Companies consist of many departments, including many departments for business life, such as marketing, sales, finance, and human resources. So how do companies protect themselves when problems arise that may disrupt the functioning? Today, the first thing a company should do to protect itself is to raise awareness of cybersecurity within the company. This includes awareness studies on phishing attacks, which are the leading cybersecurity problems. So why is phishing awareness important for companies?
One reason for the increase in phishing attacks is that companies are vulnerable to these attacks. For the hackers who took advantage of this and caught the companies off guard, these attacks became possible to plan without any effort. It seems very easy for low-awareness employees to fall for these attacks. Therefore, the best step to be taken against phishing should be to educate the employees.
So What Does Phishing Awareness Mean?
Phishing awareness means knowing all aspects of cybersecurity and especially phishing attacks. This awareness not only means knowing how attacks occur, but truly aware employees also need to be knowledgeable and conscious enough to protect the company from attacks. Employees first need to know:
The companies’ duty is to provide their employees with the necessary training on phishing and explain in detail what they should do against future phishing attacks.
So why is phishing awareness important for companies?
Raising phishing awareness is important for companies because employees with low awareness are more likely to fall into hackers’ trap. We have seen this frequently in attacks in the past. As a result of the attacks, companies that did not care about awareness suffered serious financial losses or disclosed their confidential information. If you’re still unsure about the importance of phishing awareness, let’s take a look at a few numbers.
- At least one of the e-mails we receive during the day is a phishing e-mail.
- Last year, almost 80 percent of companies faced phishing attacks.
- Phishing attacks caused almost ninety percent of cybersecurity problems.
- Phishing attacks have increased by 70 percent in the last two years.
- Hackers open 50,000 new phishing sites every day.
- Contacts open almost half of the phishing messages sent to them.
- More than half of phishing emails or messages contain malware.
How to Plan Phishing Awareness Training?
Regular phishing simulations are one of the most effective methods to increase phishing awareness. While creating these simulations, IT teams must use scenarios suitable for the employee and the industry. That’s why experts recommend customizing the simulations for the employee. Because hackers also plan their attacks on the person.
Phishing awareness training should provide all necessary information to employees, especially on the following issues:
1. Email Sender
Hackers impersonate another company or a familiar sender in most phishing emails. Therefore, employees need to be aware of fake sender addresses. Before responding to suspicious e-mails or clicking on links/attachments in these e-mails, the sender’s address must be thoroughly examined.
2. Emergency Messages
Another method often used by hackers is to put people into action by claiming an emergency. Given the urgency, this causes panic and anxiety in people, making them more likely to believe in the attack. This is why hackers create e-mails using such urgent messages. Employees who act hastily because they encounter these messages can reply to the message without making the necessary checks.
3. Inclusive beginnings
Hackers prefer to personalize their emails in spear phishing attacks, but emails often start with general appeals to everyone in large-scale attacks. In this type of phishing attack, hackers send wide-ranging phishing e-mails to hundreds of people simultaneously. That’s why emails or messages usually start with broad addresses like ‘Hello’, ‘Greetings’. It is very easy for a conscious employee to detect such e-mails.
4. Hidden Links/Attachments
Hackers first try to redirect you to a fake site or file in phishing attacks. For this purpose, they make use of various attachments or links. However, these attachments or links are disguised by imitating real names so that they are not known to be fake. You should clearly explain to your employees what clicking a fake link can cause in your phishing awareness plan. Once they reach a certain level of awareness, your employees will notice that the link or attachment is malicious and will not click on the desired thing without checking the URL’s legitimacy.
What Precautions Should Be Taken After Understanding Why Phishing Awareness Is Important For Companies?
Awareness training will be successful as long as it is repeated and if you act according to its results. For this, you should work with cybersecurity companies that will provide you with the necessary tools. Our company offers multiple and various solutions to provide you the best service. Our Cyber Security Awareness tool and Phishing Simulator, which are among the most preferred, work in an integrated manner to help you create phishing awareness training suitable for your company. Moreover, we support your employees and you in every way with regular reporting and bulletins on current attacks.
“This post is originally published at www.phishing.org.uk”
Teknoloji Haberleri