Cybers attacks are an ever-increasing threat to businesses. A cursory glance at the news will undoubtedly show stories about large-scale hacks and data breaches where millions of users have their data compromised. These news stories highlight the high-profile incidents, like the Equifax hack or the WannaCry crypto virus, and you may get the false impression that you and your business is safe because you’re small by comparison. This unfortunately isn’t true. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: You are the low hanging fruit. Cybercriminals prey on small to medium businesses because they are easy to attack and often unable to recover. This forces businesses to pay ransoms to recover encrypted or stolen data.
Primarily, these attacks happen when an employee is fooled by a phishing attempt. In fact, 95% of all security breaches are caused by human error. These fake emails, made to look like they are coming from legitimate sources, will prompt users to enter their usernames and passwords. Once the hacker has this information, they can wreak havoc on your network, locking down files and folders, accessing online accounts, or accessing bank accounts. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your business.
The number one thing you can do is implement frequent security training and awareness. Simply keeping cybersecurity at the front of your team’s mind is enough to stop the majority of cyber threats. Your team is far more likely to be critical of a suspicious email if they’ve just received training that teaches them what to watch out for.
This training is available from ETC and is called Security Awareness Training. When you sign up, you will get access to the online portal that allows you to track your team’s training progress, prepare and build a game plan in case of a breach, and schedule checkups to resolve security weaknesses before they become issues. Training consists of weekly “micro” training sessions that last 1-2 minutes, and simulated phishing attempts are also included to keep your team focused on cybersecurity. Click here [link to Security Awareness Training] to sign up, or call us at 234-200-0800 option 2. Looking for more info? Click here to schedule a call with an ETC team member.
