Is email the biggest threat to your business?

Are you ready and how are you reducing your risk?

You’ve probably seen these before. You get a very well designed email from someone claiming to be Microsoft, Google or Apple. These are clever people who take the time to create email that looks very much like the real deal. Usually there will be some form of a request for you to login with your login credentials and before you know it, they have full access to your data. From a business perspective, this could be very damaging and embarrassing.

How can i protect myself?

There are various steps you can take to stay ahead of these scams.

• Email Cleansing / Spam Filter – In conjunction with your provider’s existing spam filter, this would be an ideal place to start.
• User training – There are usually indicators that would raise alarm. Check the URL of any links you click and if in any doubt, go directly to the website if you are prompted to login. 
• What if it’s a colleague or somebody you communicate with from another organisation? – In this instance, you should speak to them verbally or contact a colleague to verify the message.

Multi-Factor Authentication

All major email providers will have options to add extra layers of security. As a minimum, we would always recommend you secure your account with Multi-Factor Authentication. This can come in a form of an App on your phone or a security text to your phone. In this scenario, if there was a breach of password for your account, the hacker would also require your phone to be successful with the breach.

Invoice Scams

We’ve seen the damage this can cause organisations and the huge financial impact. Fraudulent emails from accounting departments can be tough to spot. Hackers use techniques as mentioned above and when they have a compromised email account from a finance department, they will attempt to maximise its potential. 

The hacker may attempt to doctor an invoice and change payment details. It’s very easy to fall foul of such a scam, especially if it comes from a client where transactions happen regularly. Finance teams should cross-check payment details before making any transfer. Having your account secured by Multi-Factor Authentication can save your business from serious financial impact.

We’re here to help

If this sounds too daunting, we’re on hand to give advice and assistance. We can offer training to help identify these issues before they become a serious threat to your business and implement the measures to secure your infrastructure.  

Contact us today –