Cybercrime remains a real threat to both businesses and individuals. As hackers continue to find new creative ways to get information, phishing remains as dangerous as it was 30 years ago when it first emerged.
Phishing involves deception with the objective of obtaining credentials from vulnerable individuals, for malicious purposes. Around 91% of cyber-attacks are through email phishing. The potential for damage can be much more significant to a business, so you should ensure your employees are phish proof.
This type of phishing targets a specific person or company. The message sent is usually customized to increase the chances of success. Often the email is made to look like it's from a friend or colleague.
Whale Phishing is similar to spear phishing except that it targets people in senior positions such as CEOs and public faces who have access to more sensitive information than the average employee.
This is shorthand for voice phishing. Potential victims receive phone calls claiming to be from their bank. The caller then requests for bank details.
This a relatively new technique compared to the previous ones mentioned. An email that has already been delivered to unsuspecting victims is taken and the content is cloned. The email is then sent from a spoofed account to make it look like it's from the original sender, and a malicious link or attachment is included.
Once installed, the toolbar runs in the background and checks the sites your employees visit. The toolbar compares the sites visited against a list of malicious websites and alerts the user to anything unusual.
Firewalls are very effective in protecting your internal network against intruders. A desktop firewall will protect each of the individual computers from unauthorized access while the network firewall safeguards the entire network.
Hackers are getting smarter every day. Therefore, keep up with updates and changes in anti-virus products. Having your computers running on an outdated software puts your entire network at risk. The same goes for all the other programs used in the office.
With time, hackers figure out loopholes within every browser. To prevent hackers from causing havoc, popular web browsers release security patches regularly.
A browser will usually alert the user if there is an update. Since most employees are likely to ignore such alerts, your in-house IT team update the browsers regularly.
It doesn’t matter how sophisticated your software and hardware security apparatus is if the employees are not sensitized. Hence, regularly train your entire staff on the latest trends in cybersecurity. Training on how to identify suspicious websites, emails, and phone calls can make all the difference. For this reason, the most effective way is to train your IT department and have them educate the rest of the staff.
Hackers are getting smarter and more creative. It is unlikely that cybercrime will end anytime soon.
However, staying updated and taking the necessary precautions significantly reduces the risk of being attacked. Phishing relies on the ignorance and gullibility of a victim. Prevent phishing by teaching your employees to be vigilant.
