It’s more important than ever to understand the ways in which hackers aim to exploit your business and extract money and financial data from it. Their tactics are diversifying and becoming more convincing, especially as more employees are working from home, which only increases the risk of successful hack attempts.
To stay on top of the threat posed by hackers and ensure you and your business don’t fall victim to these scams, you first need to understand the tactics that can be used to hurt your business.
Learn about these 3 rapidly increasing hacking tactics that scammers use and how to protect yourself:
1. Sending Phishing Emails
Phishing emails are more common than ever before, and although they’re very simple, they can also be very effective when it comes to scamming unsuspecting company employees. It’s important to be careful and to think about how your business might prevent this problem through the actions it takes.
The risk is greater now because so much of the modern workforce is working from home. Since phishing attacks capitalize on human error and many employees are using less secure personal devices rather than company ones, phishing has become an even bigger threat. It’s important to educate your staff on what a phishing email looks like and how to avoid them.
The telltale signs of a phishing email include encouraging haste. Hackers want to scare and rush the recipient into taking foolish actions such as giving them personal information such as passwords or credit card info. They will usually suggest that there’s been suspicious activity on an account before encouraging you to follow a link and log in, then stealing your details.
Other signs may be that the email comes from a strange sender address that you don’t recognize, the sender is posing as a co-worker or boss, there are suspicious links or attachments involved, or the email includes poor grammar and spelling mistakes.
2. Infiltrating Weak Remote Networks
There’s no getting away from it; weak remote networks are always going to be targeted by hackers and cyber criminals.
Luckily, there are many things you can do to secure your remote networks and prevent them being targeted by cunning criminals. The very first thing you should do is start using a VPN if you’re not doing so already. According to bestvpncanada.ca, this will encrypt data being sent to and from onsite servers and ensure only authorized users can access your valuable information.
The cloud also offers security features that make data transfer safer as well, so for those who don’t rely on in-house servers normally, cloud solutions are a great option. Cloud computing offers a range of advantages that your business can benefit from, including cost savings and scalability.
Another way to prevent and deter hackers, as well as improve your overall network security, is to get help from a reputable cybersecurity consultant. They’ll be able to ensure you’re taking the right steps and not making potentially damaging errors that encourage hackers to target you.
3. Exploiting Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
Zero-day vulnerabilities are newly discovered vulnerabilities in networks and software. They’re dangerous to businesses because their newness means that hackers can target them or maybe already be targeting them before a patch is available. That patch needs to arrive fast to avert a major hacking incident.
Hackers will always want to find and exploit these kinds of vulnerabilities, and it’s vital that businesses respond by finding them first and fixing them quickly. It’s important to get 24/7 system monitoring, which will ensure that when a vulnerability is discovered, it can be addressed and patched immediately.
Without that fast action, your business will be getting targeted by criminals. When there’s a vulnerability in your system, it all comes down to who finds it first. And from your point of view, it’s essential that the people who find it first are on your side and willing to fix it.
Now that you understand these 3 types of hacks, how they work, and how you can avoid them, you’ll be in a much better position to keep yourself and your business safe.