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Connect With Your Ottawa IT Service Company at (613) 828-1384
Connect With Your Ottawa IT Service Company at (613) 828-1384
As businesses in Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville, and Eastern Ontario invest in software, hardware, and services to help prevent cyberattacks, it’s important to invest in cybersecurity awareness training for your staff.
Cybercrime is a big business in Canada, and it’s only getting bigger. Last year, the number of cybercrime incidents nationwide hit a new high, with 63,523 logged events.
As cybercrime becomes more prevalent in Canada, you need to ensure your business doesn’t have any unidentified vulnerabilities putting you at risk. Key among your potential vulnerabilities is your staff.
When it comes to cybersecurity, an organization is only as strong as the weakest link. The weakest link in any organization is the end-user: your employees.
As businesses in Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville, and Eastern Ontario invest in software, hardware, and services to help prevent cyberattacks, it’s important to invest in cybersecurity awareness training for your staff. After all, you can’t afford to take any chances — Ontario attracts more cybercrime than any other province.
Any business of any size, in any location, can experience a cyberattack. Obviously, cybersecurity has become a popular topic of conversation as organizations increase their efforts to protect their data and information. However, one area you may have overlooked is your staff.
Cybercriminals continue to increase their efforts as technology evolves. For hackers, the best way to breach a network and obtain sensitive data is by targeting untrained, non-technical staff members. Studies have found that more than 90% of cybersecurity incidents can be traced back to human error.
Attackers use popular techniques, such as email phishing and spear phishing, to trick employees into giving up sensitive information, which could lead to damaging ransomware attacks and more.
Did you know that one in three Canadians has been targeted with a phishing attack since the beginning of the pandemic? There are endless examples of how this happens — here are just a few, to show you how it works.
Brenda the Bookkeeper opened an email from her company’s banking institution. The email warned her of suspicious activity on her corporate account and requested that she sign in. What Brenda did not know is that the email was a phishing scam. It had included the bank’s logo and financial jargon which tricked Brenda into clicking on the link and entering her login credentials.
Once the hackers obtained her personal information and account data, they created new user credentials and installed malware to steal sensitive data. Unfortunately, Brenda’s mistake cost the company $100,000 and, for Brenda, her job. If Brenda knew how to identify suspicious components in that email, she would have known it was a scam.
In another example, Frank the Financial Analyst received an email from his boss, William, the CEO. In the email, William stated that he was abroad on business and his phone, wallet, and briefcase were stolen. William asked Frank to wire $5,000 from the corporate account. Frank, then, of course, wired the money to William. Frank did not know that he had just fallen victim to a spear-phishing scam.
If Frank knew how to spot potential spear-phishing emails, he could have deleted that email without costing the company money. Furthermore, if Frank knew what to do to prove that the email actually came from William, he could have saved time, money, and most likely William’s faith in him.
The point is that if your staff is properly trained to identify risks, your company’s data won’t be in jeopardy. Cybersecurity awareness training educates your employees and shows them how to improve risky behaviours that can lead to security compromises.
Sandy the Salesperson uses multiple platforms and has many business and personal accounts with different vendors, customers, and within her company. Sandy is usually very busy, so she used the same password for every single account, forgetting to change and update them.
Sandy, unfortunately, learned the dangers of reusing passwords the hard way. Her password was compromised, and hackers were able to access all of her accounts and information. Hackers obtained her customer’s sensitive data as well, as a result, customers no longer trusted Sandy and the company she worked for, causing brand and reputation damage which ultimately affected ROI and future business.
In another example, Charlie, the CEO of a successful company, started working remotely and purchased some new smart home devices. Charlie did not change the default credentials on his new devices, which made it easy for hackers to hijack one of them and gain access to his network.
Charlie did not know the device was hijacked because there was no change to the device. Once that device was compromised, the hackers were able to access other devices as well, including thousands of files and sensitive data.
When employees are trained to recognize risks, your organization adds an extra level of security. You will have more people, other than your IT department or IT partner, keeping an eye out for the security of your business. All staff members with training become human firewalls. They will be able to report any threats and will ensure that your information stays safe and secure.
Protecting your business network from threats is one of our primary objectives. We will help you identify the potential risks and shield your network from them. Security is paramount, which is why Fuelled Networks offers a cybersecurity awareness training service for your entire staff, including remote workers and in-house employees.
Having the right cybersecurity measures in place will ensure that your data and information will be safe and secure from cybercriminals and costly cyberattacks. Investing in the security of your network and infrastructure, as well as cybersecurity awareness training for your employees is very important.
Fuelled Networks is here to help you take your weakest link, your employees, and make them your strongest defence. We will safeguard your data and train your employees to be an extra layer of security for your organization.
Let’s get your staff trained right away. For more information, or to set up cybersecurity awareness training, call us at (613) 828-1280 or send an email over to info@fuellednetworks.com.
