Cyber criminals don’t just slip into your network without the help of some serious hacking skills. In fact, there’s a much simpler way to do that, through your employees. Social engineering is a tactic hackers are using more and more frequently to infiltrate systems. It involves a variety of approaches that focus on manipulating employees to drop standard security protocols. And if you expect to protect your data these days, then you’ll have provide security awareness training information to help your employees detect and avoid these approaches.
Here are a few of them to look out for:
Phishing:
Most business professionals are familiar with the concept of phishing, but not everyone is able to successfully sidestep an attack. Phishing attacks usually come at you via email and attempt to gather information about you or your business illegitimately. This information could be personal, financial, or client specific. For example, Mattel fell victim to a phishing attack a few years ago when a Mattel executive sent $3 million to a group of hackers under false pretenses. But these attacks don’t have to be as extravagant. It could be an email asking you to update your login credentials, click on a link, or download an attachment.
Exchanges:
Whether it’s on a website, through an email, or in person, a criminal practicing social engineering might offer you something in return for information. A free download. A neat pen. Some money. Whatever it is, it usually doesn’t come at a fair price. That free download will turn into ransomware, and that neat pen will result in a hijacked password and hacked database.
Sneaking:
Some criminals will resort to lightweight espionage to get what they want, and they rely on the human element to help them do this. And this isn’t as difficult as it seems, either. If the building is locked by keycards, a criminal can just wait until a polite office worker decides to hold the door open for the person behind them. If computers are visible from the waiting room, a criminal can just glance over the counter to gather sensitive information. Everyday interactions and simple observations can tell the common hacker more than you might think.
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Security Awareness Training Information:
What are the best ways to train your employees? One of the best ways is by online training campaigns. They’ve been found to be exceptionally beneficial.
Security awareness training is an education process that teaches employees about cybersecurity. They can also teach employees best practices in IT and even regulatory compliance. A comprehensive security awareness program should train on a variety of IT, security, and other business-related topics. These topics may include how to avoid phishing and other types of attacks. It will also help to identify malware behaviors. Those who are a part of the training will learn how and when to report security threats. They will also be shown how to follow company IT policies and best practices. Lastly, you can train to adhere to any applicable data privacy and compliance regulations (GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA, etc.)
Studies have shown that quick, relevant, and continuous training throughout the employee’s tenure with a company are the best way to arm end users to become an organization’s first line of cyber-defense. It can take the likelihood of an employee clicking on a phishing link from 40-50% down to 0-5% in a few training campaigns.
