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A new report from the Government, published on 25th April, announces new statistics on businesses and charities that have reported a data breach within the last 12 months. Over four in ten (43%) of businesses and two in ten (19%) of charities were subject to a cyber-attack during this period, the majority of which were phishing scams. Fraudulent emails, where a cybercriminal poses as a reputable source (a bank, online retailer or official bodies, for example) aim to trick unsuspecting recipients into volunteering sensitive information, clicking links or even making payments online.
These phishing scams are becoming harder and harder to identify; cybercriminals are using sophisticated software in order to present themselves as doppelgangers to creditable firms. How would your staff react to a potential phishing attack? Are they equipped with the necessary knowledge and savviness to spot a sophisticated phishing attack with ease? With this in mind, CST offers in-house Security Awareness Training to measure your staff’s perception to threats and their response to potential attacks. For more information on the training, please email us.
Simpler to identify, a general phishing attack can appear as a more amateur representation of the organisation it is impersonating. These emails are often deleted or flagged to the IT department as best practise. However, a spear-phishing attack which targets individuals or particular organisations can be more challenging to diagnose immediately. These pin-pointed attacks are often intended to steal data for malicious purposes, however cybercriminals may also intend to install malware on a targeted user's computer. With the GDPR deadline just around the corner, there has never been a better time to strengthen your wall of security and deploy a smarter infrastructure to protect you from data loss.
Among the findings in the Government report were details of the average number of attacks UK organisations suffered during the given timeframe. Large companies averaged 12 attacks and medium sized companies averaged 6 attacks. Also, 43% of small companies reported at least one data breach, proving that no business in any one industry is safe from cybercriminals.
Alarmingly, the report also discovered that businesses are not following simple data security measures such as updating software or providing their staff with the information to form secure passwords. Although larger businesses are more likely to experience cyber-attacks, SMBs also need to step up their security infrastructure to avoid any down time resulting from a data breach.
See the full story here.
To book a 1:1 with a qualified CST Practitioner on how to secure your data or to educate your staff on how to easily identify a phishing attack, please contact the CST sales team today.
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