3 Ways Hackers Use Your Employees To Their Advantage
At Hargray, we make it our business to help your business run as smoothly and seamlessly as possible even when network security threats pop up almost every day.
Cybercriminals don’t just slip into your network with the help of some serious hacking skills. There’s a much simpler way to do that... through your employees.
Social engineering is a tactic hackers are using more and more frequently to infiltrate systems. It involves a variety of approaches that focus on manipulating employees to drop standard security protocols. And if you expect to protect your data these days, you’ll have to take the necessary steps to educate and train your employees on how to detect and avoid these methods.
Here are three important ones to watch out for:
Phishing:
Most business professionals are familiar with the concept of phishing, but not everyone can successfully sidestep an attack. Phishing attacks usually come via email and attempt to gather information about you or your business illegitimately. This information could be personal, financial, or client-specific. For example, a leading toy manufacturer fell victim to a phishing attack a few years ago when a company executive sent $3 million to a group of hackers under false pretenses. But these attacks don’t have to be as extravagant. It could be an email asking you to update your login credentials, click on a link, or download an attachment.
Exchanges:
Whether on a website, through email, or in person, a criminal practicing social engineering might offer you something in return for information. A free download. A neat pen. Some money. Whatever it is, it usually doesn’t come at a fair price. That free download will turn into ransomware, and that neat pen will result in a hijacked password and hacked database.
Sneaking:
Some criminals will resort to lightweight espionage to get what they want, and they rely on the human element to help them do this. This isn’t as difficult as it seems, either. If keycards lock the building, a criminal can wait until a polite office worker decides to hold the door open for the person behind them. If computers are visible from the waiting room, a criminal can just glance over the counter to gather sensitive information. Everyday interactions and simple observations can tell the typical hacker more than you might think.
Our Managed IT Services team at Hargray knows that today’s threats are real and frequent. Nothing is more valuable than peace of mind, so we provide a Security Operations Center that offers 100% protection. From anti-virus to encryption to eyes on your business 24/7/365, our security measures continually stand watch, defending your devices from intrusion. Plus, sign up for our Back To Business webinar series for our next session on August 27th that’s all about Network Security. We’ve partnered with SCORE and HHI-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce to create an informative four-part series to help support local businesses by providing helpful information and insights.