Why Phishing Attacks Such a Huge Risk for Your Business
As one of the biggest cybersecurity considerations the modern business has to make, how to combat phishing attacks has to be at the top of any business’ cybersecurity strategy. The effects of phishing attacks on a business can be far-reaching and long-lasting. Phishing attacks
Let’s take a look at phishing and why it’s such a big problem for today’s business.
Why are Phishing Attacks Such a Huge Risk for Your Business
The effects of phishing attacks on a business can be far-reaching and long-lasting. One of the most significant impacts of phishing attacks is data breach. When a data breach happens through a phishing attack, it can cause severe business disruption and you must remain at your vigilant best to secure your business from a phishing attack.
Some other ways in which phishing attacks can impact your business are by damaging your reputation, loss of money and customer data, identity theft, loss of financial information, loss of company value, and intellectual property, and disruption of other operational activities. Put together, all these effects can create irreplaceable repercussions.
While any security threat can hurt a business, a phishing attack is of grave consequence because of its nature types. So, before we get to the deeper end of why phishing attacks are so serious for businesses, let’s learn about the common types of phishing attacks. It will give you a better understanding of how to avoid them and take corrective measures.
What is a phishing attack?
A phishing attack is a cyber-criminal activity that is aimed at getting sensitive business information like logins, certifications, and other important business data. Gordon Lawson, a member of the Forbes Council describes a phishing attack as a combination of two major components. He says, “A successful phishing campaign originates from two key factors: people and process. When a threat actor is able to successfully manipulate a user to engage with malicious content while simultaneously running the tactical details of the campaign and infiltrating the system, traditional security defenses are evaded.”
A phishing attack can come in the shape of phishing emails, phishing websites, phishing messages or instant messages. When users open any of this malicious content, they can fall prey to phishing attacks.
Some of the most common signs of such attacks include dangers or urgency from the sender, a message style or tone that is unusual or out of context, making peculiar requests to complete tasks that are totally unrelated to you, having strange web addresses and demands of payments or to disclose personal information or sensitive data. These are definite red flags and users must avoid clicking on emails that have these characteristics.
A successful phishing attack forces or lures users to click on the messages sent and divulge in providing sensitive information. Once the malicious links are clicked, the attackers gain access to your systems and get what they want.
Types of phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are a deceptive way of getting access to sensitive information without the user knowing it. Phishing attacks can also come in the form of a request to install malware, phishing scam or ransomware. Phishing attacks must be taken seriously because they can come in different avatars like Spear Phishing, email phishing, CEO Fraud, Whaling, etc. Here are some common types of phishing attacks.
Email phishing
This is the most common type of phishing attack. In this scenario, suspected phishing emails are sent to the users in the garb of an authentic organization. Such phishing emails get scammers access to a huge number of users registered on a website. That’s why phishing emails are often sent to a mass of users for en masse data breaches.
Clone phishing
Clone phishing is all about attackers cloning an actual email that a user might have received. By cloning the original email, the scammers replace attachments or links with malicious ones and once the user clicks on them, they become the target.
Phishing emails that come through clone phishing have a sense of urgency. They will often request you take immediate action to make use of an existing offer or threaten the closure of your account if you don’t change the username or password, resulting in a data breach These are quite tempting and users often fall prey to them.
Domain spoofing
This is the third kind of email phishing and it comes in the form of domain spoofing. In this form of a phishing attack, scammers spook an established organization’s domain name, making it look like you have received an authentic email.
The scammers can only mimic the organization’s address and the email would contain a unique email address. These phishing attacks can also create a fraudulent website that looks very close to the real one. The original website designs are replicated, and even though the domain is similar, they are not identical.
Spear phishing
Spear phishing is a form of phishing attack where phishers target a specific group of users rather than attack generic ones. Spear phishing, a form of social engineering, works because they are so personalized, making the users think that they are genuine.
These phishing emails are personalized using the recipient’s name, phone number, company, or other similar information. Such personalizations make them more believable. Since such phishing attacks require acquiring precise data and personal information, Spear phishing usually happens on various social media sites like LinkedIn. These can also be seen as a form of social engineering attack.
Whaling
This kind of phishing attack is another form of spear phishing that targets wealthy and high-profile individuals like CEOs. Targeting such high-profile people is not easy and so scammers use techniques like sending phishing emails about filing tax returns, upgrading login credentials for login, etc. Such phishing emails also contain personalized information about the recipient, making them more believable.
A successful whaling attack usually is the first step towards Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), resulting in CEO Fraud. Spear phishing must be taken very seriously as it can cause severe business disruption.
CEO Fraud
In this form of phishing attack, scammers impersonate a CEO by using information through compromised emails sent during whaling. Through this, scammers can do third-party transfers or file fake IT returns on behalf of the organization.
Such phishing emails target the lower-level employees of the organization, who spring to action seeing an email from their CEO, falling easy prey to the phishing attack. These are extremely sophisticated forms of social engineering and are believed to cost billions of dollars to companies in the US alone, causing business disruption across industries.
Evil Twin
Can there be something more dangerous than a malicious Wifi network? Frequented by several users to access free wifi, such hotspots are ver targets for a cyber attack. As users connect to this fake wifi, the scammers steal the usernames and passwords of their social media and bank accounts.
The phishers can gain access to a host of information while the users browse or surf on the compromised wifi networks.
Effects of phishing attacks on Business
Phishing attacks can be a nightmare for businesses amounting to a loss of sensitive information, financial information, customer data, identity theft, trade secrets, data loss, and even access to bank details. It can result in direct monetary losses as well.
Let’s look at the impact of phishing attacks on businesses in detail.
Reputational damage
Once the news of a data breach comes out, the reputation of a company takes a major hit. Several headlines like “British Airways data breach: Russian hackers sell 245,000 credit card details” and “EasyJet admits data of nine million hacked” were widely distributed and consumed across the internet.
The reputational damage caused by such headlines can take years to be forgotten from popular memory, amounting to incremental loss to the companies.
Customer loss
If you thought that reputational loss was a huge adversary, it is only the beginning. Incidences of data breaches make customers quite nervous, especially if it’s a bank. Data from a recent report revealed that 44% of users of a UK-based firm stopped doing business with them for months after the news of the data breach broke. 41% of consumers said that they will never want to do business with the company again.
This kind of loss of customers can make it really difficult for businesses to win back and the trust is lost. Winning that trust back is a huge uphill task.
Loss of company value
Apart from impacting customer confidence, data breaches also affect investors’ confidence. Data shows that every data breach results in a fall of 7.27% of fall in a company’s share value. When Facebook’s user data was leaked in 2018, it lost close to $36 billion. Similarly, the British Airways data breach saw a 4% drop in its share in the same year.
Financial Penalties
Data breaches or mishandling of consumer data attract several regulatory and financial penalties as well. In 2020, the British Airways data breach also attracted a fine of 20 million UK pounds by the IOC following the 2018 data breach where the data of more than 400,000 consumers was compromised.
Similar to the British Airways data breach, a phishing incident with Marriott Hotels attracted heavy fines. They had to shell out 18.4 million UK pounds post the 2014 data breach.
Business disruption
Every data breach amounts to business disruption, irrespective of its scale. Phishing attacks paralyze businesses as staff is unable to work post a data breach and there is no data available. Even consumers find it difficult to interact with businesses in such a scenario.
Even though businesses are able to bounce back within 24 hours, any loss of time and productivity can have a long-lasting impact on the commercials.
How to prevent a phishing attack
Now that we know how a phishing attack can cause severe damage to a business, let’s get to know how you can prevent such incidents from happening. Here are the best ways of doing so:
Understand how a phishing scam looks like
Being vigilant and aware of the latest phishing scams is the best way of safeguarding yourself from a phishing incident. There are websites that list the latest phishing attack trends. Keep an eye on them.
Don’t click on anything, well, fishy
One of the most common ways of falling prey to a phishing attack is by clicking on a malicious link. It is better to visit the website directly rather than clicking on an unknown link, no matter how irresistible it looks.
Anti-phishing add-on to the rescue
Most web browsers provide free anti-phishing add-ons that alert you of a malicious link or a phishing attack. Install these to be safe.
Don’t share sensitive information on unknown site
Be careful of which site you feed your sensitive information on. Any website without “http” or a padlock icon should be avoided. The same goes for websites without security certificates.
Change your passwords regularly
You might not even know if the login credentials of your online bank account or social media accounts have been compromised and scammers will continue to have unlimited access to it. Changing your password regularly is a good habit to inculcate.
Be alert to be safe
Some of the other things you can do to be safe are installing firewalls, not clicking on any pop-ups, regularly updating your browsers, not giving information on a website unless absolutely necessary, and having a Data Security Platform to spot signs of a phishing attack.
Why Phishing Attacks are Such a Threat to Businesses
Phishing scams are more common than you think. In many cases, businesses don’t even realize that they have been scammed, which is the worst case possible.
You’ve Probably Been Phished
When trying to explain what phishing scams are to someone who has no idea about it, we typically start with the namesake. Phishing is the same as fishing. A hacker will bait a hook and users will bite on it. It’s that simple. Instead of worms or minnows, a cyber attack like a phishing attempt needs some bait that will fool an unsuspecting computer user into providing sensitive information that will allow a hacker to access secured networks and steal or corrupt data.
To say that this method is effective would be an understatement. First of all, the massive breadth of attacks—there are literally millions of these attacks per day—results in high levels (and low percentages) of successful attacks. In fact, 88% of organizations that were polled claimed to experience at least one phishing attack in 2019. In 2020, phishing emails were one of every 4,200 emails sent or about 73 million. The pace has actually quickened in 2021.
Successful phishing attacks result in:
- Stolen credentials
- Compromised networks
- Installing malware
- Loss of sensitive information
- Creation of a fake login page
- Loss of financial information
- Compromised credentials
- Loss of consumer confidence as well as investor confidence
- Compromised company’s reputation
- Increased fraudulent activity
Phishing is More Prevalent Than Ever
Phishing has been an issue for quite a while, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding jump in remote work provided the perfect opportunity for these scammers to operate. In 2020, 75% of worldwide organizations were targeted by cyber attacks, while 74% of US businesses fell prey to cyber attacks in some way. Increased use of social media has also made users easy prey to cyber criminals.
This often led to massive losses, some $3.92 million on average. That’s an average and takes into account loss of productivity from downtime, data breach, deterioration of consumer confidence, and other factors.
It is therefore important that you do what you can to train your staff about how to recognize and thwart phishing attempts before they have a chance to have a negative effect on your business.
Point North Networks, Inc., can help you put together a training strategy, as well as put together tools to help you keep your network and data safe. Call us at 651-234-0895 to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions About Phishing Attacks
What are some of the most common ways a phishing attack happen?
A phishing attack is a form of cyber-attacks where scammers target users through phishing emails or unsolicited emails, instant messaging, clicking on links to malicious websites, sending malicious emails that look like a legitimate email, voice phishing, phishing messages, targeting social media pages of users, etc.
What are the main aims of phishing attacks?
Scammers aim at unprepared users for various reasons. These include gaining privileged access to sensitive information, financial information, important company information, user credentials, data breach, installing malware and ransomware, and a lot more.
How phishing impacts a company?
A phishing attack and cause a loss of company value, investor confidence and consumer confidence, the company’s reputation, etc. Such attacks can also result in the loss of money. Business disruption is the most common impact a business faces. Data breaches through phishing attacks can result in a substantial decrease in productivity.
Conclusion
Phishing attacks are a real threat to businesses, especially in today’s digital world where more and more information is being shared online. The need to be vigilant and alert has never been more than what it is now. Unless you act smart and understand phishing, you are most likely to fall prey to phishers. Alternately, take professional help from experienced service providers like Point North Networks and stay safe at all times.
2020 Was Rough for Healthcare Where IT Was Concerned
2020 was, obviously, a challenging year for healthcare providers. In addition to the obvious issue of the COVID-19 pandemic creating serious operational, financial, and supply chain difficulties, cybersecurity concerns didn’t go away during this time. Let’s consider some of the additional stresses that IT security needs can, will, and have placed on healthcare providers.
The amount that healthcare practices invest in their cybersecurity services has been projected to exceed $65 billion in the span of time from 2017 to this year—but despite this, the industry isn’t improving. In fact, healthcare providers have had to turn away patients for these precise reasons… but the question remains: why?
There Are a Few Reasons that Healthcare Providers Have Had Problems As of Late
IoT Security Issues
Anyone who has been to a hospital in the past decade or so has likely noticed how connected many of these facilities have become. A nurse’s clipboard has been replaced by a laptop that they wheel around to input all information and logs into, while diagnostic equipment itself is now largely computerized.
This means that many of a healthcare provider’s tools can now be classified as Internet of Things devices, and as such, are prone to security inconsistencies and vulnerabilities as a result. Many IoT devices are notorious for iffy-to-non-existent security as it is.
Ransomware
While ransomware can be, and is, an issue in every industry, the healthcare industry is particularly susceptible to its impacts for obvious, life-or-death reasons. Ransomware has been responsible for many organizations actually closing their doors, unable to sustain the damages. This is largely due to the reliance that their organizations have on the data that they need to treat their patients and manage the business—without the support required to properly protect this data.
Insider Threats
Unfortunately, the employees in a healthcare organization are not infallible, which does sometimes lead to insider threats to data. In fact, some professionals have said that insider threats are the biggest challenge for hospitals and such right now.
New Threats May Be On the Horizon
Of course, cybercrime of all kinds constantly advances, and that which targets the healthcare industry is no exception. In healthcare, these threats can be downright frightening.
For example, a research team in Israel managed to develop a proof-of-concept computer virus that could artificially paste tumors into CT and MRI scans so that high-profile patients could be misdiagnosed by their physicians.
With ingenuity like that, it is terrifying to consider what cybercriminals may do moving forward.
Regardless of your industry or the size of your business, cybercrime isn’t something to be taken lightly. Point North networks, Inc., is here to help prepare for it. Give us a call at 651-234-0895 to learn more about the solutions we have to offer.
IT Service Checklist for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Most business owners that rely on their IT have heard about managed II services. Many already subscribe to some form of outsourced IT service. It is one of the best ways to cut down your business’ operational costs while gaining value through the use of services that, if they were to be purchased intermittently, would cost a lot more.
Today, we thought we’d list some of the most essential variables you should consider if you are looking to choose a managed IT services provider.
Challenges of Managing IT Needs for Small Businesses
The IT network needs of small businesses might not be different from those of large organizations. However, where they often struggle is with the budget of hiring an entire IT team. Despite these massive challenges, a business must make sure that all the IT needs of the company and employees are met, either by an in-house IT team or an outsourced partner or a managed IT service provider.
Information technology management has become such an integral part of the business world that it can’t be ignored or put on the back burner to be dealt with as a secondary responsibility. It is at the forefront of most businesses now and intertwined with almost online services that businesses offer.
Accenture describes the importance of IT infrastructure, saying, “IT infrastructure is the foundation that allows companies to seamlessly operate in the cloud. It enables businesses to build exceptional experiences that leverage new cloud technologies for consumers and employees.”
While it is imperative to have the right IT network, where most medium and small-sized businesses struggle is with the right knowledge and management of where to start with. It just feels like an unending task with a huge capital investment. The recurring cost that having in-house IT systems demand makes it even more difficult to put things together.
However, it is not all that complicated. To make things easier for you, we have put together an IT Service Checklist for a business that will help you get going with ease.
The IT checklist for medium and small-sized businesses
Put together the initial setup
Having a checklist of what exactly need for putting together a comprehensive IT network is the first step towards your useful IT checklist. Knowing what you need to complete your IT checklist will make the entire management process much more efficient, enhance the security of your sensitive data, software and office equipment and ensure maximum performance.
Some of the things you must include in this checklist are the space for the server room, network infrastructure, routers and security of access points, workstations, UPS, printers and scanners and a conference room.
These are part of putting together a comprehensive information technology network and they must be accounted for right at the beginning of your checklist journey. It ensures that it provides the right security to a company’s data center, mobile devices and desktop computers to meet business needs.
Fast, Fast, Fast
If your small business is going to use a service over hiring your own IT professionals, you have to know that the service provider can provide you with the reaction speed necessary to do the job. At Point North Networks, Inc., we can do you one better.
We use some of the most cutting-edge management software available to monitor and maintain your hardware and network’s integrity, patch your software before there are problems, and do all this proactively.
You need an IT service provider who can return your IT to an acceptable standard of working order as quickly as possible, but if it’s always working as intended, that would be better, no? Get proactive and forget the downtime.
Disaster Recovery
Many business owners don’t know how to identify a disaster, let alone have a disaster recovery platform in place. With a comprehensive IT services platform from Point North Networks, Inc., you will.
Not only do our IT service management offerings come with a comprehensive backup security and recovery plan built in, but it also comes with the experience of our certified technicians who have seen everything and can get your business back up and running quickly after any type of disaster, whether it be malware, user error, or full-scale disaster.
Employee Support
Your staff is going to have computer issues. It goes with the territory. Sometimes they lose their passwords, sometimes the printer won’t print, and sometimes the computer they’re using sounds like a small prop plane.
No matter what the problem is, Point North Networks, Inc. offers a comprehensive help desk platform. Giving your staff direct access to certified technicians can provide the answers they need or the remote help required to deal with 98-out-of-100 situations.
Budget Planning
As mentioned above, our people have seen it all. Our consultants can help you plan out your IT budget management for the year, to the dollar. In order to get control over your IT budget, you will need to have solutions to not only support your staff, but also service the hardware that you have in-house, and handle your cloud and software vendor agreements, you will need a business plan for the future.
We can help you plan out every single aspect of your business’ IT, and do it cost-effectively.
Adopt a professional attitude
One of the biggest mistakes that a business makes when putting together an IT network is doing it all by themselves or not taking a proper approach. Buying an IT system and hardware equipment without a professional’s guidance is one of them. Another mistake is installing or putting together systems by the employees. These two mistakes must surely be checked off the list as they compromise a company’s security.
Instead, take a professional’s help to get things right. Remember, your IT infrastructure will decide how well you run your business.
Things you must also remember to include in your IT checklist are compatibility of devices, getting professional help for equipment and system installation, checking for proper warranties and service contracts, having a common OS for operational and business continuity and purchasing only the latest versions of all software and hardware.
Get your software requirements right
Purchasing the right and updated software solutions, whether is it mobile technology or desktop computers, is important for every business’ security. This ensures that your business and your employees get what they need. However, what is even more important is to remember the licenses and service contracts. It is easy to forget when your software expires and the terms of the service contracts. This can lead to a world of trouble for you in maintaining business continuity.
Standardizing the purchasing, licensing and renewing processes is an important part of your IT infrastructure checklist. To ensure smooth functioning, customize the software system to suit your business needs, download and install them by users and use mobile device management for managing the assessment and deployment of security patches. This will ensure that your mobile devices, operating systems and applications are secure.
Managing the Cloud
Cloud technology solutions are an important component of the IT network for all medium and small-sized businesses. It helps them scale their infrastructure and keep up with the growing business needs. It is fast, flexible and affordable, making it an ideal option for small businesses.
However, it is not as straightforward as it looks. You must consider things like checking the use of the Cloud technology to be in line with external legislations, ensuring data privacy and compliance, the level of services the Cloud provide for your business, and ensuring that your Cloud SLA has clauses on response time, business continuity and disaster recovery. You must also check Cloud access and updates.
Keep cybersecurity in mind
It is more likely for small businesses to fall prey to ill cybersecurity practices than larger ones. This usually happens due to a lack of robust cybersecurity or IT infrastructure security policy in place. Data shows that 43% of all cyber attacks happen on medium and small-sized businesses. That’s why it is extremely important for you to step up your cybersecurity game with every new technology adoption.
Some of the IT security best practices you can follow include password best practices (create complex and long passwords), providing limited access to users, securing the wifi network, using licenced and legitimate software, keeping your software and hardware updated, having a disaster recovery plan in place and providing the right IT security training to your employees.
How to use the IT checklist to maximise the impact
Now that you have the IT checklist, you must also know how to use it properly. Here are a few things you must do:
- Plan for the present and the future technology solutions
- Build a new system, expand your IT infrastructure network and update them periodically
- Evaluate your operations regularly
- Train your employees for better security
- Monitor the computers and innovate at all times
Gain Complete Peace of Mind with Point North Networks, Inc.’s Managed IT Services
The bottom line is, if your organization doesn’t have managed IT services, you should really consider it, and if you do have managed IT services, you should know that not all companies deliver equal services. At Point North Networks, Inc., we take pride that our clients are better for having trusted us to look after their business’ IT infrastructure as we provide top-notch services at the most cost-effective rates.
If you would like to learn more about what we can do for your business, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
Frequently Asked Questions about IT Checklist for a Business
Why is having an IT checklist important for companies?
Having an IT infrastructure checklist will ensure that your organization gets all that is required to build a strong IT infrastructure and keep your business up-to-date. It will also ensure that your expenditure is well within control and there is no overspending.
What are the main components of a perfect IT checklist?
The server maintenance program, store backup media, data encryption, a robust data center, updated operating systems, data safety, implementation of cloud-based solutions, security analysis, implementing security patches, and software updates, securing desktop computers, and safeguarding critical information with an updated security network are some of the main things your organization must look at as a business owner.
