Hackers are everywhere in the world today. They lurk, hidden by the anonymity of the World Wide Web, preying on any and everyone in hopes of cashing in or obtaining specific information. No matter how much technology your business has in place to prevent and deter cybercrime, the threat remains for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
One particular cyber threat that far too few businesses protect sufficiently against is the social engineering threat. These tips are designed to help prevent your business from becoming a victim of the latest social engineering scam.
How to Avoid Social Engineering Scams
We have seen a substantial increase in cybercrime activities since 2019 with an increase of complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Compliance Center of 69 percent between 2019 and 2020. The better you understand the human element behind various cyber threats, the better you can prepare yourself and your staff to avoid them. These are a few key steps your business can take to prevent many cyber-attacks from happening.
1. Diversify Passwords
Choosing passwords that are unique and difficult to guess is the first step in avoiding preventable cyberattacks against your business. But you need to go one step further by frequently updating passwords and not allowing employees to reuse the same password twice. Once or twice monthly changes of passwords that are difficult to guess can make a world of difference for the safety of your digital information and business networks.
2. Use Multifactor Authentication
A rising star in the fight against cyber-attacks, multifactor authentication requires two or more verification factors such as a password, a PIN (received via phone app), and/or a fingerprint verification. The idea is that requiring multiple factors to verify identities deters cybercrime against your organization.
3. Test Vulnerabilities: Employee Training
One of the most important things you can do is to train your employees about why certain steps are so important and how they are instrumental as your first line of defense against cyber threats to your business (and their livelihoods). This includes educating employees about the threats that exist and how the measures you’ve developed can deter the efforts of these criminals. The better they understand various social engineering threats, the less likely they are to fall for them.
4. Understand Your Digital Footprint
Most business owners think of digital footprints as something that exists as part of a reputation management effort. While it does play a vital role in that effort, it can also provide valuable information (and more importantly, access) to those who would attempt to do harm to your business. It was simpler to manage your digital footprint when all employees accessed business networks onsite. Now the process is more complex with people accessing networks from home offices, mobile devices, etc. Consider hiring a firm to handle the complexities of managing your digital footprint for greater cyber security.
5. Update Software Systems Frequently
Software systems often offer important first lines of defense against the latest security threats through software updates. They introduce these updates as soon as they are made aware of vulnerabilities to protect your systems. While you may find the updates cumbersome, they are in your best interest to update as soon as new updates are available.
6. Filter Spam
Spam is so common that we’ve forgotten what a threat it can be. Filtering spam won’t eliminate every potential threat, but it can mitigate many risks to your business. It is certainly worth the investment in robust spam filters.
Fortunately, many cybercrimes are preventable – with the right measures. Even better, you can provide additional protection for your business with cyber or data breach insurance to avoid financial disaster if you are the victim of these heinous attacks. Contact Arnold Insurance today to learn more about mitigating your risks and protecting your business with an effective insurance solution.
