Businesses these days face a number of risks that could have a seriously damaging effect on their operations and reputation. One huge risk is cybercrime, which has become rife over recent years. With businesses becoming more and more reliant on technology, cybercriminals have more opportunity than ever to cause chaos for companies.
It is important to invest in online security for your company. Due to the critical nature of it, you might need to use financing options, such as looking into working capital loans for small business enterprises.
However, it is not just security software and hardware you need to invest in. This is because the risk of cybercrime is often heightened due to lack of awareness amongst employees, so this is another area you need to look at.
Criminals target lower level employees
Research and Statistics on cnn news live have shown that cybercriminals often target lower level employees of a company rather than those at the top of the chain. Why? Well, they know that in many cases lower level employees have limited awareness of how to identify cybercrime because they have not received appropriate training. As a result, many may inadvertently give cybercriminals the opportunity they have been waiting for.
Some employers throw a lot of money at providing cyber security training at managers and high level employees but don’t feel the need to do the same with lower level ones. However, it is important to remember that it is the lower level workers that are often on the front line in terms of communication. These are the people that will be dealing with emails, providing information, and other forms of contact.
Illegal phishing
Pun intended. But on a serious note, many cybercrime scams are the result of phishing emails, which are sent out to employees with a view to getting the employee to click on the link within the email.
Some emails may claim to be from a colleague or someone from an outside agency. Some may claim to be from trusted sources such as banks or local authorities.
Untrained employees wouldn’t think twice about clicking the link in an email that looked like it was from HMRC, for example. However, the truth is that the email is a scam and the website that it links to is fake. The sole purpose is to obtain information that will enable those responsible for the scam to go about their illegal activities with greater ease.
Cybercriminals will even use phone contact in order to obtain information that could enable them to hack accounts, commit fraud, and engage in other criminal acts online. With this in mind, it is essential that you provide training to all staff when it comes to cybercrime, otherwise you could be putting not only your employees at risk but also your business.
If your employees have no idea how to identify suspicious emails and activity then they cannot be blamed if anything goes awry. By providing them with necessary training, you can make a big difference in terms of risk levels and the confidence levels of your team.
