The 411 - WEST Protect

Cyber 411 - Episode 2: What Does “Getting It Right Look Like” in Cyber Security?

May 25, 2022

Cyber security doesn’t make sense. You’ve heard it before; cyber security is challenging. Cyber Security is like magic. None of those things are true; cyber security is simply another business risk you need to address. You don’t need to be an expert to protect your company; you just need to understand the risks and take the appropriate actions. In this episode, we will remove the mystery of what it takes to get cyber security right What can you do with...

Cyber 411 - Episode 1 What Happens When it all Goes Wrong

April 19, 2022

We’ve all heard it before, something terrible happens to someone else, and our first thought is it will never happen to me until it does. Cybercrime is an equal opportunity attacker. The criminals do not care if you’re big or small, they do not care what business you’re in, and they do not care how nice of a person you are. They care about one thing, and only one thing, do you have something of value to them. If you...

2021 - Another Record Year for Wire Fraud Losses

March 24, 2022

2021 was another record year for wire fraud losses. Even though we have been working to educate everyone within the real estate transaction for the past several years, it seems that the criminals still have the advantage. The FBI recently released the 2021 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report, which was not good news. Reported losses from wire fraud (BEC/EAC) increased to over $2.3 billion. Overall, in 2021 over $6.9 billion and losses were reported to the FBI. That is...

Privacy is the New Watchword

February 10, 2022

Privacy is a hot topic, and alarming revelations about identity theft and data breaches seem to happen daily. As organizations work to keep Personal Data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) safe and secure, it becomes more and more apparent that everyone has a role to play in protecting data privacy. The important thing to remember is PII is defined as social security number (SSN), passport number, driver’s license number, taxpayer identification number, patient identification number, financial account number, or credit...

Traveling Smart

May 7, 2021

As we slowly come out of the pandemic and start traveling again, we should take a few minutes to refresh ourselves on the digital dangers associated with travel. Traveling is a prime time of risk for your mobile devices – including smartphones, laptops, and tablets – whether from theft or hacking. However, there are steps you can take to help protect your devices and data. We’ll go over some recommendations for you before and while traveling. Protecting Your Data Before...

A Clean Desk is a Happy Desk

April 23, 2021

It sounds so simple, but the basic idea of a clean desk extends well beyond just looking good… it promotes organization, efficiency, document security and it helps keep your work uncluttered. Many companies, productivity, and security professionals state that a desk must be clean at all times. This idea is rather foreboding since it’s nearly impossible to have nothing on your desk, but the idea is to have only what is necessary on your desk at any given time. Do...