Agency

04/17/2023

Agency's CEO Amir Tarighat was recently featured in a Condé Nast Traveler article about using public charging ports in airports. Check out the article titled: The New Sneaky Way Hackers Are Stealing Your Data at the Airport, in the comment section below.

"Public charging ports, which have proliferated in airport terminals in recent years, might feel beneficial if your device needs to juice up before your flight. But now, the FBI is warning travelers against using them all together due to cybersecurity concerns.

This cyber-theft tactic is commonly called “juice jacking,” according to privacy expert Amir Tarighat, CEO of cybersecurity firm Agency. It involves “concealing implanted malware within the physical charging cord or port, so when you connect your phone to a public charging station it’s exposed,” he says.

03/22/2023

Agency's CEO Amir Tarighat was featured in apartmenttherapy.com's article: Cash Apps Can Be a Dangerous Way to Pay Rent — Here Are 5 Tips for Doing It Safely.

There used to be a time when renters had to hand over a paper check to hold a deposit on their dream apartment, or slip an envelope stuffed with cash to their landlord on the first of every month for their rent. Fortunately, cash apps have made that (sometimes awkward) exchange unnecessary by making transferring money from your bank to your landlord’s account a breeze.

But these transactions aren’t always secure. From nefarious characters looking to catfish you out of your hard-earned money to a straightforward human error, a simple mistake could cost you big time. Amir Tarighat, personal privacy expert and founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Agency has a few tips on how you can make your cash app transfers a little safer.

Read the full article in the comment section.

03/14/2023

Attacks like the recently disclosed breach at LastPass start in employees' personal lives and make their way to organizations.

Here's a short clip of Tyler Carbone and Amir Tarighat discussing the recent breach disclosure and ETDR.

👉 Employee Targeted Digital Risks are your company's biggest unaddressed threat surface.

🚨 ETDR attacks are their own threat vector. In this case, all aspects of the company's security perimeter worked correctly but the attacker was still successful.

03/02/2023

For most startups, cybersecurity is often at the bottom of founders’ to-do lists. But this way of thinking is problematic and, in our opinion, ultimately an unfair and disparaging way to treat your users. An unprepared startup is more likely to be damaged by a cyber incident and likely to leave its users bearing the burden if something happens.

The good news is that it’s effortless to implement a few fundamental best practices right from the start, such as buying cyber insurance to cover both the company and third parties like your earliest believers and customers.
Regardless of your industry or business stage, your startup has vulnerabilities that leave it open to cyber threats.

As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, they more easily infiltrate businesses and commit attacks. Combine that with increasingly digital businesses, and cyber risk is higher than ever. By 2025 cybercrime is expected to cost $10.5 trillion in damages in the United States alone, an increase of 250% from 2015.

It is imperative that you lower your risk and mitigate the impact a cyber threat would have on your business. While there is not one solution that will protect your business, an approach combining cybersecurity and cyber insurance increases your resilience by lowering risk, improving your ability to recover, and minimizing damage and disruption.

Read the rest of the Ultimate Guide to Cyber Insurance for Startups in the comments section below.

03/01/2023

If you haven’t already, check out The Agency Whitepaper on Personalized Managed Cybersecurity in the comments section.

Employee-targeted digital threats are the newest and largest threat to organizations’ cybersecurity, and in this whitepaper, we discuss those threats and how the best organizations are now managing them. Agency is offering a solution that will revolutionize personal cyber security.

Our work and personal lives have become one and the same. Attackers seek increasingly devious ways to exploit companies, including attacks on individual employees’ and business partners’ personal accounts and devices. It’s time for personal cybersecurity to adapt to this new reality.

Managed security and privacy for individuals is an emerging paradigm for addressing this reality and keeping digital lives secure. Forward-thinking companies and sophisticated individuals are turning to cybersecurity experts to help defend personal devices and accounts from data breaches.

A new generation of personal services now makes enterprise-level cybersecurity accessible to individuals. Companies and people can now keep personal information safe from cyber threats.

02/24/2023

Agency is proud to welcome Rick Echevarria to our board of advisors. Rick is the VP and General Manager of Intel Security Sales, and has been an enterprise technology and cybersecurity leader for over 25 years.

At Intel, he's overseen divisions responsible for personal computing, developing, and delivering Intel's cybersecurity technology roadmap. Rick also led Intel's Olympics and Paralympics Office, and Intel's Pandemic Response Technology Initiative.

"In today’s world, no one is immune from attacks by sophisticated and relentless cyber bad actors. Agency delivers integrated security capabilities, real-time monitoring and comprehensive coverage for serious protection for consumers and for businesses. The more we deploy Agency, the more we can rest easier knowing our digital lives are protected and backed by a promise. I’m thrilled to become an Advisor to Agency and help scale the business." - Rick Echevarria

02/21/2023

Employee benefits are one of the key points of leverage in defending against employee-targeted digital risks.

Agency’s CEO Amir Tarighat was featured in an article in Employee Benefit News and talked about BYOD policies.

There are three things you should think about when implementing a BYOD policy:

👉Prep for an increased volume of protected devices
👉Actively monitor and respond to ongoing threats
👉Implement privacy policies so your employees adhere to procedures

Click on the link below to read more.

Amir Tarighat, co-founder and CEO of Agency, explains why employers need to implement a

02/16/2023

In a recent MoneyWeek newsletter: CEO of Agency, Amir Tarighat, recommended five steps that you can take to keep your banking app secure.
1. Turn on 2FA
2. Update your operating system
3. Avoid WiFi hotspots
4. Check your exposure
5. Brush up on the most common scams

Check out the article to read more.

Convenient, easy to use and in your pocket - mobile banking apps have made everyday banking more accessible than ever for millions of us, but how safe is your banking app?

02/13/2023

Excited to announce Agency Enterprise Teams is now publicly available with over 32 🔥 integrations with Directory Sync & SSO Providers. 🚀

What does this mean for large organizations? 💡

👉 Your team will be able to access their
Agency accounts using your company’s SSO and that security teams will be able to control secure access preferences including everything from how MFA is handled to what devices can login.

👉 Securing Mobile & BYODs, Executive Digital Security, Employee Data Removal, and Dark Web Monitoring is easier than ever.

Why?

Because personal cybersecurity is now a company problem.

BYODs and remote/hybrid work shouldn’t make your organization less safe.

Employees should be empowered with their own security with privacy they control. Not the other way around.

Today is one step closer to our mission of provide the best Personalized Managed Cybersecurity & protecting against Employee-Targeted Digital Risks.

01/25/2023

Employee-targeted Digital Risk is your company's biggest threat surface. 🚨

👉 Attacks on Executives, Remote Employees, and those with Privileged Access
👉 Personal devices and online accounts are an entryway to your organization
👉 Your teams' personal info is sold online by data brokers and on the dark web

Get a FREE trial of Agency and get real Personalized Managed Cybersecurity

01/23/2023

In August of 2022, the SANS Institute began a First Look Review of Agency’s Personal Managed Cybersecurity service.

Launched in 1989 as a cooperative for information security thought leadership, SANS’ is the leading organization of enterprise cyber security professionals.

👉 This is the first time they’ve reviewed a product designed for individuals 👈

Last week SANS released their white-paper review and held a live Q&A with our founders @ Amir and @ Tyler

Agency is proud to have the first Personal Cybersecurity Product reviewed by SANS, and the first to focus on Employee Targeted Digital Risk.

This is direct recognition that users often present the highest-risk attack surface for enterprises and should have advanced protections on their endpoint devices and personal brands—not just their corporate systems and professional accounts.

Click below to watch full SANS Institute’s Review of Agency and to get a copy of the White Paper.

Link in comment

01/19/2023

When companies design and implement third-party risk assessment policies, they often overlook employee-targeted digital risk. Vendors must run personalized managed cybersecurity programs to protect their clients and business.

I am surprised by how often I speak with CISOs and compliance officers who aren’t including specific questions about bring your own device (BYOD) by vendor employees. BYOD allows employees to use their personal devices, such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets, for work purposes. While this can be convenient for employees and employers, it can pose a significant security risk if not properly managed.

The problem is that many security frameworks do not explicitly include BYOD, as they ask about company-owned devices only. This neglects that company employees can access email, files, and other sensitive resources from unprotected BYOD devices.

Read the blog article and watch the full YouTube video here

Much has been made of third-party risk management over the last ten years as the industry has grown…