A cy-bear attack destroyed my hobby

[marksimpkins]

Security threats to your business are always lurking just beyond your “fence” line. Is your defense strong enough to keep them there? Mark Simpkins tells a cautionary from his own backyard.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cybersecurity lately. I rebuilt my home office network using a professional grade router, two Aruba Instant On AP12 access points, and two Aruba Instant On 1930 PoE switches (one 8 port and one 24 port).

Between the router firewall and the built-in security features of the Aruba wired and wireless gear, I feel better about maintaining a secure home and working environment and protecting my growing home lab comprised of HPE ProLiant DL360p Gen8 server, HPE MicroServer Gen10, HPE MicroServer Gen10 Plus, and some other Raspberry Pi projects).

That said, I know IT security is not something that is ever completed—the cybercriminals certainly are not standing still in their efforts. The mantra should be, “You will be breached, so be prepared.” In fact, something recently happened to me that brought home some parallels about security in general which you can apply to your business.  

Attack of the cy-bear

I have been a hobbyist beekeeper for five years now and was bringing my overwintered colonies into what has been a slowly coming spring up here in the Pacific Northwest. There has been more rain than usual and less sun, and so fewer natural resources are available for creatures such as—hungry bears coming out of hibernation.

Now, I have never had issues with bears coming after my beehives. I live in a city cul de sac with a nice greenbelt area behind my house which stretches along for miles. The premise is to keep areas for wildlife, and I will tell you it works. Late this past April, I noticed one of my hives had been knocked over in the evening.

I thought it could be some unusual vandal—these things happen—until I saw this:

Too late the detection layer, too late the electric fence

I strapped down my hives so they would not fall apart when tipped over. I ordered components to build an electric fence once the rains broke for a day or two. I got a wireless security camera shipped overnight and installed it to the side of my house. I would try to scare the bear away when the alert sounded.

That worked only one night.

The next night, the bear did not care about my yelling or flashlight shining but simply rolled my hive out of my yard and into the greenbelt for leisurely consumption of my bee larvae.

Contrary to popular belief, the bears are usually after the bee larvae for protein, not the honey (this was proved since the bear left my several deadout hives alone although they had honey in them). Along the way, my fence was destroyed in two places. In another couple nights, no bee colony had survived. I have not seen the bear since, but he or she is out there.

So what could I have done to prevent the cy-bear? Think security layers (firewall) and backup.

• Installed the outdoor camera sooner
• Installed outdoor lights—while this would not stop the bear, it might deter other two-legged creatures of malintent
• Installed an electric fence inside the wooden fence perimeter
• Maintained a couple colonies of bees in a different location—I had just been planning to take a couple hives to my in-law’s property on Camano Island. Had I done this last year, I would have been able to split those Island hives to recover from the hives I lost in my yard. Think of this as having offsite data backups.

What can you do to prevent cybercrime in your SMB?

Don’t wait to get prepared, and don’t ever stop getting better prepared. This was “only” my hobby, but I give away about half my honey to neighbors and family who really enjoy it.

While it was a bit of a blow to me—I will have to spend about $2,000 in getting new bees, installing an electric fence, and repairing my wooden fence—this cy-bear attack did not shut down my business, just my hobby.

But I did get a metaphorical taste of the damage that could be done to a business which does not have a solid handle on IT security.

You can build layers of security into your IT infrastructure starting with HPE servers, networking and storage which benefit from features such as silicon root of trust, HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) server management software, HPE OneView, and HPE Infosight.

Security is only as strong as the layer below the point of attack, so cover all the bases you can. With global cybercrime damage predicted to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, your business stands to lose a lot more than jars of honey.

Don't find your metaphorical hives upended like I did!  I invite you to learn more. Read our 360-Degree Security solution guide. 

Mark Simpkins
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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