Discover the importance of Two-factor Authentication (2FA) in protecting your accounts from cyberattacks and learn how to easily implement it for enhanced security.
Enhance your security with insights on two-factor authentication (2FA). Explore tips, best practices, and the latest trends to safeguard your digital assets.
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Critical Insights and Essential Tools to Increase Your Protection
By Chris Bierasinski, VP of Business Development
IT Insights of Rochester is a local IT service provider offering managed IT security services and technology solutions in Rochester and nearby areas. Visit our cybersecurity protection services page for an overview of the various levels of protection we offer.
This is the second entry in a four-part series of articles. Our previous post introduced the various security service structures offered by IT Insights and provided a review of the core tools that we leverage. In this post of the mini-series, we explore significant threats targeting small entities and focus on user cybersecurity.
NAVIGATING THE PHISHING THREAT LANDSCAPE
This article holds significant importance within the series, addressing a critical aspect of IT security services – your end users. The upcoming set of tools plays a pivotal role in safeguarding against the most prevalent channels through which businesses and users face attacks.
Phishing, an escalating concern, becomes particularly alarming when examining relevant statistics. It is a cyber-attack method where threat actors deceive individuals by posing as trustworthy entities through emails, text messages, or phone calls to extract sensitive information or gain network access.
For businesses, falling prey to phishing can lead to severe consequences, including data breaches, financial losses, reputational damage, operational disruptions, and potential intellectual property theft.
Effectively mitigating phishing risks involves the implementation of cybersecurity measures, increasing employee awareness, and cultivating a culture of skepticism towards unsolicited communications.
Let’s explore essential tools to strengthen your organization’s security by educating and outfitting your end users.
ROBUST EMAIL SECURITY AND USER TRAINING
In our second level of protection, our focus shifts to strengthening email security with a suite of comprehensive tools.
Phishing Attack Prevention
As previously mentioned, phishing attacks are among the most common and challenging threats to defend against. Even with multiple security measures in place, users can unknowingly divulge sensitive information creating challenging recovery situations.
As the saying goes, knowledge is power. We focus on teaching users to recognize phishing attacks, so they can protect themselves and their teams from potential risks.
We provide monthly training with short videos on cyber-attacks and phishing using the best-in-class ID Agent BullPhish ID program. We offer extra training to employees who need it, like those who can access financial data, personal information, and important systems. These courses equip users with the knowledge to recognize and thwart phishing attempts. We also conduct quarterly simulated phishing attacks to assess further and improve user response, recording successes and failures. Internal stakeholders receive comprehensive reports of these fake phishing exercises.
Email Security Tools and Phishing Filtering

Our next tool, Graphus, works with your email to filter and block threats before they reach your inbox. It also adds banners to external messages for extra protection. Users also receive alerts about unusual emails that point out flaws in the sender domain, the style of email, or content that is indicative of a phishing attempt. It is extremely easy for us to set this up for every single user in your organization, taking about an hour regardless of the size of your organization.
It creates a layer of protection that brings awareness to end users, who should pause to consider the credibility of an email and take the necessary steps to alert internal teams and us of the threat posed. As an added bonus, Graphus enables collective security against mass email attacks. If two users, from any of the clients for whom we support and manage email, identify an email as an attack, the system will automatically remove the email from the inboxes of all affected users. This implies that Graphus becomes more robust with every user utilizing the platform.
Our strong email security measures greatly reduce the risk of phishing attacks and strengthen your digital defenses.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Finally, we leverage Duo for 2FA for added security, seamlessly integrating with other platforms to streamline the user experience. 2FA and MFA (multi-factor authentication) are potent security measures that should be mandatory for all users, given their exceptional level of security. (Learn why 2FA is so important here.) Duo is quickly becoming, if not already a requirement like anti-virus was before. No organization should pass on the opportunity to have 2FA enabled on any system that allows it.
Once 2FA is enabled and enforced, it has a multiplicative factor on your overall cyber security. No single piece of our offerings is as immediately impactful on your overall security as 2FA.
FORTIFYING DEFENSE AND AWARENESS
This collection of tools stands out as especially crucial for organizations seeking to enhance their cybersecurity posture. A highly recommended starting point, these tools not only significantly reduce the frequency of user-facing attacks but, more importantly, bolster users’ understanding of various attack types and their vigilance against potential threats. Through consistent training facilitated by KnowBe4, reinforced by Graphus, and fortified by the robust security measures of Duo, users gain the necessary skills to effectively thwart malicious attacks targeting the most vulnerable aspects of the organization. These tools are crucial for building awareness and resilience against tricky tactics, especially since social engineering goes beyond regular firewalls.
Ready to enroll in IT Insights cybersecurity protection?
If you are a current client, we encourage you to contact your account managers – either Tony, Alex, or Chris with questions. If you’re not a client, contact Christopher Bierasinski to learn how IT Insights can help strengthen your digital security.
What is a Strong Password, and Why Does it Matter?

We live in a world where we are barraged with more online apps, virtual platforms, online services and digital accounts than ever before. And, every single one of them requires a password. Whether it’s your Hulu login credentials or online banking double encryption, you need strong passwords to protect yourself and your personal information no matter where you go on the internet. Combine your ever-growing list of digital accounts with the increasing frequency of data breaches and cybercriminals lying in wait, it is smart to ask yourself, “Just how strong is my password?” and “How many passwords do I really need?” Read our tips on what makes a strong password and how to make a good password to keep yourself, your data and your personal information protected.
How to Create a Strong Password
In reality, it’s common for people to use the same passwords for years. But, experts recommend using a different complex password for every site and account. Let’s face it, it’s less daunting to remember one or two passwords with slight variations. The problem is that many of us not only use similar passwords multiple times, but we use these same variations across multiple platforms too. There are two problems with this:
- If you’ve been using your password for more than a year, it’s likely already been part of a past data breach.
- If you’re reusing passwords across platforms, one breach puts all other platforms at risk.
That means if you’ve saved your personal data or forms of payment on one site, you’ve potentially opened yourself up to breaches on another site by using the same password in both places. For example, perhaps you use the password DogLover123 for your online bank account. Your bank likely has strong security. However, let’s say you have also used that password for your Yahoo email address. But, just a few years ago, Yahoo had one of the most significant data breaches in history, and if your password was compromised there, it could also be used to access your bank account. It is crucial that your passwords should be not only unique in terms of characters and symbols but also unique to the platform they’re being used on. While this might sound like a lofty goal, like your doctor telling you to exercise every day and get at least eight hours of sleep every night, we have some tips and strong password examples to help you keep your accounts secure.
How to Remember Your Passwords
Our number one tip for remembering all those passwords is to use a password manager. There are several advantages to using a password manager, like one of these recommended by PCMag. First, password managers use encryption to keep all your passwords secure in a single location. This beats any spreadsheet or handwritten list, because it provides secure, encrypted access. Second, most password managers have the option to autogenerate, save, and autofill your passwords. These features make it easy to remember, store and secure your passwords. But, if you’re looking for an alternative to generate your own strong passwords, we have some examples and tips to help with that, too.
Things to Avoid When Creating Passwords
Weak vs. Strong Passwords
Weak passwords are easy to spot and easy to hack. Our DogLover123 example above is a primary candidate of what to avoid. Here are examples that illustrate what not to do:
- DO NOT USE common words, phrases or names. A good rule of thumb is to avoid using words found in the dictionary for your password. You also shouldn’t use any information a stranger could know about you. For example, your first or last name, date of birth, year you graduated, etc.
- DO NOT USE sequential letters, numbers and symbols. No more ABC, 123 or !@#. These are easy to guess and leave you vulnerable to hacking.
- DO NOT USE something that relates to our hobbies or interests. Reach outside your interests, especially for your password hints.
What is an Example of a Strong Password?
Strong Password Examples
An easy way to make a strong, memorable password is to make it a sentence. For example, if your password was DogLover123, an alternative making the password stronger would be I<3myGoldenDoodle! Here are some more strong password examples:
- XVwlNNx4rh9W
- N4]39#(^h{CV
- pHRUn.[‘K&mU
They’re not always pretty to look at, but the degree of randomness and a mixture of unpredictable letters and symbols keep your personal data and account secure. Things to keep in mind when creating your password:
- Make it long. At the very least, 8 characters. 12 characters are even better.
- Use a mix of random characters. Uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.
- Use a password manager with a password generator. You can find some great recommendations here.
How Strong is Your Password?
Many people don’t see security as an investment, but cyberattacks can result in huge losses for your company. Along with strong passwords, you should also be using two-factor authentication (2FA). If you have questions or need help setting up a password manager or 2FA in your organization, that’s what we’re here for.

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IT Insights provides managed IT services in Rochester, New York, the surrounding areas, and other regions.
1150 Penfield Rd.
Rochester, NY 14625