3 ways to protect your business against phishing

Dodgy emails are one of the primary ways that businesses fall victim to viruses and data breaches, so here’s what you need to know to protect your organisation.

Over the last few decades, businesses have come to rely more and more on technology in order to get things done. This had made factors like saving records, communicating with customers and checking out the competition much easier, but it has also opened up a doorway of opportunity for hackers.

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Data breaches and viruses are among the most prominent concerns for any modern business, so it’s important that any organisation — no matter how big or small — is aware of the risks.

Hackers can use a variety of methods to access your business information, but one of the most prominent methods is phishing. These attacks begin with surveillance of you and your company, followed by hackers gathering information about your business online. With these details, they will try to access your network and steal sensitive information. This is often done via email or even through telephone calls.

This might sound scary, but luckily there is plenty you can do to protect your business against phishing. Let’s take a look.

Review what information about your business is available online

One of the first things hackers do before trying to access your business it attempt to gather as much information as possible about your company online. They will look at business websites, social media accounts and blogs to uncover all they can about your business, without even using any hacking techniques.

So it’s important that you’re aware of the information you’re putting out there. Make sure only stuff you’re happy for the public to know is made public online. Remember, the more information you provide, the easier it can be for hackers to get into your network.

Establish some cybersecurity policies

You should take the time to make cybersecurity a known concern throughout your business. If every team member is aware of the potential risks of a cyberattack, chances are they’ll be more cautious when they notice something strange or a receive an email from an address they don’t recognise.

Take your team through a few simple measures to boost your security, such as password management. Make sure everyone knows that their password needs to be secure, with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers and symbols. Passwords should be changed at least every six months too, and employees should know not to use the same password for every different account.

You can also rope in the help of IT professionals like London IT Support Company SyntaxThey can help you determine where your business weak spots are before an incident occurs, not after, meaning you have a chance to strengthen your security. IT support specialists can also give you advice on how best to improve security in your business and will help you deal with a situation quickly and efficiency should disaster strike.

Beware of spy mail

Hackers can use tools like spy mail in order to discover information about your company before they try to access your network. Generally speaking, spy mail programs are those which are embedded within emails and are then used to track the movements of the email recipient.

Data shows that since 2013, the use of spy mail by hackers has increased by more than 284 per cent. Implementing some anti-spy mail programming into your business is the best way to stop this kind of virus from making your business more vulnerable.

You should also make sure your team members know the difference between a genuine email and spam. If anything seems suspicious, don’t open it. Report it, block the contact and delete the email.