The Phishing Tackle Box: Your Guide To Avoid Getting Hooked

You ever been phishing? No, not the relaxing, semi-boring, past-time, but those off-putting, suspicious emails and other messages you get that seem a bit suspicious. You know the ones I am referring to: It could be a “friend” stranded in a foreign country needing money to get home or your “boss” emailing you out of the blue to cut a check for a vendor you’ve never dealt with. Essentially these “phishing attacks” are designed to look like a trusted source so you open the message/attachment and unleash whatever malware they have attached.

The motivation behind these phishing scams can range from pure profit to political disruption, but, in the vast majority of attacks, hackers are looking to capture as much data as possible and turn it into cash. These scams take many forms and can have potentially devastating effects: 60% of small businesses hit with a significant phishing attack have had to shut their doors within 6 months of the incident [1]. We will discuss the three things you need in your Phishing Tackle Box so you’re prepared for the worst.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Awareness & Continued Education

Remember Blockbuster Video? They thought they had it all figured out when it came to the movie rental industry and we're so confident in their solution that they didn’t see the next big thing (Netflix). The same logic applies to your security. If you don’t build your network to accommodate and change with the times, your now-fancy network security system will become stagnant and leave you exposed. Staying appraised with new cybersecurity trends will not only help keep your software up to date but will also help with your biggest security threat: your employees.

This is NOT an insult, employees are typically a company’s most valuable asset, but when it comes to data breaches, the vast majority are caused by end-user error which is to say someone internal opened something they shouldn’t have. But can you really blame an employee for opening something risky if they haven’t been trained on what to look out for or avoid? Today, employees are not just faced with the classic email scam, but also very clever phishing texts, tweets, pop-ups, and the newest flavor, phishing calendar invites.

Based on the sheer multitude of threats, employee awareness and education are now more important than ever. How your company trains your employees is up to you and can range from actual in-person training sessions (recommended) to sending out educational videos. When considering the training option best for your company, always remember, it only takes one person to let someone in and at that point, it’s too late to start pointing fingers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------