Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking And Strategies To Mitigate

20 November 2024

The security implications of an expanding sprawl of devices, software, SaaS applications, users, and cloud services are important.

However, poor cybersecurity creates a critical risk for the overall business. Chief among them is a higher risk of business disruptions.

A breach might make essential data or systems unavailable, preventing the business from functioning. Therefore, the rate of change makes the manual work of managing, finding, and securing all these assets not tedious but error-prone and wasteful of valuable resources.

To mitigate cybersecurity threats, business firms must adopt strategies to resolve the breach issue.

This article will emphasize cybersecurity threats faced in asset tracking and strategies that will help resolve the issues.

Common Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking

Below-mentioned are common cybersecurity threats in asset tracking.

1. CEO Fraud

CEO fraud and business email compromise (BEC) pose significant challenges to asset tracking for business owners.

Therefore, this type of cyberattack can lead to financial losses and disruption of operations. Similarly, it occurs when an attacker impersonates a high-ranking executive, typically through email, to trick employees into transferring money or confidential information.

Furthermore, asset tracking could mean convincing your business to approve a large purchase. It might also be a transfer that diverts funds intended for legitimate tracking systems or physical assets.

This threat might cause your business to lose money. This can result in inventory discrepancies, misallocation of resources, and difficulties in auditing.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware significantly threatens asset tracking systems, impacting businesses across various industries. These systems often rely on connected devices and networks to monitor and manage assets, making them prone to cyberattacks.

Sensitive asset information, such as ownership, location, and financial details, can be compromised. If cybercriminals steal this data alongside encryption, they may leverage it for further extortion or sell it on the dark web.

So, when a ransomware attack occurs, a malicious breach can encrypt critical data related to asset tracking.

This can lead to:

Disruptions in operations.
Loss of visibility over inventory.
Need to work on managing assets effectively.

However, you may find your business still looking for items. This often leads to delays in production or logistics, which can ultimately affect the firm’s goodwill.

3. Payment Fraud

Payment fraud poses a significant threat to asset tracking systems, as it can undermine the precision and reliability of financial transfers related to asset management.

Fraudulent activities, such as chargebacks or using stolen payment information, can lead to financial losses and disruption in inventory control.

So, when payments are initiated deceptively, assets may be acquired without legal transactions, complicating the tracking of ownership and inventory levels.

Furthermore, asset tracking systems rely on data integrity to function effectively. If fraud is present, it can lead to discrepancies in reported data, making it challenging to assess the actual status of assets.

4. Data Breaches

Due to its cloud-based nature, Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) can indeed experience data breaches.

When access control systems are hosted in the cloud, they may face various security challenges, such as:

Unauthorized access.
Data interception.
Potential misconfigurations.

One of the primary risks is the reliance on internet connectivity, which can expose sensitive data to interception during transmission.

Moreover, user authentication is important. Weak passwords or insufficient multifactor authentication can allow unauthorized users to gain access to the system.

Compliance and ensuring that data is handled according to regulations also pose risks, especially if the service provider stores data across different regions.

5. Automated Methods

Criminals often leverage automated methods to launch large-scale attacks on various businesses, using customized malware to ruin specific susceptibilities.

Similarly, this approach will permit the ransoms to efficiently target multiple systems simultaneously. It will further increase your business’s chance of success while reducing the time and effort required for each attack.

On the other hand, automated tools also enable attackers to refine their techniques continuously based on real-time feedback.

This is because as the tools gather data from previous attacks, they can adjust their malware to improve its effectiveness against specific targets. It is even more challenging for organizations to defend against such threats.

Strategies To Mitigate Cybersecurity Risk

Below-mentioned are strategies to resolve cybersecurity risks faced within the business.

1. Conduct Risk Assessment

Perform a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify the issues your business faces or might face in the coming years.

Similarly, the risk assessment results will anticipate your organization’s readiness to respond to security events and uncover your infrastructure’s vulnerabilities to common attacks, such as malware, ransomware, brute-force attacks, and more.

Install asset tracking software in your business to conduct risk assessments efficiently. This will help you track location, save fleet costs, and improve asset management.

In addition, you can also include the following steps:

List down all physical and digital assets and their potential threats.
Create a risk register listing risks and mitigate steps.
Analyze each threat’s likelihood and impact on the organization.

2. Continuous Monitoring

When prioritizing vulnerabilities based on the challenges to business assets, it is essential to evaluate both the likelihood of exploitation and the potential impact on the organization.

Here is a structured approach to help with this task:

Identify assets.
Determine potential impacts.
Analyze the likelihood of each vulnerability being exploited.
Use a risk scoring system to combine impact and probability into a single score.
For high-priority vulnerabilities, devise appropriate remediation plans.

3. Include Asset Lifecycle Management

To successfully manage each asset throughout its lifecycle, it is vital to incorporate a structured approach that includes the following critical practices:

Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all assets, including hardware, software, and licenses.
Establish a schedule for routine updates to ensure that all assets are running the latest software versions.
Implement a patch management strategy to check for and apply security patches regularly.
Use monitoring tools to track asset performance and health.

By incorporating these practices, you can ensure that each asset is effectively managed, enhancing security, performance, and longevity throughout its lifecycle.

Wrapping Up

Thus, asset-tracking software can be implemented within the business for multiple uses. The business needs to identify, address, and assess the security risk posed by devices and assets of all types.

However, it is best to create essential security awareness for the staff to assist them in spotting warning signs and trigger alerts.

The systematic monitoring of security log files can give the security team early warnings of possible attacks.

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Soumava Goswami

A passionate writer and an avid reader, Soumava is academically inclined and loves writing on topics requiring deep research. Having 3+ years of experience, Soumava also loves writing blogs in other domains, including digital marketing, business, technology, travel, and sports.

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Maintaining Productivity: The Basics of Industrial Safety

Health and safety in the workplace should always be a topic that is high on your agenda if you are working in any sort of industrial environment, and if you can achieve a good safety record it should also contribute to greater productivity too. Here is an overview of what sort of typical safety hazards you need to guard against and what steps to take to avoid an accident, plus a look at some of the main basic safety measures you should adopt in order to keep the production line rolling and workers as safe as possible. Understanding the hazards: A good starting point would be to make a checklist of the main hazards you are likely to have to deal with in your workplace, as a working knowledge of these dangers will help you to take counteractive measures. You can categorize industrial hazards under a number of broad headings. Physical threats to the safety of workers are a key issue and there are numerous challenges to account for in your safety procedures, such as slip and trip hazards, inadequate lighting, the risk of exposure to noise and poor air quality, plus the danger of fire, amongst others. You can take steps to manage these specific threats, such as maintaining good air quality throughout the building, for example, which you can read about on this page. Other key hazard categories include biological and chemical threats, injuries sustained through poor ergonomics and building design, and even the mental health aspect of working in a challenging or hazardous situation on a regular basis. A good suggestion would be to conduct a thorough health and safety review where you take a detailed look at the layout of your building and what specific dangers workers face every time they clock on. Make a comprehensive checklist of all the potential hazards that are relevant to your particular industry and then look to create a health and safety plan that deals with those issues in the best way possible. Dealing with fire risk: The risk of fire is a constant potential threat to every building and that risk is enhanced when you have machinery, chemicals, and other potentially hazardous sources all under the one roof. There are many different ways for a fire to start and electrical faults, chemical spillages, and a lack of safety awareness amongst workers, can all create a fire risk in an instant. You can’t always avoid a fire starting when an accident occurs through an unforeseen set of circumstances, but you can at least have a robust set of fire safety procedures in place to help deal with the situation and limit the potential damage. A good quality fire alarm warning system needs to be installed and regularly tested and maintained, and a sprinkler system might also be necessary, once you have carried out a fire risk assessment. Fire extinguishers installed at regular intervals around the building will allow immediate action to be taken to try and reduce the spread of fire and hi-spec smoke detectors provide a decent early warning of a fire or smoke hazard. Emergency lighting: All workers need to be fully briefed on what to do in the event of an emergency and how to evacuate the building in the quickest and safest way possible. One of the threats to a successful and safe evacuation of the building is when power in the building is lost and it becomes dangerous to walk around in the dark. Power cuts are always a possibility in an industrial setting for a number of plausible reasons and a lack of adequate lighting greatly heightens the prospect of an accident happening. The way to counteract this threat is to install emergency lighting that lights up the building to make it safer to see where you are going and minimize the risk of an accident. Falls are a leading cause of accidents and deaths: One of the main causes of death and injury in the workplace falls, and it should be noted that a worker doesn’t have to fall from a great height to suffer a bad or fatal injury. Nearly half of all fatal falls in an industrial setting occurred when the person fell from a height of fewer than 20 feet. More than 10% of recorded fatal falls were from a height below six feet. Some industries have a higher incidence of falls than others, and it should not be a surprise to learn that the construction sector is considered one of the most hazardous workplace environments for falls. It is reasonable to surmise that a very high percentage of these recorded fatalities and injuries could have been prevented with adequate risk assessment procedures in place and with the right use of safety equipment and adequate training. Large numbers of workers are treated for fall-related injuries each year but with the right precautionary measures and by raising awareness of the potential dangers, many of these accidents could have been avoided. Know your limits: Pushing your body to its limit and beyond is another leading cause of accidents in the workplace and overexertion is cited as the cause of about a third of all work-related accidents according to the National Safety Council. Every worker should be encouraged to assess and know their limitations before undertaking a task that might lead to an injury through overexertion. Ergonomic injuries are when you do something like tear a tendon, damage your spine, or overreach when attempting to lift an object that is too heavy, or is not being lifted and handled correctly. Every worker needs to have health and safety training that highlights and talks about the dangers of ergonomic injuries and provides guidance on how to work safely and know your physical limitations. It is not just physical jobs that create injuries and office workers can also suffer injuries if they don’t set up their work environment in an ergonomically efficient way and don’t take regular breaks away from their desk. These are some of the main causes of accidents but with some basic safety training and an ongoing risk assessment program, it is possible to significantly reduce the prospect of an accident happening in your workplace. Read Also: How To Improve Workplace Security

Five Tips to Make Sure Your Security Software Is Actually Secure

Security software is a must for any business. Your systems contain a lot of important company information, as well as the personal information of your employees and your customers. A security leak or a hacker can be devastating to your business. However, you shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you have security software that you don’t have anything to worry about. You have to know what to do, or what not to do, to make sure that software keeps you as secure as you think. You can also look for a network security company that will help secure your business. Choose the Right Software The first step is choosing the right software. You have to choose software that provides your business with the features you need, but you also have to choose a trusted name. You need to make sure that your planning begins by finding the correct network security company. Look for credibility, experience, and reputation in the field. Make sure that you are confident of their abilities. A SOAR vendor, which stands for security orchestration, automation, and response, is a good choice for many businesses. The right system can provide you with end-to-end security operations management, which means the program covers every security concern with thorough protection. Choosing an experienced, full-service vendor also means you always have access to a customer service associate who can answer your questions and make modifications to your program to ensure it works for your specific business. Check Your VPN Your virtual private network (VPN) is important because it guards your internet traffic. No one can gain access to the information on your network unless they are provided with direct access to the network. Even if a device is using an outside internet connection, with a VPN, not even the owner of that connection can access your information. That includes information about the security of your virtual systems. The problem is, just having a VPN isn’t enough. It could be leaking your IP address, giving hackers a way into your system. To make sure your VPN isn’t leaking: Turn off your VPN. Conduct a Google search for, "What is my IP address." Engage your VPN. Search Google for your IP address again. When you check your VPN these ways, you should see that the address is different. If it isn’t, you have a problem with your VPN. You can also use an exit server to check your VPN. When you check your IP address, it should match your address and the country you selected. Allow Authorized Cell Phone Use Only It’s normal for employees to access company platforms and information on the go. It’s so convenient that many employers encourage it. You can even access your desktop from a tablet or phone, which means you can continue working, even when you’re not in the office. Unfortunately, using other devices can compromise security. Apple devices are relatively secure, but Android devices are not. No matter what kind of device your employees have, they should be updated with the latest security software. This can be a difficult thing to police. If working at home is expected of employees, provide them with company devices that you have control over updating. Assign Authorized Users Carefully Not everyone should have access to your company’s personal information. Not all employees should have access to certain systems and programs either. They only need access to the information and systems that are relevant to their job description. Assign authorized users carefully to help prevent information leaks. Although most employees have pure intentions, they can still make mistakes with important company information. That includes accessing information from unsecured systems or accidentally sharing the information with someone else who shouldn’t have access to that information. It’s especially important when someone leaves the company. As part of the exit process, it’s important to unauthorize access to all company systems. Schedule Continuous Training Training and development are important to any business but don’t think your job is over as soon as the initial training is over. Security systems are changing all the time, as are the needs of your business. It is important to continually train your staff to ensure your systems are secure. It includes refresher training on basic security information, like proper password selection, as well as specific training on how to use the actual security program. Partnering with a quality provider enables you to use them as a resource when planning your trainings, and in some cases, they may even be able to provide you with training led by one of their associates. Don’t think that just because you have security software that your system is actually secure. There are a lot of things you can do to make sure your company’s information stays safe. Read Also: What Are The Things You Need To Know While Choosing Antivirus Software? Why DRM Is The New Standard For Document Security Top 10 Computer Security Mistakes

5 Tips to Safeguard Your Home From Intruders

Do you know that there is someone in your home behind your back? What will you do? Who will you call? How will you protect your belongings? And the most important, how will you safeguard your family? Security today has become one of the paramount things these days. With crime rate increasing day-by-day and housebreak becoming a common thing, it has become essential to give your family and business a safe shelter. After all, no matter how safe the area or the street you live in, burglaries still happen. However, you don’t have to install a missile or hire a professional on the rooftops to keep evil people away from your property. Instead, all you need is to be extra cautious and smart. So, make it tough for the intruders and have a look at some of the essential tips to safeguard your home from outside: Scout Out The Weak Spots: Think like burglars and survey your house from the eyes of thief’s if you want to protect your home entirely. If you are easily able to break or pry the window, the thief will surely be able to. However, safeguard it using wooden rods or metal pipes from inside. Also, check the things that are visible from the windows, there perhaps be expensive painting, glassware or any expensive electronic item. If there’s any, make small adjustments and move the things from getting seen by thieves. Install A Good Sensor: Let the intruder be in the eyes of sensors even before they touch the doors and windows. Install electronic doors and window sensors and cameras to detect the robber. You can also call a professional automatic locksmith service to take charge of securing your house from outside. The expert will install cameras & detectors to vigil 24/7 so that you have a relaxed sleep. From their plethora of services, you can pick your suitable one to protect your place. Some locksmiths even provide services like garage doors, CCTV cameras and many more. Keep The Entrances And Walkways Short And Trimmed: Don’t make hiding spots for the thief to hide when attempting to intrude-in. Trim the shrubs from the entranceways and install light to make the place glowing even at night. Also, this will eliminate the risk of having no place to hide, and the thief will not even try to do it. Moreover, for added security, you can plant thorns at the windows making it difficult for the intruder to jump-in the house. Build A Protective Fence: A fence is an excellent way to not only keep intruders but unwanted visitors away from your property. You can use the open-chain link or metal fence to secure the place. Some owners also prefer solid barriers for limiting the street noise as well as for privacy; such rails are easy to climb and hide. Don’t Leave Expensive Things Open In The Garden: Things like expensive cars, bikes, kitchen BBQ grills make easy targets for the burglars to grab them. Bonus for the thieves if these things have got wheels! Moreover, if you have open street parking, lock your car properly and make sure to bring out all the important things from the car. We live in a constant threat of someone hampering our property and family. So, keep in mind the above mentions tips and stay protected and safe! Read More : Why Should You Consider Security Doors for Your House? 5 Ways Camera Monitoring System Will Enhance Vehicle Safety

Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking And Strategies To Mitigate