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Make Sure Your Employees Are Not on the Cybersecurity Naughty List

The holiday season is fast approaching, and just as the Christmas spirit brings in thoughts of good cheer, hot mugs of chocolate, and special bonding moments with family, it also invites an increase in cybercrime. In the past year alone, several security firms around the globe has reported a 150% increase in attacks during the yuletide season.

Christmas time is such an enticing opportunity for hackers due to obvious reasons. This is the time where product sales are happening everywhere, people are taking longer vacation leaves – which means that security teams may be left with a skeletal force to fight against cybercriminals, and there’s a significant spike in eCommerce use, and more recently, mCommerce or Mobile Commerce. All of these and more makes it too attractive for hackers to pass up.

Even though the holiday season is described as “the most wonderful time of the year”, it is also the most profitable time of the year for cybercriminals. Therefore, organizations around the world should also gear up to stay safe against any kind of threat. Apart from ensuring that your systems and security solutions are up to date, you must also strengthen the most important part of your cybersecurity strategy – your employees.

Here are some tips to guarantee that your staff don’t end up in the cybersecurity naughty list:

Educate them on phishing scams

Cybercriminals know that a lot of people do their shopping online now – this includes your employees of course. As your staff receive dozens of packages, they may also overlook some. To capitalize on the holiday rush, hackers’ set-up fake email addresses and send out emails that may look like from legitimate couriers, companies, or even online payment services. Within these emails is a link which opens to a replica of the brand’s website and asks them for details.

This method makes it easy for cybercriminals to obtain information and money from people who believe that they are doing a legitimate transaction with said website. Which is why, you need to warn them to be wary of these emails and to always double-check.

Let them know about fake websites

If fake emails exist, so does fake websites. Now that the holiday season is fast approaching, it is inevitable that your employees might do some browsing during their breaks and while connected to the company Wi-Fi. A common ploy used by cybercriminals for scams is to set-up a fake website which sells bogus, discounted gifts – making it incredibly tempting for the average shopper.

Spotting a fake website may be difficult as these hackers can create perfect replicas, however, there are basic tell-tale signs. To check the website’s security, you can double-check the domain name of the original brand and compare, check the payment options – if it will only allow you to pay through online transfer that’s definitely a scam, you must also check for inconsistencies such as poor grammar or phrases that don’t sound right, and the most reliable of them all – read online reviews.

Teach the importance of an updated operating system, software, etc.

Your employees might see automatic or scheduled updates as an inconvenience for it disrupts work. However, these updates are more than just for additional features. This also includes new security capabilities that may help strengthen your protection against cybercrime. If one employee does not have the latest updates downloaded, hackers may easily access their device – and protecting endpoints is especially important.

Therefore, before you close your business for the holidays and let your employees take their Christmas leaves, you should ensure that all the latest updates of their software, applications, firewalls, operating systems, and more are installed to remain secure during the holidays and when business resumes.

Cybercriminals today use incredible sophisticated and convincing methods to fool those who are not aware of their schemes and attack vulnerable systems. But by staying educated and up to date about the latest cyber attack trends, you can keep your employees and business safe.