Archives for February 2017

Want to keep track of a scary statistic as it grows over 2017? Click here for the top 50 vendors and the number of known cybersecurity problems. Nearly 700 for Google last year!

How long have you been staring at your screen? Friendly reminder here: use the 20-20-20 rule to save your eyes! After 20 minutes of screen time, stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Your eyes will thank you.

Looking for a science project for your kid? How about building a fake web toaster and watching to see how long it takes before it’s hacked?

Fraudsters are hitting us harder and harder using phishing attacks, aimed at tricking end users into giving up sensitive information using spam or pop-ups. Check out these scary stats!

• In one quarter of 2016, unique phishing sites detected jumped by over 176 THOUSAND
• In Q2 of 2016, APWG recorded 466,065 unique phishing sites
• In Q2 of 2014 (only two years prior), there were only 128,378
• The majority of phishing sites today exist for less than 24 hours, according to SC Media

Last year, SC Media reported that the most targeted organizations for these sites are Google, Yahoo, Apple and PayPal, respectively.

A login scam site that looks just like your Google login can pop up and disappear in the time it takes for your afternoon coffee break. This makes it nearly impossible for us to depend on security tools to protect employees from being duped by these sites.

In the United States, Ponemon Institute and HP Enterprise Security report that cyber crime cost businesses 17.36 million dollars last year! Ouch.

These stats and numbers make us concerned because we want you to feel safe doing business and to protect your money and precious business data. We have some Phishing Safety Tips categorized in two areas for you: what to do as a business and what to train your people to know.

Best business practices to protect against phishing:

1. Enable spam filtering on your corporate email server.
2. Protect computers with firewalls and antivirus software.
3. Regularly review and validate your accounts and bank statements to watch for any unauthorized transactions.
4. Train your employees on the information below!

Important training tips for preventing employee phishing scams:

1. Don’t enter personal information in pop-up screens.
2. Be wary of emails that threaten or frighten you into action.
3. Be cautious of phone calls requesting personal information.
4. Don’t click on attachments or links in emails from unknown senders.
5. Never email sensitive information to anyone.

The most important protection against phishing scams is knowledge. Arm yourself and your business with the important knowledge of how to avoid phishing by following our tips above, and you can slam the door on these cyber criminals!