Integrated ICT and connectivity provider, Vox is urging its customers, and businesses at large, to re-evaluate their security measures in the run-up to the festive season.
“Between Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the impending holidays, businesses should take extra precautions when it comes to securing their businesses,” says Mayleen Bywater, senior product manager for security solutions at Vox.
Businesses need to change how they think about security. A 360 degree, integrated security strategy is critical, because security doesn’t just start with a firewall, it extends to policies, IT guidelines, endpoint, backup, and increasingly critical, email.
Adds Bywater: “an emerging threat to business is the human firewall, the individual that clicks on a link within an email that may go on to compromise your entire network. Hackers have identified this weakness and are actively targeting it.”
This approach, called a targeted threat, is engineered to appeal to user behaviour based on articles read, social media interaction, e-commerce sites visited or time specific activities (month-end billings, invoice approvals).
“While 90% of attacks are perpetrated via an email – with a link that does not look untoward and which we would ordinarily have no issue clicking on – social media sites are increasingly being targeted, the result is the same. A compromised network and in turn, company data.
“Take the time to hover over links in emails, check to see if they are authentic, before you click on them. Be wary of emails from people that you don´t know – or sources that you are not expecting correspondence from,” Bywater says.
The reality, is that these types of attacks are no longer just about taking down large enterprises. It is fair game for businesses of all sizes.
Concludes Bywater: “Understanding that security can no longer be one dimensional, but that businesses require a 360-degree security strategy, coupled with consistent education about what a threat looks like, could mean the difference between it being a trick or treat for the coming festive season.”
