Cyber Security: Its Good To Talk

The future of cyber security for all organisations lies in a more proactive approach with management and employees. A proactive security approach is designed to prevent attacks rather than react after an attack has happened. The days of waiting for an attack to be detected, then taking steps to quarantine it have passed. 

Encouraging discussion around the threats people have faced can go a long way to helping others becoming more aware of what to look out for, and to avoid falling victim to cyber criminals themselves.

Phishing is one of the common attacks and is where cyber criminals ‘fish’ for personal data by sending you emails or social media messages that look like they’re from a legitimate sender or business. Punishing people for falling for phishing attacks isn't going to help anyone with cyber security, but showing empathy and being open to mistakes can help people learn how to stay safe online. The best way to approach keeping people safe from online threats is to talk about misjudgments and errors, and to do so in a way that lets them understand that almost everyone has made a cyber security mistake at some point.

Even the most seasoned information security professional will have made mistakes at some point, so it isn't right that everyone else should be chastised or even punished if they click on a phishing link, whether for real or during a company phishing test. It's not unusual for companies to attempt to run cyber security awareness campaigns around shame and fear by punishing or embarrassing employees who fail a phishing test, but often this doesn't help people get to grips with what, for many, is a subject that's still difficult to understand.

If anything, people should be encouraged to talk about the online security mistakes they've made, because not only could it help others be more aware of potential cyber threats, it demonstrates how everyone can make mistakes and that there's nothing for people to be ashamed of if they do fall victim to phishing, social engineering or other forms of attack.

The Dept. of Computer Science and Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University conducted a study assessing the security and privacy risks of phone number recycling by mobile characters in the United States. Such a risk could pose a threat to many users, as every time you change your mobile number, your carrier will recycle your previous number. They 'recycle' the number by assigning it to a new phone and corresponding customer. The problem arises when these recycled phone numbers end up granting new customers access to the private information of previous phone users.  In the hands of a new customer who decides to hack into a phone, a recycled telephone number could pose untellable security risks for many users.

Protections may be taken for granted by members of staff when they were at the company premises, and they may not take the required precautions to remain safe when working remotely.

There are many challenges facing businesses in 2021, but unfortunately, we have to count cyber security as one of the most significant amongst them. Your organisation should be doing everything possible to mitigate these risks and find ways to prevent weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your IT systems.

Princeton University:      TechXplore:      CPO Magazine:        ZDNet:      Hermes:      IFSec Global:

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