Please know I consider our customers all of the above so the title applies to all.

This past weekend many of you read or saw the news reports on the multiple cyber-attacks that were worldwide and hit many high profile companies like FedEx. I received several emails from folks in Charlotte, NC asking if they are protected and if not what do they need to do in order to become more protected. Myself or my co-workers responded to those pro-active inquiries directly but we felt it best to send an email to all partner-clients reviewing details of how to best protect a network.

First, if you are a SonicWall customer and you are using our Gateway Anti-Virus, Intrusion Prevention service, and Capture Advanced Threat Protection then your SonicWall firewall has been protecting your network from WannaCry ransomware and the worm that spreads it since 17 April, 2017. Since the release of the first version of the code, we have identified several new variants and have released additional counter measures. We will continue to update this blog as our Capture Labs research team uncovers more information and as additional protection is automatically rolled out to our customers’ firewalls.

Widespread Google Docs phishing attempt! The "Google Docs" app reads all your email and contacts, and then self-propagates by sending more emails.

"If you have clicked on the link, go to your Google account's page where you can manage the permissions you've granted to apps. Then locate the "Google Doc" app. This looks totally legitimate, but it's actually not. If that's the malicious app that's gotten access to your account after you clicked on the link it should have a recent "Authorization Time." Now, click on that Google Docs app and click "Remove"."

We had a great time at the Business Leaders of Charlotte (BLOC) Networking After Hours last night sponsored by Bestintech and hosted at Wooden Robot in Charlotte, NC. For more information about the event please go to www.businessleadersofcharlotte.com