cyber criminals – Dispatches From The Front

Business security has come into the spotlight in the past few years, mainly due to high profile security breaches like the ones at Sony, Ashley Madison and Kaspersky Lab. Small businesses are routinely targeted by cyber criminals, due to the unsophisticated security systems that they have in place, making it easy for the attackers to steal money, data, and other business information.

Security breach compromises sensitive business data and, in many instances, lead to complete destruction of data. When credit card or financial information is stolen, it makes millions of your users or customers highly vulnerable to fraud. Digital natives place a lot of importance on how companies deal with cyber security, and prefer to do business with brands that will value and protect their personal information.

C-suite executives need to be aware of the cyber security risks that businesses face, and should have a sound plan to tackle them.

Here are a few of the top business security risks, and the ways in which you can deal with them.

Who (in their right mind) would like to appear as the corporate dunce who infected their company network (by clicking on an email attachment or url)? Not you, not me, and certainly not the PR department or the company CEO’s administrative assistant, or even the CEO himself.

Phishing is an activity that cybercriminals utilize to acquire personal and sensitive information. Whether it is an account username and password, credit card details, a social security number, or other personal data — it is designed to coax you into giving up your personal information for criminal gain. For those of us who have been unfortunate enough to click on a deceptive phishing link or email attachment, it is an event that most of us would probably rather forget.

Phishing it up

Most of us are aware that if an email arrives unsolicited and includes grammatical errors, we should just delete it and continue on with our day. Not all phishing emails contain bad grammar, unsolicited attachments, or immediately request sensitive information. Last summer I received an email that appeared quite genuine, so genuine in fact — that I almost became victim to a very clever phishing scheme.

Tag: cyber criminals

5 Things to Do to Fight Business Security Risks | Getentrepreneurial

Security Awareness: Phishing up the weakest links! | TekSec