Kevin Williams

All posts by Kevin Williams

Kevin Williams is a journalist based in Ohio. Williams has written for a variety of publications including the Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic and others. He first wrote about the online world in its nascent stages for the now defunct “Online Access” Magazine in the mid-90s.

Q&A: Ethical hacking and pen testing to protect against phishing

Q&A: Ethical hacking and pen testing to protect against phishing

Phishing continues to be one of the biggest threats to network security, which has led to “ethical hacking” being used to protect against it. If you’re wondering why methods like ethical hacking and pen testing are necessary to stop phishing,...

/ April 13, 2021
A conversation about ransomware in 2021

A conversation about ransomware in 2021

The year 2021 continues to see a surge in ransomware as the world’s cyber ecosystem begins to ease into a post-pandemic phase. The education and healthcare sectors remain particularly vulnerable to ransomware as hackers attempt to squeeze more out of...

/ April 7, 2021 / 1 Comment
Tomorrow’s cybersecurity at today’s colleges

Tomorrow’s cybersecurity at today’s colleges

University students in 2021 have a worldview of cybersecurity that has been shaped by the pandemic and forged by immersion in technology from cradle to college. Smarter MSP recently caught up with Bilal Shebaro, an associate professor in the Department of...

/ March 31, 2021
Weak human links and zero-day cyberattacks

Weak human links and zero-day cyberattacks

We’ve been taking a close look at the post-pandemic environment that MSPs are finding themselves navigating in 2021. One of the questions for many is what happens if the new normal doesn’t resemble the old normal? What if corporate campuses...

/ March 23, 2021
The long-term cybersecurity legacy of COVID-19

The long-term cybersecurity legacy of COVID-19

COVID vaccines are starting to be distributed and administered, cases have dropped, and a real sense of post-pandemic optimism pervades the planet as springtime begins in the northern hemisphere. Despite all of the real-world and cybersecurity challenges that came about...

/ March 16, 2021
Silver Sparrow malware comes home to roost in Macs

Silver Sparrow malware comes home to roost in Macs

Something unusual has made news recently: Mac malware. The usually highly fortified – and pricier – Mac OS is much less prone to malware intrusions. But the discovery of Silver Sparrow malware, a malware that runs on both Intel and...

/ March 8, 2021
IoT security and MSPs: Just the beginning

IoT security and MSPs: Just the beginning

The continued proliferation of IoT will present both challenges and opportunities for MSPs in 2021. Projections put the number of IoT devices by 2021 at over 35 billion. This parade of IoT devices ranges from security cameras to appliances to...

/ March 1, 2021
MSPs can safeguard clients’ personal health information

MSPs can safeguard clients’ personal health information

MSPs are finding themselves with more and more PHI (personal health information) to safeguard. But how do you safeguard the safeguarding? As a journalist who covers the burgeoning med-tech space, I’ve witnessed first-hand some, at best, sloppy, and, at worst,...

/ February 18, 2021
Beware familiarity blindness

Beware familiarity blindness

Phishing continues to dominate security discussions as 2021 unfolds. According to Security Boulevard: “By mid-2020, SlashNext Threat Labs saw the number of daily phishing threats top 25,000 a day, a 30 percent increase over 2019 figures. By fall, the number...

/ February 11, 2021
Hit by ransomware, a second time?

Hit by ransomware, a second time?

Sometimes it is easy to overlook the obvious when distracted by the meltdown of the moment. Still, MSPs and other security stakeholders need to take a holistic view when something happens. Often, an MSP may be so concerned – understandably...

/ February 4, 2021 / 1 Comment