While most hacking is illegal, sites like Hacker’s List have gotten a lot of news coverage in recent years. These sites claim that you can hire a hacker anonymously and safely pay them with either your credit card or Bitcoin. While hacker for hire sites may claim money-back guarantees, secure credit card transactions and anonymity for you and the hacker that does your dirty work, many of these claims are too good to be true.

Who Is at Risk?

Hiring a stranger on an anonymous website may be risky. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that people won’t seek out these hacking skill sets. Looking at most job boards on hacker sites, you’ll see people looking to get back at an ex, change their college grades, or retaliate against a former employer.

Most breaches that make the headlines are from large corporations that are household names nationwide. After all, the bigger the payoff, the bigger the incentive. However, with the proliferation of freelance hackers, midlevel companies are becoming worthy targets to those looking for a hack. The cost-effectiveness of freelance hackers means that it’s more affordable than ever to go after smaller targets, so small-and medium-sized businesses are at a greater risk of being hacked.

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How Can You Protect Yourself?

We recommend that all of our clients adopt a strong security posture. There are several ways you can ensure that your network and business are secured against hackers for hire.

Conduct a Vulnerability Assessment

One of the first things you should do to protect yourself is to conduct a thorough vulnerability assessment. This will identify any areas of weakness so you can proactively address and remediate them. Consider vulnerability scanning on a regular basis to keep your network secure.

Upgrade Your Firewall to Next-Gen

Can your firewall use AI and deep learning to detect threats as they are happening? Probably not. Consider upgrading to a next-generation firewall that can proactively detect and protect against attacks and identify suspicious machine and user behavior.

Add Endpoint Detection and Response

To create an additional strong line of defense, add Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to your security portfolio. Next-gen EDR will continuously monitor to identify potential threats and notify you in real-time so you can address them before they become a problem.

Leverage Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

A SIEM solution will manage and compile logs to identify threats, suggest a remediation plan, and look for suspicious activity. SIEM network monitoring will scan for known threats and identify threats as they happen.

Manage Your Patches

Not patching your systems can leave you vulnerable. Patch management software is available that can automate patching. These tools, such as Baramundi, ManageEngine or Shavlik, will notify you when patches are released and can schedule and install patches automatically.

Secure and Optimize Active Directory

An active directory management tool can help you configure and monitor Active Directory, as well as inventory and analyze what’s in it. Look for a tool, like STEALTHbits, that also provides audit tools and reporting.download-free-ebook

Keep Hackers at Bay

Maintaining a strong security posture can’t ensure that you won’t be the target of a hacking attempt, but it does put you in a better position to protect your data and your business. Contact us to learn more about protecting yourself against malicious hackers for hire and get a free assessment of your current security posture.