Cyber security is a scary subject that most people tend to ignore. They push it to the back of their mind and figure they will deal with it if and when anything happens. What many business owners don’t know is they are facing risk of a cyber-attack every second of everyday, and the costs can end up being disastrous.
You may have some cyber security protection in place, but do you know what the main line of defence against cyber criminals is?
It’s you and your employees.
How many emails do they open? Tonnes. Most of these emails will be safe, but unfortunately many may be phishing attempts.
Did you know that 91% of successful data breaches started with a spear phishing attack?
You may be thinking ‘this doesn’t apply to my employees because they would be smart enough to spot a dodgy email’. Phishing emails are becoming more and more sophisticated and harder to spot. Therefore, it can be easy to be caught off guard and accidentally open a phishing email.
What happens if you click on a phishing email?
If you click on a phishing email link or open an attachment, these could trigger malware installation. This means a virus, spyware, or ransomware, could be unleashed on your device and leak into your network. The scariest part is this is all done behind the scenes, so it’s undetectable for the user until it’s too late.
How much is a data breach?
Once your data has been hacked, your business will come to a stop and the cyber criminals will demand a fee. In the UK the average cost of a data breach is around £25,000. Even if you do pay this fee, you are not guaranteed to get the data back and your business will have to terminate.
How to prevent a data breach from taking place?
Go back to the title of this blog. How aware are your employees about cyber security? If you are thinking ‘not at all’ then this is an area you need improve to keep your business safe. The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving. So, it’s imperative that you have a range of weapons like firewalls, endpoint security, anti-virus software, email encryption to keep your data safe. Finally, make sure that all staff who go anywhere near a computer or device are educated in the importance of cyber security.
One thing you should consider doing is training them in cyber security, so they are prepared for anything. Something like testing them with practice phishing emails is a very effective way to get them into the habit of checking everything that comes into their inbox.
Think about this in comparison to a fire drill. Everyone knows to get up and exit the building without thinking, and being vigilant about a cyber-attack should become second nature too.
Before training employees, you will need to get them on board with understanding the importance of cyber security. We have a FREE guide you can get that can make employees more aware of cyber security.
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As an IT service provider, we are experts in cyber security so if you have any questions or are interested in cyber security training, contact us today on 01273 806211 or email [email protected].
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