In many ways, 2022 has been a record-breaking year. Unfortunately for us, most of these new records haven’t exactly been the most positive changes. Inflation is at an all-time high, a new economic crisis is popping up every week, and we’ve had more political turmoil than we can handle. With these circumstances impacting us all, the rate of cybercrimes has begun to steadily increase.
Even only focusing on the third quarter of 2022, around 15 million data records were illegally exposed through data breaches. This number is 37% higher than the previous quarter, demonstrating how rapidly cybercrime is building. Going into 2023, your business should do everything it can to ensure both your employees and your company data are as safe as possible.
In this article, we’re going to move through three tips that will help you boost your company’s online defenses for this coming year. As the vast majority of data breaches occur within email accounts and from misuse of emails, we’re going to dive into how to improve your company’s email security.
We’ll cover the following tips:
- Hold Awareness Training
- Invest in Anti-Virus Software
- MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)
Let’s break these down further.
Hold Awareness Training
The vast majority of data breaches are caused by human mistakes. In fact, over 80% of all data breaches come from a human element, such as misuse of email or human error in giving away critical details by accident. In short, if your employees aren’t trained, then you’re leaving yourself wide open for attack.
Throughout the year, you should regularly give cybersecurity seminars, helping to train your employees on the very best practices that they need to take into account when working at your business. Often, the largest your business is, the bigger of a target it will be. Especially if you’re a small or medium business, your team may have no knowledge of cybersecurity training.
Without this, you’re leaving yourself open to a data breach event. Teach them about the importance of strong passwords, how to spot phishing emails, how to respond to a cybersecurity event, and that they should regularly change their passwords. Instilling good digital habits may have an upfront cost, but will pay off in dividends going forward.
Equally, you should make sure that your employees understand every single aspect of their email. Make sure that they have knowledge of email signature security and are using a reputable provider. If there isn’t a level of security built into their signatures, they could be copied or falsified.
Give your employees a crash course in everything that they need to know. Next, regularly brush up on their knowledge by hosting smaller meetings where you question them on the best practices. Many businesses send out fake phishing emails to help with this training.
Invest in Anti-Virus Software
Many email providers will give every account on their platform a high level of protection against phishing and scam emails. The entire spam folder is specifically designed for this. Platforms like Outlook and Gmail have fantastic security for your employees. However, just because they do have a level of defense, does not mean that they’re impervious to attacks.
It’s a fact of the working world that phishing emails will absolutely arrive in your inbox from time to time. The only factor we can control here as business owners is the amount of spam that arrives to our employees. How we control this is by investing in anti-virus, anti-phishing, and anti-ransomware software.
Partnering with a cybersecurity company can help you to build up an additional layer of defense. Many world-class security providers will offer a further level of email control. This will monitor all emails that come in and out of the business, looking for signs of malicious intent.
If anything is flagged, it will be cataloged and then prevented from arriving in the intended inbox. From there, depending on the provider, the email will either be destroyed or passed to your head of security. They will be able to assess the contents of the email, deciding whether or not it is indeed spam.
Tools like these radically reduce the total number of spam and phishing emails that arrive in your employees’ inboxes. With a much smaller quantity of these emails arriving to them, they’re much less likely to commit a human error which leads to a data breach event.
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)
Multi-factor authentication is where a user has to verify that they are indeed the one that is attempting to log into their account whenever they try to log in. While you can create preferred devices that are already verified, the best MFA is triggered every time someone tries to log in.
For your employees, MFA is going to be a pain to incorporate. Every time that they try to log into their business accounts, they’ll have to verify their identity on another device, often their mobile. This will add a few seconds to every time they need to log in.
While that may seem frustrating, MFA is one of the best possible ways of reducing the likelihood of an attacker entering your business accounts. While it is certainly possible for an attacker to phish an email and password from your employees, there is a much smaller chance that they can break into two devices simultaneously.
The need to verify your identity via MFA ensures that you have an additional layer of protection within your business. This is a leading method of preventing unwanted personnel from accessing your accounts and all of your company data.
If you haven’t already, be sure to enlist your entire company in MFA.
Final Thoughts
Investing in cybersecurity for your business is one of the most effective ways of helping your company flourish next year. Although cybersecurity might seem like an empty threat, it is rapidly becoming one of the largest causes of business setbacks an organization can experience.
Beyond just losing access to business data, a data breach exposes private client and financial records, which can lead to the whole organization going under. Data breaches are one of the leading motivators for small businesses that go bankrupt, with these events needing a huge pool of resources to fix.
In order to best prepare your business for 2023, we recommend that you follow the tips that we’ve outlined in this article. With them, you’ll be on the right track toward keeping your business and all its employees as safe as possible this new year.
Online Threat Alerts Security Tips
Pay the safest way
Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.
Guard your personal information
In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.
Be careful of the information you share
Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with
Know who you’re dealing with
Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.
Check your accounts
Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.
Don’t believe promises of easy money
If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.
Do not open email from people you don’t know
If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.
Think before you click
If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.
Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond
If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.
Be careful with links and new website addresses
Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.
Secure your personal information
Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.
Stay informed on the latest cyber threats
Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.
Use Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are critical to online security.
Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs
Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.
Update the operating systems on your electronic devices
Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.
What if You Got Scammed?
Stop Contact With The Scammer
Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.
Secure Your Finances
- Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
- Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
Check Your Computer
If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.
Change Your Account Passwords
Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.
Report The Scam
Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.
Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:
- Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
- Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
- Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.
How To Recognize a Phishing Scam
Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.
Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:
Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might
- say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
- claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
- say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
- include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
- want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
- say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
- offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real
About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)
Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.
By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.
With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.
Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.
Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).