Cyber Security Blog

Dive with us into the world of hackers, data espionage, and attack defense - several times a week for free!

After a successful cyberattack, the IT systems and subsequently parts of the business processes of Martin Baur GmbH came to a temporary standstill. The medium-sized company from the district of Biberach then brought Allgeier secion on board as an external IT security expert in order to have its own IT protection measures reviewed and to secure itself even better for the future.

If you have recently taken a job as a CIO (Chief Information Officer) or are thinking about offering your knowledge and skills to a new company by changing jobs: Congratulations! You have chosen an area of responsibility that will fill you to the brim. As CIO, you are not only responsible for the planning, operation and further development of IT systems, you also identify digitization trends and derive marketable business models. In this article, you'll get solid tips for a successful start in your new job.

Financial institutions are a classic target for criminals. We are familiar with the typical bank robbery by masked perpetrators in bank branches from movies or police reports. Analog robberies, e.g., on cash-in-transit vehicles, will continue to occur. But the more modern, digital version of the bank robbery is now much more rewarding for many criminals. After all, virtually all areas of our economic life have been digitally transformed in recent decades. The transformation of companies in the financial sector offers ever new gateways for digitally active attackers. The financial sector therefore considers cyber attacks to be the greatest operational risk at present.

The risk of falling victim to a successful ransomware attack remains high. According to a recent study, two-thirds of all German companies became targets of ransomware malware in 2021 - and the threat is growing every year. As attackers come up with increasingly aggressive strategies, many companies find themselves tempted to meet the hackers' high ransom demands. In some cases, the financial implications take on drastic proportions. If you don't want to be the next victim, you should act now.

Growing cybercrime threat scenarios pose a serious risk to data security, business continuity, and corporate reputation. Extortion with encryption software continues to grow. For companies and organizations, it is a worst-case scenario with incalculable consequences if they can no longer use their IT due to ransomware attacks, their business data falls into foreign hands or production lines simply come to a standstill. On average, attackers still need six months to achieve their mission objective. An attack can be analyzed in three phases: intrusion (access to the system), propagation (spread) and endgame (mission objective) - the kill chain model.

Brute force attacks attempt to gain access to protected files or entire systems by automatically trying out password combinations or keys at random. The method uses the eponymous "brute force", in which strings or sequences of letters are tried one after another. The more time the attackers have, the more combinations can be tried - and the higher the chances of success. Find out here what brute force attacks are exactly, what they are used for and, of course, how you can reliably protect yourself against this form of cybercrime.

For many, a publicly accessible WLAN is a welcome opportunity to conserve their own mobile data volume. Sometimes these networks are even faster than the mobile network. Unfortunately, public WLAN networks are also interesting for cybercriminals: They can easily obtain personal data there if WLAN users have not taken sufficient care of security while surfing. We present the biggest risks and show how you can protect yourself from them.

The damage caused by ransomware worldwide in 2021 amounts to around 20 billion US dollars. This is an increase of around 5,700% compared to 2015 - and the trend is still rising. Companies that do not take care of the necessary in-house IT security in good time therefore run the risk of falling victim to these attacks sooner or later and, in the worst case, suffering losses in the millions. The attackers do not "discriminate": public institutions are attacked just as much as privately managed companies or companies listed on the stock exchange. Virtually every sector is affected, from skilled trades and industry to the financial and technology sectors.