To remain secure against increasingly-sophisticated attacks, organizations need to take a more practical approach: One that involves heightened employee awareness and full executive stewardship of a collaborative, company-wide security initiative.
IT Security: It can often still be considered an “IT issue.”
But it’s more than that. Just as revenue and performance are routinely reviewed, assessed and collaborated on, security should be a talking point inside the executive boardroom and an initiative that involves all employees. It’s not just an IT issue. It’s a business issue that involves your entire organization.
The cliché image of online attack usually involves a dark room, a person hunched over a dozen or so computer screens in a pitch-black hoodie, cracking ultra-secret code. The reality is that cybercrimes are committed amid much more mundane scenarios, using traditional trickery and shenanigans, presenting themselves via email or even phone calls to your employees.
Businesses often throw money and technology at the problem: firewalls, content filters, encrypted data and email, antivirus, and anti-malware tools. But to remain secure against increasingly-sophisticated attacks, organizations need to take a more practical approach: One that involves heightened employee awareness and full executive stewardship of a collaborative, company-wide security initiative.
You’ve read the headlines about the high-profile attacks on entities like Equifax and Target. What would a cybercriminal want with you?
You only have 50 employees, or you may live in a small, insulated town. But you have assets including money, intellectual property, and customer data and access. Your data may also be a gateway for further access to larger organizations (like the 2014 Target data breach), making you just as vulnerable for attack. In fact, a 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 43 percent of breaches involve small business victims.
It’s crucial to understand that, yes, it can happen to you.
Teaching employees to recognize suspicious activity is key, and email is a great place to start. Two terms that your team should know and the deceptive acts to be on the lookout for:
Social Engineering, increasingly prevalent, is a modern-day attack vector that uses social conditioning and naivety of humans to infiltrate networks, gain access to systems and steal confidential information from organizations. With social engineered attacks, it might be a phone call with a spoofed number, and it might say, ’this is Microsoft, and I’m calling to notify you that there is a bug outbreak in DFW and I’ve been charged with your area. I need to log into your computer and apply a patch.’
We know that Microsoft does not operate in this manner.
The bottom line? Consider partnering with a business technology provider for proactive cybersecurity education. Further enforce training by setting up a program that literally sends out fake phishing emails to employees, and provides reporting on anyone who falls for the “bait.”
In contemplating your vulnerabilities, and considering your next security action items, start by asking yourself these four pertinent questions:
In asking yourself those questions, did more questions arise? Ready to maximize your security efforts? Join us for MAXIMIZE: A Datamax Partner Success and Appreciation Event on Thursday, June 20.
As part of our event, we’ll help you calculate ways to: Recognize attack methods and business threats, identify risk mitigation strategies to limit exposure, and assess your current security framework. Click below to learn more about this great event, which includes other great topics and speakers!