Commonwealth Sentinel: Cyber Security Consulting

10/20/2026

A school in the United Kingdom lost its network for three months to ransomware, and afterward one staff member still refused to change a password she had used since 1998 because everyone already knew it. Commonwealth Sentinel meets this attitude in Kentucky offices often, and getting past it usually takes leadership holding the line, along with tools like a password manager that make the change easier.

School staff seemed to be trying to get ransomware – for a second time

10/19/2026

Fake storefronts and delivery-notice texts multiply as the holiday shopping season approaches, and most of them count on a shopper moving quickly. Checking the web address before entering payment details and ignoring texts about packages you did not order go a long way, and our article covers more ways to shop online safely.

When was the last time you shopped online? 2.64 billion people are shopping online this year. That’s about 1/3 of the global population.

10/18/2026

Microsoft reported this week that a network of phishing kits sold through one criminal marketplace has sent more than one billion fake emails and texts since January, many of them posing as toll agencies, Medicare, and Amazon. The safest habit is still the plainest one, which is to call the sender at a number already on file before acting on any urgent request, and the full report is linked in the comments.

10/18/2026

Every shared link from OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox is a small door into your files, and it stays open until someone remembers to close it. Our article offers 11 practical tips for sharing files safely, from end-to-end encryption to a simple written policy that tells every employee the rules.

In today's digital age, secure file sharing is an essential part of business operations, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

10/17/2026

Attackers now use fake videos and impersonated executives to shape the story of a cyber attack before the victim can say a word. A BrightTALK webcast on November 13 at 6 p.m. Eastern covers how to decide in advance who speaks, who approves, and when to disclose.

Cyber incidents now extend beyond IT, impacting boardrooms, regulators, customers, and social media—often before facts are confirmed. Threat actors leverage AI to speed attacks, impersonate executives, and spread misinformation, shaping the narrative before organizations can react. Crisis communic...

10/17/2026

A ransomware attack does not stay in the server room, because downtime, lost customer trust, and recovery costs reach every desk in the building, and ransom demands often top $100,000. Our article explains how cyber extortion affects everyone on staff and the simple habits that help, starting with reporting anything suspicious right away.

Cyber extortion is precisely what it sounds like. This cybercrime occurs when attackers gain unauthorized access to a company’s sensitive data and demand a ransom to stop the attack or return control

10/16/2026

SAP fixed 20 security flaws this week, including a maximum-severity bug that could let an attacker with no account steal the login tokens an app uses to reach SAP's cloud. Any office that runs SAP, or relies on a vendor that does, should ask whether the October patches are on the schedule.

SAP has addressed 20 security flaws across multiple products in its October 2026 security updates, including a maximum-severity vulnerability in the Cloud SDK for Python.

10/16/2026

Hackers switched on the defrost cycles in refrigerated display cases at about 700 grocery stores across five European countries over the weekend, and every item in those cases had to be thrown out. The same internet-connected controllers run the coolers in grocery stores, cafeterias, and food banks here in Kentucky, and changing their default passwords is a sensible first step for any owner.

A cyberattack over the weekend disrupted refrigeration systems in hundreds of European supermarkets.

10/16/2026

Videos on TikTok promoted a Chase Bank glitch that turned out to be plain check fraud, and people who tried it ended up with frozen accounts, negative balances, and damaged credit. Our article looks at what went wrong and how to judge money advice that shows up in a social media feed.

The recent TikTok trend dubbed the “Chase Bank glitch” serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of unverified financial advice on social media.

10/15/2026

An Akira ransomware crew broke into a company in August through one VPN account with no second login step and reached its core servers within two hours. Many offices protect email with that second step but leave the VPN, remote desktop, and Windows logon guarded by a password alone.

Attackers continue exploiting gaps in MFA coverage, using stolen credentials to access VPNs, RDP, and Windows systems that still rely on passwords alone. Specops explains why protecting cloud applications isn't enough and how organizations can close these authentication gaps.