October 2019
• Targeted Phishing Campaigns: Receive real-
world phishing vulnerability assessments. Phishing
campaigns can help educate staff to learn the signs
of real phishing e-mails harmful to the business.
• Password Audits: Passwords need to be more
complex than Password123. ASK’s audit includes
brute force password cracking and password
strength tests.
Sized Just Right for Small Manufacturers
Too often, small and mid-sized manufacturers
believe they are at a lower risk for cyber attacks because
of less brand recognition and less revenue to exploit.
In actuality, with fewer resources to dedicate to cyber
security, and more responsibilities falling on a smaller
staff, small businesses are a high target for criminals.
“The current mentality you should have is ‘it’s
not if we’ll get hacked, but when’ and that can be
especially true for small manufacturers,” said Maddox.
“Imagine all manufacturers are houses on a street. If
you’re a criminal, you can spend all your time trying to
break into the expensive house with a gated property,
security guard and high-tech security system that
can tell that you are coming. Or you can spend the
same amount of time getting into 10 or 20 poorly
secured homes who don’t even know you’re out there.”
Did You Know: 58% of cyber attack victims
in 2018 were classified as small businesses.
“Most manufacturers do not have the cyber security
expertise in-house to develop and implement an
adequate strategy and most of the tools commercially
available for businesses have been developed for Fortune
500 companies with budgets built-in for cyber security
and a staff of cyber security professionals,” Maddox
admitted. “MMA members can utilize ASK through
the Cyber Threat Protection service to achieve, within
their budget, what larger companies are paying
hundreds of thousands of dollars for.”
Tailored for In-Depth Training
of Talent and Tech
You don’t know what you don’t know and modern
technology has turned cyber security into a cat-and-
mouse game with businesses and law enforcement
on one side and the criminals on the other. Every
time one thinks they have an advantage, the other
side is able to adapt and force a change of tactic. With
this occurring in real-time, having the expertise of
ASK at your disposal can help continuously train
your company’s talent to know what to look for and
what to do in the event of an attack. Their skilled
team can also help your existing IT team upgrade its
defense and develop a cyber security strategy that
does what you need it to do.
MiMfg Magazine
“ASK has blended extremely well with our
internal Orbitform IT resources to build an invalu-
able holistic infrastructure,” said Sponsler. “As we
improved and modernized our network, they helped
us to review our plans and offered options to
strengthen its effectiveness. They have supported
our growth and will be there as we execute strategies
to grow the business. They are trusted advisors,
partners and true friends of Orbitform.”
The one thing MMA’s Cyber Threat Protection
isn’t is 100 percent secure. To fully protect your
business, members should use this service in
addition to other steps like end user education,
strong controls and processes (both real world and
through a network) and continuous improvement
procedures.
“Even the best cyber security program can fail
sometimes,” said Maddox. “A truly effective service —
what MMA Cyber Threat Protection can be for you —
relies on constant communication between us and
your business. The more we can talk through what
your needs are, where your vulnerabilities are and
how advanced technology will affect you, the more
secure we can make you.”
Protect Your Business Today
“Manufacturers must stop assuming they won’t
be attacked and ignoring the fact that cyber security
is more than an ‘IT issue,’” Hadden cautioned.
“MMA’s Cyber Threat Protection puts your
business in direct connection with an industry leader
who can monitor, detect, respond and advise you on
all your current weak points and position you to
worry less and grow more. At the end of the day,
you need to ask yourself ‘how much is my company’s
survival worth?’”
There were 351,936 cyber attacks reported to
the FBI in 2018, costing U.S. businesses more than
$2.7 billion dollars and countless pieces of proprietary
data. Will your business be the next one targeted?
Sign up for MMA Cyber Threat Protection
and receive 10% off standard pricing for ASK
security solutions. Go to mimfg.org to learn more
or contact ASK’s Scott Freitag, at 517-999-0242
or [email protected], to get started.
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Brett Gerrish is MMA’s communications coordinator.
He may be reached at [email protected] or
517-487-8533.
Sources:
Ponemon Institute
Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (2018)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
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