OnSite I.T. Blog

While now may not be the most dangerous time to run a business, it is arguably a contender. Businesses are more reliant on digital technology than ever, meaning that these businesses also have to deal with more threats than ever. One such threat: the phishing scam.

It’s hard to tell people that “we are under attack” all the time and actually mean it. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the more you tell people they are under threats that don’t actually affect them, the more distrust or even disdain develops for the issuer of these revelations. Second, people will never actually understand that they are under threat until something happens that proves to them that they need to be more careful. 

Concerns over operational expenses, particularly regarding technology, weigh heavily on many business owners. For some, these expenses can spiral out of control, leading to financial problems in vital areas of the organization. Every business needs to ask how it can rectify its IT spending to bring on a culture of overall improvement.

One of the most dangerous types of threats is the many phishing scams you and your employees could fall victim to. While it might be tempting to poke fun at the people who succumb to seemingly obvious phishing attacks, the reality of the matter is that some phishing attacks are anything but, and they are only growing more sophisticated over time.

With so many new and emerging threats to worry about in today’s cybersecurity landscape, it’s no wonder that some businesses and employees might be operating from a knowledge deficit regarding network security. We’re here to change that with a quick overview of the three biggest overarching threats your business must face and prepare for.

We know that living in a constant state of fear of being scammed is not ideal, but it’s the unfortunate reality of living in today’s technologically advanced world. The good news is that it’s never too late to learn how to avoid them! Let’s discuss how you can be more aware of the challenges of scams not only in a business setting, but in everyday life.

We’re always telling people to avoid clicking on suspicious links, but the bad guys are making it harder to tell the difference between a legitimate URL and a suspicious one. We’re going to try to simplify it for you, and have you focus on the placement of a single punctuation mark in a link to tell if it might be safe or dangerous.

It’s easy to think of email as something that just works. You open up Outlook or log into Gmail and your mail is there. Most people aren’t even aware of the vast, complex set of systems required for email to even work—and we don’t blame you. It’s extremely complicated.

That being said, if nobody is actively managing your email, providing protection for the underlying technology, and making sure that it was and remains configured properly, it’s possible that your email could be working fine while opening you up for unseen threats.

Cybercriminals aren’t looking to play fair against businesses. They don’t care how big or small you are, they don’t care about what services you provide, or what good you offer for the community. You could be a children’s hospital or a single mother selling homemade mittens out of your dining room, you could be a school, an assisted living facility, or a Fortune 500. Either way, your organization is an equally viable target for cybercriminals.

Have you tried using Enhanced Safe Browsing in your Google Chrome browser? This feature has been a part of the browser since 2019, and it was implemented with the intention of preventing phishing attacks. This feature was also recently added to Gmail. Here’s how you enable it, as well as why it might not be the solution you’re hoping for.

There are countless threats out there that can leave your business in a worse state than before, including viruses and malware, ransomware, data breaches, and other types of phishing attacks. It’s hard to go about your day without worrying about these types of threats, especially in today’s connected business world. However, the ones you need to watch out for most of all are the ones that are so personal you’d never expect them.

We aren’t shy in terms of talking about phishing, its dangers, and what can be done to prevent it. However, it can be too easy to focus directly on email phishing and exclude the many other forms that phishing can and often does take.

Take, for instance, smishing.

Cybersecurity has gradually become more and more of a focus for modern businesses as threats to their data and general operations have mounted over time. This means that businesses need to approach their security with a multifaceted strategy, involving a combination of the right tools and IT support and the training to use them. Let’s take a few moments to dive into security training and why it is so critical.

Phishing is a word that has a couple of different meanings, depending on the spelling and context. Fishing, like the act of sitting down with a pole and trying to catch a fish, can be a relaxing, leisurely activity. Phishing, with a “ph,” is anything but that, and it can be a tiring and scary situation to navigate—particularly if you or one of your employees have fallen victim to an attack.

Phishing is a pressing issue for everyone, not just businesses. The main problem is that the phishing messages keep getting more and more sophisticated and keep coming and coming until, eventually, something negative happens. For this week’s tip, we wanted to discuss the different types of phishing you can encounter. 

It’s all well and good to practice caution when clicking on links in your emails, but chances are you’ll eventually have to commit to clicking on one of them, whether you like it or not. In cases like this, it’s best to go against these links armed with as much information as possible about what they are. Let’s go over how you can check their legitimacy quickly and effectively.

Paypal: Unusual activity suspended your account. For your safety confirm your identity here: [link]

We’re here to tell you, very simply, not to follow links that are in messages like these, and to instead confirm their legitimacy by navigating to the website directly in a new browser.

What if Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Raven” during the information age?

Ransomware is never a good thing, but for some, it can be worse than it is for others. Take educational institutions, for instance—they’ve become a favorite target for cybercriminals to take advantage of, unfortunately successfully. Many resort to paying up, something that we’d never recommend.

Phishing attacks are nothing new in the business world, and they will almost certainly become more prevalent as time passes. Unfortunately, phishing attacks have adapted their practices to get around advancements in security technology, so businesses must work extra hard to spread awareness of phishing to their employees and train them appropriately.