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:

You Might Also Read: 

Get The Best Cyber Security Audits & Training In 2021:

 

« Preventing Ransomware Attacks
Online Fraud Costs British Investors £63m »

ManageEngine
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

Tines

Tines

The Tines security automation platform helps security teams automate manual tasks, making them more effective and efficient.

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North IT (North Infosec Testing) are an award-winning provider of web, software, and application penetration testing.

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD offers expert-led cybersecurity training to help organisations safeguard their operations and data.

Alvacomm

Alvacomm

Alvacomm offers holistic VIP cybersecurity services, providing comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Our solutions include risk assessment, threat detection, incident response.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with offices in the USA, Europe and Asia. Practice areas include Data Security & Privacy.

International School of IT Security (ISITS)

International School of IT Security (ISITS)

The International School of IT Security (ISITS) is a leading provider of professional training in the field of IT Security.

Romanian Association for Electronic Industry & Software (ARIES)

Romanian Association for Electronic Industry & Software (ARIES)

ARIES is the Romanian Association for Electronic Industry and Software, the biggest and most influental organization created for the IT&C industry in Romania.

IPN (ICT Research Platform Nederlands)

IPN (ICT Research Platform Nederlands)

IPN promotes academic research and education in the ICT field by building and maintaining a national community, and by developing policy to advance the field. Areas of focus include Cyber Security.

ES2

ES2

ES2 is a consulting organisation specialising in Enterprise Security and Solutions Services.

DDOS-Guard

DDOS-Guard

DDoS-GUARD is one of the leading service providers on the global DDoS protection and content delivery markets.

Agile Underwriting

Agile Underwriting

Agile, an underwriting agency, insurtech and Coverholder at Lloyd's, provides niche insurance products across Aviation, Marine & Cargo, Cyber and Financial Lines.

Everything Blockchain

Everything Blockchain

Everything Blockchain offer solutions that transform enterprise data-management capabilities. Increased efficiency, super-charged performance and all with government grade security.

Quad9 Foundation

Quad9 Foundation

Quad9 is a free security solution that uses DNS to protect your system against the most common cyber threats. It improves your system's performance, plus, it preserves and protects your privacy.

LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor provides SaaS-based IT infrastructure monitoring services for on-premises and multi-cloud environments.

Cyber Law Consulting

Cyber Law Consulting

Cyber Law Consulting is a Dynamic full service legal firm which offers complete services for Cyber Law, cyberlaw, Internet Law, Data Protection Act, Cyber Security, IPR, Drafting.

Custodia Continuity

Custodia Continuity

Custodia Continuity manage your Security, Backup, Continuity and Compliance. You get on with your business.

Guardsman Cyber Intelligence (GCI)

Guardsman Cyber Intelligence (GCI)

GCI provides proven cyber intelligence solutions to protect your business against ever present physical and digital threats shadowing your online business.

ITQ Latam

ITQ Latam

ITQ Latam are specialists in cybersecurity, in a convergent ecosystem of technological solutions in infrastructure, cloud and security networks.

Unit 42

Unit 42

Unit 42 brings together world-renowned threat researchers, incident responders and security consultants to create an intelligence-driven, response-ready organization.

AdviserCyber

AdviserCyber

AdviserCyber provide Cybersecurity and Compliance Solutions for Registered Investment Advisers.