Don't get caught on the phish-hook!
Did you know – 1 in 95 emails sent to small and medium sized businesses (SMB) include malware that can include ransomware or other malicious attacks. (source: Symantec)
There are many creative ‘cyber bad guys' who love to trick you into providing your personal information. You need to educate yourself about the kind of scams out there, and take heed to prevent a cyber attack.
Employees are still widely considered to be the weakest link in any security infrastructure,so it’s no surprise that phishing remains so popular and effective. The fact is, good phishing email looks just like regular messages from people we know and care about, and to make matters worse, it can also be difficult to detect.
When it comes to phishing, prevention is the best defense. Investing in employee education and training now can save you a great deal of time and effort further down the line.
Let's look at the most common kinds of cyber assaults:
- Spam email includes large amounts of unsolicited emails that can annoy you, cause you to waste time, and slow down your internet communications.
- Phishing emails look like they come from a real company you know and trust. The sole purpose of a phishing email scam is to trick you to go to a fake website that looks real, and enter personal information that gives the attacker access to your data.
- Spear-phishing is a targeted attack. It looks real because the perpetrators use accurate-sounding information to trick you into providing more of your personal data. The attack may be launched when you open the email or attachment (it looked real, right?), or when you followed an external link. The attackers use malware-compromised systems or credentials to steal data and sell it on the black market.
- Ransomware is a cyber attack that often uses phishing to access your network. This attack relies on users to make mistakes even if your network has antivirus software installed. The attackers encrypt your computer network (and any backup devices connected to your network) that prevents you from opening any of your computer data. The attackers hold your data ransom until you pay their hostage demands.
Many businesses admit to being attacked. It only takes one person in an organization to open an attack email, and everyone is impacted – possibly by a data breach, definitely by the time and money it takes to contain and report the attack.
It is essential to train your employees to help them identify an attack and prevent a breach.
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