Social engineering has been around since the first traveling hucksters pitched miracle cures from the back of horse-drawn wagons. Today’s social engineering schemes may be a little more sophisticated, but they have the same result—very embarrassed victims left wondering how they fell for a scam that, in retrospect, seems painfully obvious.
Prepare for the Inevitable
You and your employees may never fall victim to social engineering, but it won’t be because no one tried. Phishing scams, spoof phone calls, and a variety of other too-good-to-be-true offers are on the rise, and social engineering is now more of a threat than ransomware. Criminals aren’t picky about how they get your money, and they’re willing to change tactics in the middle of the game to catch your business unaware. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself by making IT security a top priority.
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Train your employees to recognize scam emails
Your employees can help guard your company’s sensitive information and assets by learning how to spot deceptive emails. For example, the Business Email Compromise, or BEC attack is highly effective. Criminals impersonate someone in authority within the company, requesting highly sensitive information like HR documents or bank account numbers. Instead of trusting such an email, employees should verify the address and other contact information against company contact lists. By using stored contact information to verify the authenticity of the email, they can successfully thwart a BEC attack.
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Invest in professional IT security solutions
You don’t need to go at it alone, and there’s no reason why you should. An IT Security Assessment can monitor, identify and correct vulnerabilities within your network, protecting your business from ongoing threats.
Do you know where you stand? For help assessing your current IT security situation, contact us at Function4 today!