In a world that is becoming increasingly more virtual, our data has never been more vulnerable. With a vast amount of our sensitive information stored online, we have to trust that our security systems are robust enough to protect it from fraudulent access via deceptive means, known as phishing.
Phishing can take many forms – from glaringly obvious, badly worded emails to more sophisticated attacks that use attractive templates and ‘phishing kits’ to clone a website, installing credential-stealing code. So, how do you protect your business from them? Read on for our six top tips:
- Using a spam filter will go some way to redirecting any blank sender emails and prevent viruses, and when used in conjunction with decent security software, will go a long way to protecting your information and hardware.
- Change passwords regularly, using a hard-to-guess and complex arrangement of letters, numbers, and symbols to make them difficult to guess.
- Use encryption for any employees or colleagues who work remotely.
- Disable HTML emails, opting for text-only versions.
- Always check URLs in emails before clicking on them, and watch for URL redirects when you click a link.
- Don’t post too much personal information online – you could be opening yourself up to potential security issues.
If you are concerned that an email isn’t legitimate, although from a familiar individual, double-check the email it was sent from. Hackers often change one letter or number in an email, making it appear to be correct at first glance. If you are in any doubt, start a new thread using a trusted email address.
This is by no means an exhaustive guide to protecting your business from phishing attacks, but it’s a handy overview of a few of the ways in which you can protect your business on a day-to-day basis. To ensure you and your business are fully protected from phishing at all times, speak to us at Bell IT Support, and we can guide you!