Why Cyber Security Training for Employees, CEO’s and your clients can be the Key to avoiding a costly breach.
Social engineering – responsible for a large percentage of data breaches worldwide— most estimates put the number at over 90%. With that kind of risk, companies can’t afford to wait until they’ve been compromised to address the threat. Quite literally can’t afford, as companies are losing millions of dollars annually through cybercrime. So combining security infrastructure with cyber security training for employees is a critical component of preventing digital threats within a company.
Social engineering attacks use an understanding of human behavior to manipulate people into disclosing confidential information or performing actions against their best interest. They take many forms, but often work by creating a false sense of urgency—a person is more likely to overlook small details that are off when they’re stressed and flustered.
Phishing emails are a subset of social engineering, with an email pretending to be from a reputable source and prompting the user to click a link, respond with information, or sometimes even directly asking for funds. Common social engineering & phishing tactics that your employees must watch out for include:
CEO emails: Emails pretending to be from company leadership with urgent requests for the employee. The increased pressure makes employees less likely to question the request.
Email Spoofing: Using look-alike letter combinations such as ‘rn’ instead of ‘m’ to create a look-alike email to one the employee trusts, often paired with messaging that requires urgent action.
Website Spoofing: Directing a target to an look-alike website that emulates a service they trust—prompting them to sign in and collecting their user credentials.
Vishing and Smishing: Phishing is used specifically to refer to fraudulent emails. Vishing, or voice phishing, is a type of fraud that occurs over the phone, with a malicious actor pretending to be someone else to manipulate someone into disclosing sensitive information on a call, while smishing, or SMS phishing, is similar to phishing but through text messages.
Baiting: Scammers will draw targets in with a promised reward in order to obtain access to their data. For example, handing out free USB drives as conference swag, but loading the drives with malicious software.
Ransomware: Tricking an employee into clicking a link that contains an executable command, installing software that allows malicious parties to remotely take control of servers, literally holding personal or company data for ransom.
This is only a fraction of the potential exploits employees will navigate, and new variations are cropping up all the time. With remote work becoming more common, many companies are seeing an uptick in cyber attacks. Employees working outside of the office do not have access to in-office security infrastructure or hardware. They may be working with an outdated or poorly secured connections, and may even be working on their own personal devices. These logistical challenges mean remote employees are generally much more vulnerable to attack!
To keep enterprise data safe, cyber security awareness training for employees has to be an ongoing practice that not only teaches employees to recognize security threats but also corrects risky behavior and reinforces safer employee behavior and best practices over time.
Waiting to have this essential training makes the hackers job easier. Schedule today, it is essential for your employees, your clients, and your partners.