The last two years have significantly shifted the trajectory of business trends as more entrepreneurs move their businesses online. However, the rise of online transactions and the launch of community platforms created a highly lucrative environment for cyber thieves and made way for even more security threats, including phishing.
Phishing companies are notorious for stealing business and personal information. They have been around for decades yet remain difficult to eradicate. Despite everyone’s knowledge about these sinister email messages, we still fall victim to their dirty tricks, especially when the email appears flawless and legit.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect your business and your customers from phishing incidents, which are easy and simple enough for business owners to facilitate. Here’s what you, your employees, and your customers should remember.
Use Security Software
Install security software for your work computer and that of your employees. Spam filters, web filters, and firewalls are highly effective against phishing scams. These work best when integrated with, for instance, a ServiceNow security incident response application that will examine, analyze, resolve, contain, and document phishing threats caught by the system.
The security incident response (SIR) can be customized to suit your business environment and secure the most vulnerable aspects of your company. This increases your level of defense against identity theft and incidents involving fraud.
Aside from that, the SIR application includes features that alert your security team about threats detected by the system. This way, your team can respond immediately and contain the situation until it gets resolved.
The SIR application also contains Knowledge Base articles that the app automatically matches with the issue. This means that you can expect a full and accurate resolution and protection.
If you implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, it’s best to have the same security application shared with your employees to eliminate vulnerable points in your network.
Check the Email Address Before Responding
This is called spoofing. This is quite tricky as text fonts don’t always appear the same way on different screens. For example, “rn” may look like an “m” on a smaller screen or when the font size is set to small. Spoofing is harder to detect as the flaws are almost unnoticeable. As a result, many fall victim to this scam—even the most observant ones sometimes fall victim to it.
When in doubt, zoom in on the text. Likewise, you can copy and paste the email address on a notepad and enlarge the fonts. This will make it easier for you to detect spelling and spoof letters and save you the trouble of dealing with phishing misery.
Beware of Scare Tactics
By scare tactics, we mean using deadlines and the threat of account closure if you don’t respond to the email right away. These messages typically tell you that you need to update your information and provide you a link where you can do so; others simply ask you to respond to the email with your personal information.
Despite numerous warnings and reminders given to users, many still make the mistake of responding to these phishing tactics and give away all their information. When it comes to email messages like this, as a business owner, you should never tire from reminding your employees and your customers—yourself included—to never respond to these messages.
When in doubt, take the old school route: call the bank or your membership company through their official numbers, and verify your account information with them. Always remind your customers and employees to do the same and inform you about these incidents immediately.
Keep Security Software Up to Date
To ensure that your security system is on top of any phishing attempt, perform a software update whenever necessary. This way, nothing can get past your security defense, and your system will always have the ability to prevent and contain phishing threats, as well as other cybersecurity threats.
These threats can be as harmful or even more damaging than phishing scams, so it’s best to keep your security system up to date to ensure that it can detect new threats and successfully contain it. Aside from the security software and applications, the operating system, browser, and other related programs should also be updated.
Running an online business is no walk in the park. With cybersecurity threats on the rise, investing in security will be extremely beneficial to your clients, your employees, and your business.
When deciding on the type of service that you need, look for security applications that allow you to tailor the service to your business structure and process. It’s all about finding the right fit and the right applications that can answer your needs.
