When It Comes to Protecting Your Business, Your Team Members are a Critical Element

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 Big Issue

The approach that hackers take when targeting businesses has changed over time. Rather than directly targeting an organization’s network in an attempt to break into it, an attacker will bypass the obstacles that cybersecurity protections put up by taking advantage of users through a social engineering process known as phishing.

Amidst a phishing attack, a hacker will reach out to one of your team members in an attempt to fool them into providing access. This approach is surprisingly successful, and is present in over 90% of today’s breaches and ransomware infections.

While it can be challenging to spot a phishing attack, there are some signs that can help an eagle-eyed user. Here are some:

• A tone that doesn’t match the supposed sender
• Misspellings and other discrepancies in key details, like email addresses, domain names, and links
• Out-of-the-blue messages
• Egregious spelling and grammar errors
• Unexpected or out-of-context attachments
• Excessive urgency behind, or open threats as a consequence of, not complying with the message
• Ambiguous messages that motivate the recipient to investigate
• Unusual requests, or requests for explicitly sensitive information

Employee Training is a Must

A successful phishing attack’s consequences can be significantly dire, which makes it all the more important that your team is ready to block as many attempts as possible. This will require some training, which you can approach in a variety of ways.

One more passive option is to utilize training videos, while a more aggressive form of training could take the form of simulated phishing messages that evaluate how well your team members are able to spot and properly report these kinds of threats. Training platforms and interactive workshops can add to their preparedness as well. Just don’t forget to really emphasize—in detail—the severity of phishing’s dangers.

OnSite I.T. can help prepare your team to deal with security threats of all kinds, educating and training them so they are ready to securely operate in your business. Give us a call at (403) 210-2927 to learn more.