With the number of attacks continually on the rise, spear phishing has become the weapon of choice for hackers today. According to Trend Micro, 91% of cyber attacks occur when malware is delivered by email, links or through downloads, and an unwitting employee clicks that mouse. All too often it’s an employee who has access to your most sensitive and valuable information.

It is critical that this human factor is addressed in any information security strategy.

Employers need to think of education and awareness in the same light they consider their firewalls. Although cyber attacks are inevitable, employee training can go a long way in mitigating future attacks. Employees must be educated about the risks of sharing personal information on the Internet as well as how to recognize a targeted attack and what the protocol is when such a scenario arises.

According to the Pew Research Center, only one in four of employed adults say their employer has rules or guidelines about how they present themselves digitally.

Even when those few companies do take the initiative in providing education to employees, social media is not always a focus.  Hackers base spear fishing emails off of personal information acquired mostly from social media networks, making the emails seem all the more authentic to its recipients.

Which is important, because hackers are ultimately counting on employees to open the link or attachment.  McAfee test results reveal that 80% of employees are lured into opening at least one out of seven spear phishing email messages.

Creating awareness and keeping your employees up-to-date on the latest threats is imperative in the effort to prevent major data breaches.  SLPowers has developed a training series to educate your employees on how to avoid making you the next victim. Our security experts can teach them how to avoid falling victim to phishing emails, malware “prevention scams”, and other common social engineering.  Contact us today to learn more.

Categories: Data Security, Employee Security Training

Tags: Data Loss Prevention, Data Security, Employee Security Training, Network Security