security measures, you can do that by hiring a Cyber Security Company. After all, there’s no single solution that can tackle every single cyber threat; rather, there are different strategies that work in conjunction with each other to reduce the attack surface while simultaneously protecting your organization against vulnerabilities. That being said, we’ve outlined some of the best practices you can adopt to keep your Windows-based network secure from cyber threats

Change the default passwords
As tempting as it may be to use the same password for multiple accounts and applications, it’s not a good idea. As the saying goes, “if Wall Street bankers can’t get it right, then why should we be any less cautious?” That is, if you want to keep your information and network safe from cyber threats, you have to apply the same carefulness to your own security practices. When it comes to passwords, you shouldn’t make the mistake of using simple words and phrases out of context. Instead, use a password made up of a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. For example, “12345678!@#$%^&*” is a secure password. Make sure you change the default passwords of your applications and accounts to something more secure.

Also, Read Our Previous Blog: How to Block Fraudulent & Spoofed Emails— Learn to Decipher Phishing Attempts

Educate your employees on risks and safety precautions
For most people, the idea of keeping their workplace safe from cyber threats doesn’t seem like much of a priority. But when an attacker successfully breaches a network, the damage he can cause is vast. In fact, the average cost of a data breach is $3.95 million. To prevent this from happening, you need to educate your employees about the safety precautions they need to take. For example, you can have your employees regularly change their passwords. You can also have them use two-factor authentication whenever possible, such as when logging in from a new device or computer. Furthermore, you can also have them regularly scan their computer for potential security risks, like malware or spyware.

Encryption is the key
Encryption is the most important security tool you can use on your Windows network. It’s a process that transforms data into an illegible format and is therefore virtually unreadable. The problem is that not all encryption programs are created equally. Some may be easy to break while others are so advanced that even a well-funded cyber criminal team would need to work for months to crack them. Moreover, if one of your employees is caught using an unsecured device, he may also be able to access any data stored on the device or even on the network. To find the best encryption program for your organization, consult a third-party security review website, like ours. It may help you choose the right program for your needs.

Keep Windows Up to Date
Keeping your Windows software up to date is essential to ensuring the security of your network. As new patches are released, researchers generally find and fix a number of vulnerabilities on Windows operating systems. But because these vulnerabilities generally go unnoticed until a hacker finds them and uses them to break into a network, updating your software is crucial to staying protected. You can easily determine whether your Windows computer is up to date by opening the Settings app, selecting the System icon in the left pane, and then looking at the “Updates” section. Make sure that your computer indicates that it’s up to date.

Limit which users have access to your network
Cyber criminals are always on the lookout for networks that they can infiltrate and use as springboards for further attacks. And while some networks are more likely to be attacked than others, they all share one common trait: they’re connected to the Internet. So, before you grant Internet access to your network to your employees or clients, think about which ones you want to grant access to and for how long. For example, grant remote access for a set amount of time, like a week at a time, and then revoke it. This will make it harder for an attacker to gain access to your network.

Implement Strong User Authentication
In order to prevent hackers from infiltrating your network and stealing data, you need to implement strong user authentication, like two-factor authentication. It comes as no surprise, then, that it’s one of the first security measures you can implement on your Windows network. Two-factor authentication is a security measure that requires a user to have two forms of authentication, like something they have, like a phone, or something they’re, like a password, in order to log in to an account.

Defend with Network Tools and Other Software
To effectively protect your Windows-based network, you need to make sure that your devices are as secure as possible. To do this, you can use an Extended Security feature on Windows 10 or enable hardware-based security on your computer. You can also use network tools and other software to protect your network.

Penetration Testing Can Help

A pen-test is a type of security testing that focuses on the implementation, configuration, and operation of a system. The Pentest program is used to test the security of a system against various types of attacks such as application-level attacks, network-level attacks, and protocol-level attacks. A pen-test is often carried out by an ethical hacker or Certified penetration tester who uses their skills and knowledge to test the security of a system.

The main goals of penetration testing are to identify vulnerabilities in the system and to determine the best ways to improve security. By conducting a thorough Penetration Testing, an organization not only can minimize the window-based attacks on their networks but also can identify vulnerabilities that can lead to financial losses. In addition, organizations should keep track of all access requests. This will help them to know who is accessing their network and how they are doing it.

Patching
Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that even when you do everything right, there’s a chance that your network will still be compromised. And to have any chance of thwarting an attack, you have to patch your systems as soon as possible. When it comes to patching, every system is different. Some are more likely to be attacked than others, and some are more likely to be overlooked than others. That’s why it’s important to know which systems on your network are the most likely to be attacked. To find out which systems are most likely to be attacked, use an application, like Network Mapper, to map out your network. You can also use a tool, like Microsoft’s, to identify which systems need to be patched. Make sure to update your systems as soon as possible to protect against the latest threats. These are just some of the best practices you can implement to keep your Windows-based network secure from cyber threats.

How is Wearable Devices Revolutionizing Medical IoT?

Wearable devices are the center of attraction for every discussion that aims to define innovation in IoT. The wearable medical devices market is expected to reach USD 14.41 Billion by 2022 from USD 5.31 Billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 18.3% during the forecast period (Source). Technology has enabled users to monitor their health indicators constantly and significantly reduce preventive and monitoring costs. Wearable devices are chosen for this task and are one of the most efficient integrations to telemedicine and telehealth besides the mobile. This article will explore some of this realm’s important aspects.

Let’s Know Wearable Devices Better
The most relevant definition of wearable electronics is the “devices that can be worn or mated with the human skin to constantly and closely monitor an individual’s activities without interrupting user’s motions.”

Today, the range of wearable systems, including micro-sensors, seamlessly integrate into various industries such as textiles, consumer electronics, automatic watches, belt-worn personal computers, and glasses. Due to this, they are now designed to cater to a broader spectrum of applications.

The combination of wearable and health monitoring systems aims to minimize wearable devices’ size, measure vital signs, and send secure and reliable data using smartphones. Hence, one of the obvious applications of wearable systems is monitoring the physiological parameters in the mobile environment.

Application of Wearable Devices in Healthcare
The busy world has led to a life that focuses on shuttling between various tasks. This has caused most of us to ignore one of the most important aspects of our lives, “health and fitness.” A simple health checkup by the doctor requires a plethora of medical examinations followed by prescriptions and treatments that consume a great deal of time. This is probably the most potent reason people only visit a doctor when suffering from illness. The very attitude paves ways to find alternatives, such as a device that can be worn on the body and has the potential to monitor the user’s health in real-time, constantly. These devices should also provide the users and the medical practitioner with insight into various health parameters. Wearables are generally aimed at fulfilling these objectives in the healthcare ecosystem.

56% of the Americans use some kind of wearable technology.
88% of the physicians want patients to monitor their health parameters at home
35% of the employers use medical wearable technology to improve the quality of wellness programs and lower health insurance costs.
Wearable technology drops hospital costs by 16% over 5 years
Some other applications of wearables IoT in healthcare can be listed as follows.

1. Motion Tracking
Human movement tracking has various valuable applications in sports, medical, and other branches of studies. These applications include fall risk assessment, qualifying sports exercises, analyzing people’s habits, and monitoring them. Wearable trackers are gaining worldwide popularity for their ability to accomplish all these tasks, aid users in performing their daily workouts and help them manage their activity at the tip of their fingers. They also keep the users abreast of their daily motions like distance walked, which enables them to keep track of their activities and ensure a healthy life.

2. Vital Sign Monitoring
This is one of the most crucial applications of IoT in medicine. Constant monitoring has enabled adequate healthcare for patients. More than half of the wearable users believe that technology has improved mental health. Making smart use of complex algorithms and their analysis, wearables foster better medical attention and care for patients in remote areas or places that stay aloof from immediate medical help. Remote patient monitoring saves the healthcare system $200 billion over 25 years. Many wearable devices have been implemented to measure critical elements in the healthcare monitoring ecosystem. These devices include names like an electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement, skin temperature regulators, etc., and mark the efforts of wearable devices to provide multi-task vital signs measurement.

3. Improve Patient Experience
Seamless connection between the devices has enabled patients to control room temperature and electronics and even communicate with loved ones or call medical assistance with a few clicks. Even the medical practitioners can access the patient’s information on the go through the cloud availability. This has, in turn, facilitated the patients and the medical aids to relish a great user experience.

Challenges Faced by Wearables for medical IoT
IoT devices should be empowered with easy-to-use and robust application access. Worldwide, researchers have proposed multiple platforms and structures that have formed the base of commercial devices available for bio-medical parameter measurement. However, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed. Here are the four key capabilities that are missing from the leading platforms.

1. Simple and Secure Connectivity
A good IoT platform should enable easy connection of devices and perform device management functions on three levels data collection, data transmission to the hub, and permanent storage of observation values to the medical station. The steps should be carried out most securely to ensure accurate data transmission and to protect the data. For this, encryption is necessary.

2. Power Consumption
Power consumption is one of the most crucial things to provide the user with easy device management and long-term, uninterrupted monitoring. These factors can be correlated to the number of parameters being monitored, code efficiency, data packaging, encryption, and compression.

3. Wearability
Wearable devices are specifically designed for biomedical monitoring. This, in turn, assists individuals in living long and healthy lives. This point is more significant when elderly people are using the devices. Therefore, such devices must be easy to use and carry and offer users comfort. These requirements can be easily overcome by making light, small, and well-structured devices that can be used for a long duration.

4. Risk Associated with Data Loss
While the data is being transferred from the collecting element, microcontroller, to the smartphone or cloud storage, there are chances of disconnection that might lead to data loss. A safe health monitoring system must ensure to overcome this shortcoming. One of the potential solutions to this is temporary data saving in the microcontroller.

Conclusion
Wearable devices have been gaining worldwide popularity in diverse fields, including sports and fitness to health monitoring. It has enabled individual tracking of the number of parameters in their living or working environment. The IoT devices and wearables are here to stay. Their popularity and usage are expected to surge significantly over the next few years. As the Giants take it to the forefront of IoT development services It is evident that IoT and wearables will form a major part of the healthcare industry.

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