As we wrap up National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) we're also welcoming Halloween! This is the time of the year that the fictional monsters come out to play, but what about the monsters hiding behind a keyboard all year long? That's right, cyber criminals are the monsters who are out and about 365 days per year, disturbing the peace and unleashing chaos on end users. Here are our 7 cyber attack facts you should know:

Last week on Tech Talk on The Big 550 KTRS our IT expert, Rion Kolosieke, joined the show to talk about having a disaster recovery plan and how to securely store your documents. Guy Phillips was in good humor and talking about technology jokes too. It's almost Halloween and keeping up with some of our St. Louis roots, we just wanted to leave you with a technology joke before we dive into our segment from last week. What do you call having your grandma on speed dial? Instagram! That's the last of the corny jokes, we promise. Data backup and disaster recovery, however, isn't something to joke about.

When most people hear the word data breach, large companies like Panera, Facebook, Uber, and Equifax come to mind. But, data breaches don’t only happen at large companies. Average end users have data breaches a lot more often since we often leave it up to software companies and app creators to keep us safe. While the majority of companies will put their best foot forward to keep your data secure, it's your responsibility to audit and put in place secondary measures to help keep things that way. The easiest ways to secure your data is by enabling two-factor authentication, encryption, anti-virus precautions, and device wiping. In honor of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, here are our 4 tips on protecting your personal data, straight from our SumnerOne Solutions Team! 

Grandma just sent you an email with a few attachments. You know Grandma isn't super tech-savvy, and you can't think of a reason why she would be sending you an email, it's probably best if you call before you click. Our IT expert, Randy Moore, joined the group over at The Big 550 KTRS for Tech Talk to share some advice on what to do before you click on risky emails. As part of our goal to educate end users for National Cyber Security Awareness Month, email security was a hot topic that affects millions of online users daily.

You are in the midst of running down the stairs and you slip and fall down the entire the entire flight. You gash your head and lose consciousness. As you come to, you notice people standing over you. A person hands you a towel for your head and says, “That was quite the fall, but you look to be okay.” So, you take him for his word, right? Wrong! You go to the hospital to see a professional where they can check you out, make sure nothing below the surface is wrong, and give you stitches for the gash across your forehead. You make sure that a professional has the chance to confirm that you are not in any danger. If it makes sense to see a doctor after hitting your head, wouldn’t the same logic apply to issues in other domains? Shouldn’t your IT infrastructure be handled with the same care? Technology is too unique and sensitive to not assure that it is checked by professionals.

To pay or not to pay, that is the end-user's question. When the situation calls for whether someone should pay up in a ransomware attack, our IT expert, Jeff Groby suggests not. People who decide to pay the ransom can actually end up doing more harm than good. You are putting a big target on your back when you pay up by letting the cyber criminals know you're willing to pay. We joined the crew over at The Big 550 KTRS for Tech Talk to chat about polymorphic ransomware in theme with our topic for National Cyber Security Awareness Month!

Practicing strong email safety goes beyond using a good password and being cautious about opening a message that looks spammy. Malicious emails are looking more and more like the real deal every day. This practice is called phishing. Before we can help you to keep your eyes peeled for phishing attacks, it's sensible to explain the nature of those domains for people who have not encountered the term in the past. Phishing is a straightforward concept many hackers will use to steal email and account information by tricking individuals into handing over their details.