Think First, Click Later
Train Your Employees To Avoid
Common Cybercrime Tactics
H
Human error now accounts for 52 percent of all security and
data breaches that occur among American businesses, a trend
that shows no sign of slowing. Tactics such as phishing attacks
and CEO fraud are specifically designed to manipulate individu-
als into divulging confidential or personal information, which is
why it’s essential to train your employees about what to be on
the lookout for and how to spot red flags.
‘Nigerian Princes’ Are The Least Of Your Worries
Not so long ago, instances of cybercrime were centralized and
easier to detect. Hackers had to invest more time and resources
into their pursuits, which meant the entire process was more ex-
pensive. To secure a better payday, they targeted larger custom-
ers. Today, the costs associated with cybercrime have substan-
tially decreased and hackers have formed their own ecosystems,
complete with job postings, anonymous payment systems and
TO:
• You are copied on an email sent to one or more
people, but you don’t personally know the other
people it was sent to.
HYPERLINKS:
• You hover your mouse over a hyperlink, but the
link-to address points to an unrelated, different
website.
TIME:
• You receive an email you would normally receive
during normal business hours, but it was sent out-
side of business hours.
SUBJECT:
• You receive an email with a subject line inconsis-
tent with the message content.
ATTACHMENTS:
• The sender includes an email attachment you
weren’t expecting or is incongruent with the mes-
sage.
CONTENT:
• The sender asks you to click on a link or open an
attachment to avoid a negative consequence or to
gain something in value.
Your business could have the best anti-virus, web
filtering and threat protection tools available, but all
it takes is for one employee to click a link or open
an attachment for a hacker to infiltrate your network.
Based in Central Ohio, EasyIT provides managed security solutions, including end-user training, ongoing phishing reports
and trends and security management tools to small- to medium-sized businesses. To learn more, visit www.easyit.com.
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