MCSP- Managed Cybersecurity Service Provider

An MCSP is a managed services provider that provides cybersecurity and vCISO-type services but does not have its own SOC. Typically, it has a CISSP or vCISO on staff.

The Changing Landscape

For MSPs, the landscape is changing. A real apparent shift is happening in the IT industry. Attend any MSP event or conference and you will see over 80% of vendors providing some cybersecurity solution. As external threats, breaches, ransomware, and government mandates plague everyday business, the requirements for services that meet the needs of the business customer are changing. As a result, so are the expectations of what they provide. MSPs with the knowledge, tools, and resources necessary to effectively navigate the complex landscape of risk management and provide comprehensive cybersecurity services to their clients will find themselves leading the pack. Those who wait too long or continue with the status quo might find it harder to gain new customers, with the rise of the MCSP (Managed Cybersecurity Service Provider). To stay competitive, the new MSP will need a broader scope of services and expertise to effectively serve the changing landscape.

What’s Next for MSPs?

Today, there are MSPs and MSSPs. Though many MSPs may strive to become an MSSP, the requirement to build out an internal SOC and invest in the necessary facility, equipment, tools, etc. may be more than most will be able to achieve. Accordingly, the MCSP will enter to fill this gap. An MCSP is a specialized type of MSP that offers cybersecurity solutions and often provides virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) services in addition to traditional managed services. Unlike MSSPs, an MCSP does not have its own Security Operations Center (SOC) but does typically have a CISSP or vCISO on staff.

The MSP Evolution

MCSP is an attainable evolution or next step for the traditional MSP. Its core offering revolves around managing and safeguarding the information technology (IT) infrastructure and systems of its clients from cyber threats. This includes protecting networks, applications, endpoints, data, and other digital assets. The MCSP’s primary objective is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its clients’ information while mitigating risks and addressing vulnerabilities.

All in One- The MCSP

An MCSP fills a crucial role by combining managed services with cybersecurity expertise. By offering comprehensive cybersecurity services and vCISO guidance, you can help organizations of all sizes enhance their security posture and protect against evolving cyber threats, even without operating your own SOC. Just about any current MSP can obtain the knowledge and services necessary to evolve their business into an MCSP.

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If you’re looking to become an MCSP, we can help! As part of a partnership with SecurityStudio, we will help you become a certified MCSP and guide you on the path of becoming a Certified virtual Chief Information Security Officer (CvCISO).

Keeping your passwords, financial information, and other personal data safe is important for both companies and individuals as they are important methods of securing information and ensuring data security. 

Table of Contents:

  • Protecting your devices and networks is essential.
  • In order to keep personal information private, it is important for all employees of a company to follow these guidelines.
  • Protecting Your Identity
  • Protecting Your Credit
  • Social networking poses a huge risk to any business data.
  • Protecting Your Data Online
  • The importance of data security following a breach is important.

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How to protect your data online

This is the same as saying what steps can you take to secure your private information online and safeguard your data.

1. Encrypt your data.

Data encryption isn’t just for technology geeks; modern tools make it possible for anyone to encrypt emails and other information. “Encryption used to be the sole province of geeks and mathematicians, but a lot has changed in recent years. In particular, various publicly available tools have taken the rocket science out of encrypting (and decrypting) emails and files. GPG for Mail, for example, is an open-source plug-in for the Apple Mail program that makes it easy to encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify emails using the OpenPGP standard. And for protecting files, newer versions of Apple’s OS X operating system come with FileVault, a program that encrypts the hard drive of a computer. Those running Microsoft Windows have a similar program. 

2. Backup Your Data.

One of the most basic, yet often overlooked, data protection tips is backing up your data. Basically, this creates a duplicate copy of your data so that if a device is lost, stolen, or compromised, you don’t also lose your important information. As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and insurance company Nationwide points out, “According to Nationwide, 68% of small businesses don’t have a disaster recovery plan. The problem with this is the longer it takes you to restore your data, the more money you’ll lose. Gartner found that this downtime can cost companies as much as $300,000 an hour.” Twitter: @growwithco

The cloud is a good option for backup.

While you should use sound security practices when you’re making use of the cloud, it can provide an ideal solution for backing up your data. Since data is not stored on a local device, it’s easily accessible even when your hardware becomes compromised. “Cloud storage, where data is kept offsite by a provider, is a guarantee of adequate disaster recovery,” according to this post on TechRadar. Twitter: @techradar

It is important to protect your computer with anti-malware software.

Malware is a serious issue plaguing many computer users, and it’s known for cropping up in inconspicuous places, unbeknownst to users. Anti-malware protection is essential for laying a foundation of security for your devices. “Malware (short for malicious software) is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer without your consent. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, scareware, and more. It can be present on websites and emails, or hidden in downloadable files, photos, videos, freeware, or shareware. (However, it should be noted that most websites, shareware or freeware applications do not come with malware.) The best way to avoid getting infected is to run a good anti-virus protection program, do periodic scans for spyware, and avoid clicking on suspicious email links or websites. But scammers are sneaky: sometimes malware is cleverly disguised as an email from a friend, or a useful website. Even the most cautious of web surfers will likely pick up an infection at some point.,” explains Clark Howard. Twitter: @ClarkHoward

3. Delete the data on old hard drives so they can’t be read.

Much information can be gleaned through old computing devices, but you can protect your personal data by making hard drives unreadable before disposing of them. “Make old computers’ hard drives unreadable. After you back up your data and transfer the files elsewhere, you should sanitize by disk shredding, magnetically cleaning the disk, or using software to wipe the disk clean. Destroy old computer disks and backup tapes,” according to the Florida Office of the Attorney General. Twitter: @AGPamBondi

If you’re using Windows, install updates for the operating system.

Operating system updates are a gigantic pain for users; it’s the honest truth. But they’re a necessary evil, as these updates contain critical security patches that will protect your computer from recently discovered threats. Failing to install these updates means your computer is at risk. “No matter which operating system you use, it’s important that you update it regularly. Windows operating systems are typically updated at least monthly, typically on so-called ‘Patch Tuesday.’ Other operating systems may not be updated quite as frequently or on a regular schedule. It’s best to set your operating system to update automatically. The method for doing so will vary depending upon your particular operating system,” says PrivacyRights.org. Twitter: @PrivacyToday

You should automate updates on your software, so you don’t have to worry about them.

In order to ensure that you’re downloading the latest security updates from operating systems and other software, enable automatic updates. “Many software programs will automatically connect and update to defend against known risks. Turn on automatic updates if that’s an available option,” suggests StaySafeOnline.org. Twitter: @StaySafeOnline

It’s important to protect your wireless network at home or in the workplace.

A valuable tip for both small business owners and individuals or families, it’s always recommended to secure your wireless network with a password. This prevents unauthorized individuals within proximity to hijack your wireless network. Even if they’re merely attempting to get free Wi-Fi access, you don’t want to inadvertently share private information with other people who are using your network without permission. “If you have a Wi-Fi network for your workplace, make sure it is secure, encrypted, and hidden. To hide your Wi-Fi network, set up your wireless access point or router so it does not broadcast the network name, known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID). Password protect access to the router,” says FCC.gov in an article offering data protection tips for small businesses. Twitter: @FCC

4. Turn Off Your Computer.

When you’re finished using your computer or laptop, power it off. Leaving computing devices on, and most often, connected to the Internet, opens the door for rogue attacks. “Leaving your computer connected to the Internet when it’s not in use gives scammers 24/7 access to install malware and commit cybercrimes. To be safe, turn off your computer when it’s not in use,” suggests CSID, a division of Experian. Twitter: @ExperianPS_NA

5. Use A Firewall.

“Firewalls assist in blocking dangerous programs, viruses or spyware before they infiltrate your system. Various software companies offer firewall protection, but hardware-based firewalls, like those frequently built into network routers, provide a better level of security,” says Geek Squad. Twitter: @GeekSquad

It is important to give employees as little access and power as possible.

Indiana University Information Technology recommends following the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): “Do not log into a computer with administrator rights unless you must do so to perform specific tasks. Running your computer as an administrator (or as a Power User in Windows) leaves your computer vulnerable to security risks and exploits. Simply visiting an unfamiliar Internet site with these high-privilege accounts can cause extreme damage to your computer, such as reformatting your hard drive, deleting all your files, and creating a new user account with administrative access. When you do need to perform tasks as an administrator, always follow security procedures.” Twitter: @IndianaUniv

6. Use “Passphrases” Rather Than “Passwords.”

What’s the difference? “…we recommend you use passphrases–a series of random words or a sentence. The more characters your passphrase has, the stronger it is.  The advantage is these are much easier to remember and type, but still hard for cyber attackers to hack.” explains SANS. Twitter: @SANSAwareness. CISA also has a great resource for creating strong passphrases.

7. Make sure the data on your USB and SIM is encrypted.

Encrypting your data on your removable storage devices can make it more difficult (albeit not impossible) for criminals to interpret your personal data should your device become lost or stolen. USB drives and SIM cards are excellent examples of removable storage devices that can simply be plugged into another device, enabling the user to access all the data stored on it. Unless, of course, it’s encrypted. “Your USB drive could easily be stolen and put into another computer, where they can steal all of your files and even install malware or viruses onto your flash drive that will infect any computer it is plugged into. Encrypt your SIM card in case your phone is ever stolen, or take it out if you are selling your old cell phone,” according to Mike Juba in an article on Business2Community. Twitter: @EZSolutionCorp

8. Don’t store passwords on your laptop or mobile device.

A Post-It note stuck to the outside of your laptop or tablet is “akin to leaving your keys in your car,” says The Ohio State University’s Office of the Chief Information Officer. Likewise, you shouldn’t leave your laptop in your car. It’s a magnet for identity thieves. Twitter: @OhioState

If you don’t need file or media sharing, disable it. It’s an easy way to save time and bandwidth.

If you have a home wireless network with multiple devices connected, you might find it convenient to share files between machines. However, there’s no reason to make files publicly available if it’s not necessary. “Make sure that you share some of your folders only on the home network. If you don’t really need your files to be visible to other machines, disable file and media sharing completely,” says Kaspersky. Twitter: @kaspersky

When you want to encrypt your data, create encrypted volumes.

One of the best ways to encrypt files is by making an encrypted volume. This article explains how you can do it with different programs and tools.

9. Overwrite Deleted Files.

PCWorld has a tool to overwrite old data on Windows operating systems. This ensures that your information is completely deleted and not recoverable by anyone who knows what they’re doing.

Make sure to delete old files from your cloud backup.

If you’re diligent about backing up your data and use a secure cloud storage service to do so, you’re headed in the right direction. That said, cloud backups, and any data backups really, create an added step when it comes to deleting old information. Don’t forget to delete files from your backup services in addition to those you remove (or overwrite) on your local devices. “If you back up your files to the cloud, remember that even though you delete them on your computer or mobile device, they’re still stored in your cloud account. To completely delete the file, you’ll also need to remove it from your backup cloud account,” says re/code. Twitter: @Recode

10. Data Protection Tips for Mobile Devices

It’s important to be aware of the privacy settings on your app and configure them as necessary.

Most apps offer privacy settings for users, enabling you to determine how much and what types of information are shared or stored. Always choose the least amount of data-sharing possible. Casey Chin from Wired explains, “You probably spend a lot of your day inside apps: catching up on the news, playing music and movies, keeping in touch with friends, racing cartoon characters around a track, and so on. Every once in a while though, it’s worth running an audit on these apps to make sure they’re not overreaching and going beyond their remit—collecting more data about you and controlling more of your devices than you’d like.” Twitter: @WIRED

Enable employees to work remotely and enable data wiping on devices.

“If your gadget is lost or stolen, tracking apps can tell you exactly where your phone is. These apps also let you wipe sensitive information remotely. If your phone does end up landing in the wrong hands, you can at least make sure they don’t get your information,” says Kim Komando. Twitter: @kimkomando

11. Immediately after setting up your phone, make sure to change the privacy settings.

When configuring a new device or operating system, configuring privacy settings should be the first order of business. This ensures that you’re not inadvertently sharing sensitive information as you set up your standard apps and services. “The minute you download and install iOS 8, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system for iPhone and iPad, you should take note of these privacy steps in order to lock down your device. iOS 8 has a number of new features tied to your location. It also has new privacy settings, allowing users to limit how long data is stored, such as message expiry features and new private browsing settings…Before you do anything like customizing your phone, loading new apps, or syncing your data for the first time, these first seven settings need to be checked, and if necessary, changed,” explains Zack Whittaker in an article appearing on ZDNet. Twitter: @zackwhittaker

With MyPermissions.com, you can control app permissions all at once.

MyPermissions.com is a handy tool that allows you to check your permission settings across many apps, get reminders for cleanup with mobile-friendly app alerts, and access personal information when it’s needed so that the user can remove it with one click.

Lock Your phone and tablet devices at all times.

Practically everyone has a smartphone, tablet, or both these days. All it takes is a single mishap where your device slips out of your pocket or briefcase at a restaurant or on public transportation, and your data could wind up in the hands of someone who will use it maliciously. You can take steps to protect your data in the event of a lost or stolen device, however, beginning with locking your device. When your device is locked, a thief must crack your password before gaining access to your apps or personal information, adding a layer of protection. Unfortunately, many don’t lock their devices, says Monica Anderson of Pew Research, “More than a quarter (28%) of smartphone owners say they do not use a screen lock or other security features to access their phone.” Twitter: @pewresearch

12. Make sure to back up any data on your mobile device.

It’s important to back up data from your mobile devices, not just desktops or laptops. It’s a good idea to use IFTTT (If This Then That) because it will help with automatic backups of important files such as photos and work documents.

13. Set Your Camera to manual and make sure it’s wifi is off 

Some devices automatically backup your data to the cloud, and some apps used on smartphones or tablets store information in remote servers. Yes, having a backup of your data is a good thing, but the backup should be accessible only by you or someone you authorize. You can prevent your devices from sharing your personal photos and other information with the cloud for the world to see by disabling automatic backup settings on your device and on individual apps. In an article on BBC, Colin Barras explains, “As cloud services grow it’s becoming common for devices like smartphones to upload user data to remote servers by default. If you’re at all worried about some of your photos falling into the hands of malicious parties it’s probably not a bad idea to check your phone settings to see what data is being automatically backed up to the cloud, and disable automatic uploading.” Twitter: @BBC_Future

14. When you’re not using Bluetooth, turn it off to save battery life.

Bluetooth technology has offered incredible conveniences to the mobile world, but it also opens the door for vulnerabilities. Most threats exploiting Bluetooth connectivity are dependent on the active Bluetooth connection, and while they aren’t typically devastating or dangerous, they’re certainly inconvenient and can be serious. “Bluetooth attacks depend on exploiting the permission request/grant process that is the backbone of Bluetooth connectivity. Regardless of the security features on your device, the only way to completely prevent attackers from exploiting that permission request/grant process is to power off your device’s Bluetooth function when you’re not using it — not putting it into an invisible or undetectable mode, but completely turning it off (there are bad apps that can power your device back on, just one more reason overall app security is vital),” advises Kaspersky Lab. Twitter: @kaspersky

15. Get protection for your phones and tablets, especially if you use them to access the internet.

Anti-malware protection software is a given for most computer users, but many consumers still overlook the importance of protecting mobile devices from the growing number of malware programs impacting all types of mobile devices. Just a few years ago, however, security options for mobile devices offered mediocre protection against threats, at best. “Besides antivirus and malware scanning, security apps for Android also offer a full McAfee LiveSafe 2014 Android screenshot McAfee for Android security suite with features such as device location, remote wipe, backup, and suspicious-URL blocking. These extra features usually require a premium subscription, but most apps offer a minimal, basic level of protection for free, including malware scanning,” according to an article on PCWorld. Twitter: @pcworld

16. If you use your phone to check and send messages, make sure that notifications are turned off.

Push notifications are notices posted to your device’s home screen so that you don’t miss important information or updates. “Many applications send proactive notifications to your phone’s home screen. In general, these notifications are valuable and make it easy to keep track of what’s happening in your favorite applications. Personal health applications may send these types of notifications as well. If you are using applications that use push notifications, review them to ensure that sensitive data isn’t being shared unexpectedly to your home screen. You don’t want your personal health data laying out in plain site on your phone,” according to an article on TrueVault. Twitter: @TrueVault

17. If you use an Apple device, enable Touch ID.

If you use an iPhone 5 or later, you can take advantage of an added security measure known as Touch ID, a technologically advanced fingerprint security tactic. “The actual image of your fingerprint is not stored anywhere and is instead converted to a mathematical representation of a fingerprint that cannot be reverse-engineered into one. This mathematical representation is stored in a Secure Enclave within your phone’s chip, and is never accessed by iOS or other apps, never stored on Apple servers, and never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else.”

18. Set Up Content Filters.

If you have children who use mobile devices, make sure to set up content filters through your wireless provider or on the device itself. These filters block certain types of content and keep your child from going to websites with inappropriate or malicious information.

One way to keep your device secure is by setting it up so that it locks after a period of inactivity.

Most smartphones and tablets enable you to set a specified time frame, after which the device automatically locks if it’s been inactive. This means if you lose your smartphone, but it wasn’t locked, it will lock on its own, ideally before a thief obtains it and attempts to access your personal information. “Configure your settings to ensure that your device locks after a short period of time,” says DeviceCheck.ca, formerly known as ProtectYourData.ca. Twitter: @CWTAwireless

19. Don’t install apps that you don’t need.

There are new apps entering the market constantly. But too many apps running in the background not only slows down your smartphone or tablet, but some of them could be sharing your personal information, even your current location via GPS, without your knowledge. Don’t install apps unless they’re from trusted sources. “The problem is that many third-party app stores are not safe. If you choose to download an APK file and install it yourself, you could be putting malware on your device. You may also be sent an APK file in an email or a text message, or you could be prompted to install one after clicking on a link in your web browser. It’s best not to install these unless you are certain it is safe,” according to an article on Digital Trends. Twitter: @DigitalTrends

20. Make sure your smartphone is secured and out of reach from would-be thieves.

While remote wiping and location-tracking solutions are great for finding your device and protecting your data if it’s been stolen, the ideal solution is to avoid having your smartphone or other device stolen in the first place. “One of your best ‘grab-prevention’ options is a wireless proximity alarm system. These handy app/device combos let you know when your phone gets more than the pre-set distance limit from the proximity device (which is usually small enough to fit on a key ring),” ComputerWorld recommends. Twitter: @computerworld

21. Put a firewall on your phone.

Firewalls aren’t just for servers and browsers; you can get a personal firewall for your mobile device, too. MySecurityAwareness.com suggests installing “an on-device personal firewall to protect mobile device interfaces from direct attack.”

22. Before donating or discarding, set the device to factory defaults and wipe it clean.

Don’t just give your old mobile devices to someone else, particularly someone you don’t know, without first wiping it clean and restoring it to factory settings. Otherwise, you’re basically handing over all your personal data to whoever ends up with your old smartphone or tablet. “Many security experts say performing a factory reset on your old phone is exactly what you’re supposed to do if you plan to sell or donate it. According to the nation’s major wireless carriers, a reset will erase all personal information – such as texts, contact lists, photos, and important user data – from your phone’s memory,” says WTHR.com. But, this method isn’t fool-proof; in fact, 13 Investigates put this very theory to the test and found that in some cases, a factory reset will wipe a device clean. In others, it won’t. The solution? Do a factory reset as a precaution, but do your research and determine the best way to discard your device or clean it before donating it to charity. Twitter: @WTHRcom

23. Be aware that people can hear what you’re saying on your phone when in public.

If you have time to kill on your morning commute, you might browse the virtual shopping aisles, but be mindful of who is sitting beside you or behind you. Criminals can easily peep over your shoulder and watch as you enter passwords, credit card details, and other information. “A long commute on a bus or a train is the perfect time to get some holiday shopping done, but beware of that stranger sitting next to you. Your neighbors might try and read your screen and steal your credit card number or other information. Investing in a privacy screen or filter can significantly reduce the risk of peeping thieves. Screen protectors come in all shapes and sizes and at Best Buy, you can find the one that’s best for your favorite tech gadget,” advises BestBuy in an article offering tips for keeping your digital data safe on Cyber Monday (and really, anytime you’re shopping online). Twitter: @BBYNews

24. Protecting Your Identity

Decide for yourself what you think is personally identifiable information, such as your name and email address.

ComputerWorld asks six privacy experts for their recommendations for protecting data in the modern digital age. “‘The traditional definition of personally identifying information (PII) — health records, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. — is so 20th century. The big data age of the Internet is upon us, and even data not previously considered to be PII can feel very personal when viewed in a broader context. ‘Bits of data, when combined, tell a lot about you,’ says Alex Fowler, chief privacy officer at Mozilla. Those aggregated bits, which constitute the new PII, may include such information as your email address, browsing history, and search history. ‘The definition of PII — information that a person has a legitimate interest in understanding and protecting — is going to be broadened as we move further into the information society,’ says Fowler. ‘It’s a different footprint than what your parents ever thought about. Think about what you consider personal information,’ Fowler adds. ‘You need a working definition.’” Twitter: @Computerworld

25. Use Secure Passwords.

Passwords are easily cracked by hackers, particularly if you don’t use sound password-creation practices. The best passwords contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. You should also avoid using easily guessed words or alphanumeric combinations, such as the names of children or pets, birth dates, addresses, and similar information that can be easily guessed by someone looking at your Facebook profile or through a Google search. “The shorter and less complex your password is, the quicker it is for cybercriminals to come up with the correct combination of characters in your password.” suggests the CSA Alliance. Twitter: @CSAsingapore

Passwords should never contain personally identifiable information.

Don’t use numbers or combinations associated with other personally identifiable information as all or even part of your passwords. “Don’t use any part of your social security number (or any other sensitive info, like a credit card number) as a password, user ID, or personal identification number (PIN). If someone gains access to this information, it will be among the first things they use to try to get into your account,” Bank of America advises. Twitter: @BofA_News

When you’re too cautious, people might think that there’s something wrong.

When you’re online, it’s important to be careful about who has access to your personal information. Who is asking for this information? Why do they need the info and what will happen with it? Do they have security measures in place or can anyone see my private data if I provide them with that info.?
Article: What are some of these initiatives and how might we measure their success (or failure)?

26. When hiring, be wary of people who pretend to represent a company and try to get you on board with their offer.

Related to the previous tip, there are many impostors who attempt to trick unsuspecting consumers into giving out their sensitive personal information by pretending to be the individual’s bank, credit card company, or other entity. This can happen by phone or online, via phishing emails or websites designed to mimic the authentic company’s look and feel. “Make sure you know who is getting your personal or financial information. Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you’ve initiated the contact or know who you’re dealing with. If a company that claims to have an account with you sends an email asking for personal information, don’t click on links in the email. Instead, type the company name into your web browser, go to their site, and contact them through customer service. Or, call the customer service number listed on your account statement. Ask whether the company really sent a request,” advises the Federal Trade Commission. Twitter: @FTC

27. Share Passwords Carefully.

This data protection tip has been emphasized by many security experts, but there are still a lot of people who don’t follow this advice. The truth is, it’s impractical in the modern environment. Many families need to share passwords for bank accounts and credit cards with spouses or children, and they may also have shared logins for Netflix accounts at work. You should never give out your password without concern; instead, you can determine when another person legitimately needs access to something from your personal information or account on a case-by-case basis.

Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts or services.

Password managers are really great if you have any accounts or passwords that you don’t want to share. With a password manager, it’s easy to make sure your information is safe.

28. Be careful to watch for people stealing your government-issued identification numbers.

Thieves don’t always go after credit and debit cards; sometimes, they steal important government-issued identification numbers, such as driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers in an attempt to assume another individual’s identity. “If you are notified of a breach involving your driver’s license or another government document, contact the agency that issued the document and find out what it recommends in such situations. You might be instructed to cancel the document and obtain a replacement. Or the agency might instead ‘flag’ your file to prevent an imposter from getting a license in your name,” suggests PrivacyRights.org. Twitter: @PrivacyToday

29. Don’t write down your passwords.

It’s tempting to keep a written list of passwords, or even a single password written down in a notebook or, worse yet, a sticky note. But this is a bad idea, as it makes it extraordinarily easy for someone else to steal your login information and access your accounts without your permission. “Writing your password on a ‘sticky note’ and sticking it on your monitor makes it very easy for people who regularly steal passwords to obtain yours. Hiding it under your keyboard or mouse pad is not much better, as these are common hiding places for passwords. However, if you must write something down, jot down a hint or clue that will help jog your memory or store the written password in a secure, locked place,” says SANS.org. Twitter: @SANSInstitute

30. Instead of having one giant list, divide them into groups.

By using a different system for creating passwords for different types of websites, such as social networking websites, financial institutions, and other membership sites, you ensure that should a hacker crack one of your algorithms, they won’t immediately be able to crack all of your accounts’ passwords. “First up, group your passwords by function — social media, financial information, work — and use a different approach for creating passwords within each group. That way, if a hacker figures out your Facebook password, he won’t be just clicks away from your bank account,” explains an article on the Boston Globe. Twitter: @BostonGlobe

31. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, try not to fax sensitive information.

Faxing can be a convenient way to send information quickly, but it’s not possible to ensure that the intended recipient is the person who receives the document on the other end, or that the information isn’t visible to someone else in the process of transporting it to another department or individual. “Personal information should not be sent by fax unless it is necessary to transmit the information quickly. It is important that sufficient precautions are taken to ensure that it is received only by its intended recipient,” says BCMJ.org. Twitter: @BCMedicalJrnl

32. Make sure you shred documents and statements before throwing them out.

Most consumers receive an abundance of mail largely considered junk mail. Credit card statements, bank account statements, notifications regarding other accounts, credit card offers, and more plague the mailboxes of consumers across the U.S. While online access to accounts has made printed statements practically unnecessary, many consumers simply toss these items out when they’re received. But doing so without first shredding them could put your personal information in the hands of thieves. “Identity theft is the nation’s number one complaint, according to the Federal Trade Commission. One of the most common methods used by thieves to steal personal information is dumpster diving, which entails rummaging through trash looking for old bills or other documents that contain personal information,” explains Katie Delong, in an article for Fox 6 Now. Fellowes.com offers an informative list of documents that should be shredded, as well as best practices for document shredding to ensure adequate data protection. Twitter: @FellowesInc

33. Whenever you have old data that’s no longer useful, delete it from your computer.

Keeping your computer and mobile devices clean is a good practice to ensure usability, but it’s also wise to eliminate old data you no longer need. Why give potential criminals more info than absolutely necessary? “Keep only the data you need for routine current business, safely archive or destroy older data, and remove it from all computers and other devices (smartphones, laptops, flash drives, external hard disks),” advises the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Twitter: @mit_istnews

34. Always make sure to dispose of electronics properly.

It’s true that nothing is ever really deleted permanently from a computing device; hackers and technologically savvy criminals (and, of course, the FBI) are often able to recover information from hard drives if they haven’t been properly disposed of. “Document shredding and electronics recycling are two of the most effective ways to dispose of sensitive records, data, documents, and information. Electronic devices, even when no longer in use, often retain confidential personal information that can fall into the wrong hands if disposed of incorrectly,” the Better Business Bureau says. Twitter: @bbb_media

35. Protecting Your Credit

If you’re using a debit card, it’s best to sign the receipt instead of entering your PIN.

When possible, ask cashiers to process your debit card as a credit card transaction. Not all retail stores allow this (it results in a small processing fee to be paid by the retailer), but most do. It’s often simpler just to enter your PIN, but it also makes it easier for thieves to steal all the information they need to make unauthorized purchases using your card. “Not entering your PIN into a keypad will help reduce the chances of a hacker stealing that number too, Young says. Crooks can do more damage with your PIN, possibly printing a copy of the card and taking money out of an ATM, he says. During Target’s breach last year, the discount retailer said hackers gained access to customers’ PINs. Home Depot, however, said there was no indication that PINs were compromised in the breach at its stores,” explains Joseph Pasani in an Associated Press article appearing on USA Today. Twitter: @USATODAY

Set up an email alert for transactions, so you can know when someone has made a purchase from your company.

If your bank or credit card company offers this service, sign up to receive an email alert when your card has been used for a transaction. This makes it easy to pinpoint charges you didn’t make and allows you to take rapid action to cancel cards. “Sign up for email alerts when something is charged to the account. Not all banks will offer this, but these alerts let you know when a new transaction has been made using your card,” says CT Watchdog. Twitter: @ctwatchdog

36. Review Your statements on a regular basis.

“Review your bank and credit card statements regularly to look for suspicious transactions. If you have online access to your bank and credit card accounts, it is a good idea to check them regularly, perhaps weekly, for transactions that aren’t yours. Contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately to report a problem. Debit card users in particular should promptly report a lost card or an unauthorized transaction. Unlike the federal protections for credit cards that cap losses from fraudulent charges at $50, your liability limit for a debit card could be up to $500, or more, if you don’t notify your bank within two business days after discovering the loss or theft,” advises FDIC.gov. Twitter: @FDICgov

You want to make sure you see transactions in the company’s bank account, regardless of how small they are.

Fraudsters don’t always make major purchases with stolen cards. In fact, there have been some otherwise legitimate companies that have scammed their own customers by charging small amounts to credit and debit cards they believed would go unnoticed by consumers. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, talks with ChicagoBusiness.com about his experience: “Mr. Ablin says those who pay with credit should be vigilant about tracking their bills. He recalls after a recent online order he placed for flowers that a random charge for $1.99 appeared on his account from an unknown source. He found that the flower company he used was scamming people for this small amount. He figures the company believed most people wouldn’t notice the relatively small amount. ‘Don’t necessarily look for the Hawaiian vacation on your statement,’ Mr. Ablin says.” Twitter: @CrainsChicago

37. Help following a data breach is not always genuine.

It’s an unfortunate reality that a data breach impacting a major corporation and, therefore, hundreds of thousands of its customers, spells an opportunity for thieves. “Be very careful about responding to an unsolicited e-mail promoting credit monitoring services, since many of these offers are fraudulent. If you’re interested in credit monitoring and it’s not being offered for free by your retailer or bank, do your own independent research to find a reputable service,” suggests FDIC.gov. Twitter: @FDICgov

If you get a call from someone saying they’re your bank, hang up. It’s probably a scam.

Calling one of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) and asking for a one-call fraud alert is a great way to stay on top of suspicious activity. “You only need to call one of the three credit bureaus. The one you contact is required to contact the other two. This one-call fraud alert will remain in your credit file for at least 90 days. The fraud alert requires creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or increasing credit limits on your existing accounts. When you place a fraud alert on your credit report, you are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus upon request,” suggests Office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

 38. Shop on Familiar Websites.

There are hundreds of thousands of online retailers, known as e-commerce vendors, some more credible than others. Always opt to shop with a well-known retailer you’re familiar with, rather than smaller, unfamiliar sites that could merely be a facade for credit card theft. “When it comes to online shopping, it’s best to use a trusted website rather than selecting a random website with a search engine. If you’re familiar with the company and website, it’s easier to avoid scams. For instance, many consumer items can be bought just as easily for competitive prices using Amazon.com vs. finding boutique online shopping. Amazon has a reputation and regulations to uphold,” according to NENS.com. Additionally, major online retailers are more likely to offer fraud protection options and the ability to return damaged or defective merchandise. Twitter: @4NENS

39. Get A Free Credit Report.

Secura Insurance Companies recommends getting a copy of your credit report annually. “The FACT Act of 2003 entitles you to a free credit report once a year from the three credit bureaus. The reports should be examined for fraudulent activity. To obtain your free annual credit report, either order online via www.annualcreditreport.com, or by telephone at ( 877) 322-8228. For the mail-in form, go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/ requestformfinal.pdf. ” This allows you to pinpoint suspicious activity and identify accounts that you haven’t opened. Twitter: @SecuraInsurance

40. Don’t do any shopping online for personal or business purchases without being careful.

Because shopping online is one of the easiest ways to get your credit card number stolen, some experts suggest maintaining a separate, low-balance credit card specifically for online purchases. “Online shopping security is a concern for everyone who makes purchases on the Internet, but it is also an important issue for business leaders — and not just those in the retail sector. Firms also go shopping online, and their employees frequently make business purchases on the company credit card.” explains Security Intelligence. Twitter: @IBMSecurity

41. Protecting Your Data on Social Networking

If you are on social media, don’t share too much information. It’s important to keep your personal and professional life separate.

Social networking has become a way of life for many individuals, but sharing too much personal information on your social media profiles can be dangerous. For instance, many hackers have successfully guessed passwords through trial-and-error methods, using combinations of common information (such as children’s names, addresses, and other details) easily found on users’ social media profiles. “Do not post information that would make you vulnerable, such as your address or information about your schedule or routine. If your connections post information about you, make sure the combined information is not more than you would be comfortable with strangers knowing. Also be considerate when posting information, including photos, about your connections,” advises the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). Twitter: @USCERT_gov

42. Be careful about the information you’re sharing and how it’s being used.

Social networks like Facebook enable users to customize their privacy settings. On Facebook, for instance, you can choose who is able to see the content you post and who is able to view information on your profile, such as your place of employment, birth date, and hometown. Always choose the highest level of privacy possible to ensure that your personal data doesn’t end up in the hands of someone with malicious intent. “The content you post online will be around for a long time, but you can customize privacy settings on most social media sites. This will affect who can contact you and who can see the information you post. Be choosy: while it’s fun to share information, keep your online reputation in mind. And if you over-disclose information publicly, it could be used by identity thieves to hijack your identity,” suggests the Chronicle of Data Protection. Twitter: @HLPrivacy

43. Don’t trust “friends” who claim to be mugged or have other unbelievable stories.

Scams have been attempted on Facebook. Thieves masquerading as friends of the individual ask for money after they supposedly got mugged in a foreign country and it is usually successful because people don’t realize what’s going on until they’ve already sent them some.

44. If you come across a suspicious Facebook user, block them.

For users you don’t know outside of Facebook who befriend you and then make you uncomfortable by asking repeated, personal questions or pressuring you to meet them offline, blocking them is a viable option. “You also have a ‘Block List’ feature in your privacy settings. If you choose to block people, you cannot interact with them on Facebook at all,” says Just Ask Gemalto. Blocking shady users means they cannot message you, contact you, or see that you’re online. In fact, they cannot view your profile at all. Twitter: @JustAskGemalto

45. Protect Your Tweets.

If you’re using Twitter for your business, make sure to set it so that any Tweets are publicly available. However, if you use the site just for personal communications, then keep them private and only allow approved followers to view what you post.

It’s important to check privacy settings and make sure that they’re still what you want them to be.

Privacy options are always changing on social networking platforms, so be sure to check your personal settings regularly and make adjustments as needed. “Content uploaded to social media platforms is not always secure, so it’s imperative to understand how to use the privacy features your social media sites have to offer,” according to Social Media Examiner. Click through to the full article for a breakdown of how to update your privacy settings on each of the popular social networks. Twitter: @SMExaminer

46. Know who your friends are.

Don’t accept random friend requests on Facebook from people you don’t know. “Some of the fun is creating a large pool of friends from many aspects of your life. That doesn’t mean all friends are created equal. Use tools to manage the information you share with friends in different groups or even have multiple online pages. If you’re trying to create a public persona as a blogger or expert, create an open profile or a ‘fan’ page that encourages broad participation and limits personal information. Use your personal profile to keep your real friends (the ones you know and trust) more synched up with your daily life,” advises StaySafeOnline.org. Twitter: @StaySafeOnline

47. For security purposes, make sure to use two-step verification for all work accounts on LinkedIn.

“LinkedIn offers members the ability to turn on two-step verification for their accounts. This will require an account password and a numeric code sent to your phone via SMS whenever you attempt to sign in from a device that your LinkedIn account does not recognize,” according to a post on Business News Daily. This ensures that should someone crack your account password, they will be unable to log in unless they can’t access your account unless they also gain access to your code — meaning they’d have to also be in possession of your mobile device. Twitter: @BNDarticles

48. If you’ve been hacked, contact the social network immediately and let your friends know.

Sometimes, having your social networks hacked means your friends could be being conned by criminals pretending to be you. Or, you could even be blocked from your own account if they’ve changed the password or conducted activities that have led to your account being banned by the service. “If you’re locked out of your account or blocked from accessing it, many Web services have steps in place so you can get back in. For example, Facebook has a system where you can use a trusted source like a friend to take back your account. Search each service’s help section for specific instructions. Speaking of friends, you should let your contacts know that you’ve been hacked, and report the issue to the site. Also, run a scan of your computer or mobile device using a trusted and up-to-date antivirus program,” advises re/code. Twitter: @Recode

49. Protecting Your Data Online

If you are using public Wi-Fi, avoid transactions that may be sensitive.

Working at the local coffee shop may have some appeal, but relying on a public Wi-Fi connection means your data is interceptable by outsiders. Avoid conducting banking transactions and sending other sensitive information over a public Wi-Fi network. As the FTC notes, “If you use an unsecured network to log in to an unencrypted site — or a site that uses encryption only on the sign-in page — other users on the network can see what you see and what you send. They could hijack your session and log in as you.” Twitter: @FTC

You can choose to share your personal information on social media, but you need to be aware of the privacy settings for this.

Websites other than social networking platforms also offer some privacy options. YouTube, for instance (which could arguably be considered a social networking platform, as well), allows users to make videos private or viewable only by specified persons. “You can often find privacy controls on a site by navigating to a control panel or settings menu. Sometimes, websites will draw attention to privacy controls while in other cases they will group them under broader categories like “Account Settings”. Privacy controls may also be offered during the sign-up process for a new online service or account. To best protect your privacy you should explore and understand privacy controls available to you on a given website/platform before you share personal information on or with the site,” recommends TRUSTe. Twitter: @TRUSTe

50. Don’t Forget to Sign Out.

Signing in to online services is necessary when you need to access your personal accounts, but many users forget to sign out when they’re finished using a service. “But when using public computers like in a cybercafe or library, remember that you may still be signed into any services you’ve been using even after you close the browser. So when using a public computer, be sure to sign out by clicking on your account photo or email address in the top right corner and selecting Sign out. If you use public computers often, use 2-step verification to help keep your account safe, and be extra careful to sign out of your accounts and shut down your browser when you have finished using the web,” according to the Google Safety Center.

51. If you get an email from someone that is not in your contacts, don’t open it.

If you receive an email from a source or individual you don’t recognize, don’t open it, and definitely avoid clicking any links or file attachments. The Hubbard Township Police Department in Ohio suggests, “Delete email from unknown sources. Watch out for files attached to e-mails, particularly those with an ‘exe’ extension-even if people you know sent them to you. Some files transport and distribute viruses and other programs that can permanently destroy files and damage computers and Web sites. Do not forward e-mail if you are not completely sure that any attached files are safe.” 

52. Use A Password And An Additional Security Measure To Protect Yourself From Hackers.

Two-factor authentication is an additional layer of security that provides protection in the event that a hacker guesses or cracks your password. Two-factor authentication requires a second verification step, such as the answer to a secret question or a personal identification number (PIN). You should opt for two-factor authentication when given an option. “Some websites, such as Google, will text you a code when you log in to verify your identity, while others have small devices that you can carry around to generate the code. Authenticator apps are also available on all major smartphone platforms. Other types of two-factor authentication do exist as well, so look in the settings of your banking, shopping, and e-mail hosts for the option,” explains the Webroot Threat Blog. Twitter: @Webroot

53. Don’t take everything you read as the truth.

This tip is important for much beyond data protection, such as protecting your financial assets, your reputation, and perhaps most importantly, your personal confidence or self-worth. Too many people have fallen victim to scams online, by buying into false claims and promises of vast accumulation of wealth. Michael Daniel, on The White House Blog, advises, “Be cautious about what you receive or read online – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” The best-case scenario is you lose a few bucks buying into a pyramid scheme that will never net you any profits; worst-case, your personal information is sold and your identity is stolen. Twitter: @WhiteHouse

55. It’s important to use secure websites for sensitive transactions.

When you’re conducting a financial transaction or sharing other sensitive information, always use a secure website to do so. Secure Socket Layers (SSL) is a commonly used website security protocol that provides additional protection for data as it’s transmitted through the Internet. You can tell if you’re using a secure website by looking at the beginning of the URL. Those beginning with https:// are secure. “Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox display a padlock icon to indicate that the website is secure, as it also displays https:// in the address bar. When a user connects to a website via HTTPS, the website encrypts the session with a Digital Certificate,” explains Instant SSL. Twitter: @Comodo_SSL

56. If you click on links in emails, it can leave your computer vulnerable to viruses.

Most everyone gets the occasional email from their bank, financial institution, or similar accounts and services. But to be safe, you should always open a browser window and type the URL in the address bar, rather than click on links in emails. Why? Phishing emails are one of the most common ways hackers obtain personal information, tricking users into inadvertently handing over their login credentials to bank accounts, credit cards, and other accounts where they can glean further information, make unauthorized purchases, or even steal your identity. “Don’t get caught by phishers. Phishing is when you get an email or a social media message that looks like it’s coming from a legitimate place such as a bank or social networking site. If you click on a link in the message, you’re taken to a website that looks legitimate but could be run by criminals trying to trick you into signing in with your username and password so they can capture that information. Your best bet is not to click on the link but rather type the web address (such as mybank.com) into your browser window and go to the site that way,” the Google Safety Center recommends.

57. Be Careful Of What You Post Online.

Any information you enter on social networking websites, accounts, or any other website could potentially be up for grabs in the event of a data breach. In general, the information you put online contributes to your online reputation which can impact your chances of securing employment and getting into college as well as create many problems if it is unfavorable. Monitoring your own personal internet activity will help identify sensitive info that should not be publicly available so they can take action and have them removed from public sites like Facebook, Twitter etc… Microsoft suggests searching all variations with our name (which we often neglect), avoid search terms such as driver’s license number or Social Security numbers because these are easily found out by hackers who might use this info against us at some point). You’ll also want to check sites frequented frequently plus social media networks so that when necessary their profiles can be cleaned up.

58. If you download something, make sure it’s from a trustworthy website.

Websites like peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms are not only illegal, but they’re often rife with malware. Avoid downloading files from any website that you don’t trust completely. “According to a press release released this morning, the research found that of the 30 top pirate sites, ‘90% contained malware and other ‘Potentially Unwanted Programs’ designed to deceive or defraud unwitting viewers.’ The ‘Potentially Unwanted Programmes’ category is rather broad and includes popups and ads that link to download managers. In addition, the report links one-third of the sites to credit card fraud. ‘The rogue sites are also rife with credit card scams, with over two-thirds (67%) of the 30 sites containing credit card fraud,’ the press release states,” per a May 2014 report on BeforeItsNews.com.

59. Use a disposable email address to have the emails sent there deleted after being read.

A disposable email account is one created solely for a specific purpose that you’ll never use again or for any other account or purpose. “We live in a world where there are so many things that are disposable and email addresses can be added to that list. With the many free online email accounts that take just a few minutes to set up, it’s easy to create an email address that can be disposed of after it has served its purpose. There are many instances where such a disposable email will make sense. Examples include short-term projects, an email address specific to one online application (such as Facebook or Twitter,) for testing purposes, etc; basically, anytime you are unsure of the period of use, like when you decide to take on numerous free software trials,” GetApp explains. Twitter: @GetApp

60. It’s worth investing in a mobile security system.

Some online services offer secure mobile access options, enabling users to access services without exposing login credentials. “Keep sensitive personal information and bank account numbers/passwords off your phone. Some banks offer secure mobile access without having to expose your account information or passwords,” says Bank of America. Twitter: @BofA_News

61. Opt Out Of Ad Tracking.

An article on MakeUseOf addresses the issues that arise from ad tracking online: “Advertising is a huge business. We’ve written before about how online ads are used to target you and this goes even further with social media ads. You have to expect a level of this behavior while using the Internet, but there are ways to limit how much information is collected about you.” For tips on how to opt out of ad tracking on Windows devices, click here. Twitter: @MakeUseOf

62. Always log out of your browser after you’re done using it.

Another useful tip from MakeUseOf, this advice suggests that the common practice of ‘remembering passwords’ in browsers is a dangerous practice. Indeed, should someone gain access to your computer or mobile device, they’d be able to easily access any accounts for which you’ve stored login credentials in your browser. While it may make logging in more convenient, it’s a risky habit in terms of data protection. “Keep an eye out for these pop-ups and be sure to deny them.” Twitter: @MakeUseOf

Much like using the same password for multiple accounts, using the same email address for every account is a recipe for disaster. That’s not to say that you can’t use the same email address more than once, but a good strategy is to use a different email address for different contexts, such as one for personal accounts, one for business-related accounts, one for online retail accounts, and so on. Rich from Securosis says, “One of my favorites is to use different email accounts for different contexts. A lot of security pros know this, but it’s not something we have our less technical friends try. Thanks to the ease of webmail, and most mail applications’ support for multiple email accounts, this isn’t all that hard. Keeping things simple, I usually suggest 4-5 different email accounts: your permanent address, your work address, an address for buying online when you don’t trust the store, an address for trusted retailers, and an address for email subscriptions.” For more suggestions on the types of accounts to use with each email account, click here. Twitter: @securosis

63. Create a Gmail account for long-term projects, and use that instead of your main email address.

GetApp.com also offers a list of compelling reasons for maintaining multiple email accounts, suggesting creating a dedicated email account for a long-term project. That way, should you need to hand over the work or the position to someone else, you can simply pass along the login credentials rather than worry about forwarding emails for weeks and months to come. “If you are engaged in a long-term contract or project, having an email address dedicated to that specific project makes sense if you are ever transferred or moved jobs. You can just hand over the email address and password to your replacement.” Twitter: @GetApp

64. Take a look at your online presence. Make sure it’s up to date and reflects you well.

Akin to evaluating your online reputation, taking stock of your digital footprint involves investigating your online presence, but finding old accounts that you no longer use. “With your digital information scattered everywhere over the course of a lifetime, it’s important to think about what valuable information you have where. For example, how many websites are storing your credit card information? How many have up-to-date card numbers and expiration dates? Where do you have important documents, files, and videos across the web? You can start by making a list and noting the types of sensitive data associated with each site. If there are sites you no longer use, you might want to consider deleting your account profiles,” explains Unisys. Twitter: @unisyscorp

65. Don’t use your social media credentials to sign in on any site other than the one you are trying to access.

Third-party sites are becoming popular, but you should be careful about using your Facebook or LinkedIn account to sign up for them. Doing so can jeopardize your privacy.

66. When you’re browsing the web, be careful not to visit any categories known for malware.

This is a difficult tip to adequately describe in a relatively small number of words, but use caution anytime you’re searching for any topic known for spam or malware. This often happens with extremely popular search topics, such as pharmaceuticals, celebrities, and adult-oriented content. Because so many people search for these topics, it’s easy for hackers to set up websites that are essentially fake, designed solely to elicit clicks and execute malicious files. “Googling your favorite celebrities can be a dangerous business if you don’t recognize the sites you are clicking on. Many Google results of famous celebrity names lead to infecting your PC with malware and viruses,” according to this article on PopSugar. Twitter: @POPSUGARTech

67. Be sure to avoid sending passwords or account login credentials when using public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

“Never, ever send account and password information over an open (unsecured) wireless connection. You are broadcasting to everyone within the radius of your wireless signal, which can be several hundred feet, all of your personal information and account information. They can use this to compromise your accounts (e.g. email, financial, system/application access), steal your identity, or commit fraud in your name,” warns the Office of the Chief Information Officer at The Ohio State University. Twitter: @TechOhioState

68. Make sure to store your most sensitive data in a secure location.

Instead of backing up all your data in the cloud, particularly a cloud storage provider with security measures you’re not completely confident in, consider backing up your most sensitive information locally or on a removable storage device, you can keep under tight wraps. “I doubt there’s such a thing as real privacy on the internet, so personally I wouldn’t trust storing my top secret files in the cloud. Call it paranoia, but identity theft is on the rise and I just don’t want to risk any of that. In any case, we probably don’t have to look at our most sensitive data through the cloud on a 24/7 basis. My advice is to keep only those files that you need to access frequently and avoid putting up documents containing passwords for your various online accounts or personally identifiable information (PII) such as your credit card numbers, national identification number, home address, etc. If you must include this information in your files, make sure to encrypt them before you upload,” says Michael Poh in an article on Hongkiat. Twitter: @hongkiat

Frequent password changes have long been advised and offered in security circles, but the practice’s efficacy has come into question in recent years. “Security expert Bruce Schneier points out that in most cases today attackers won’t be passive. If they get your bank account login, they won’t wait two months hanging around but will transfer the money out of your account right away. In the case of private networks, a hacker might be more stealthy and stick around eavesdropping, but he’s less likely to continue to use your stolen password and will instead install backdoor access. Regular password changes won’t do much for either of those cases. (Of course, in both instances, it’s critical to change your password as soon as the security breach is found and the intruder blocked.),” says an article on NBC News. Twitter: @NBCNews

69. You should use a cloud service that has encryption to protect your data.

While cloud storage makes for an ideal backup solution, it can also be more prone to hackers if you’re not careful about the cloud services you choose. Victoria Ivey, in an article on CIO.com, suggests encrypting the data you store in the cloud or using a cloud provider that encrypts your data for you. “There are some cloud services that provide local encryption and decryption of your files in addition to storage and backup. It means that the service takes care of both encrypting your files on your own computer and storing them safely on the cloud. Therefore, there is a bigger chance that this time no one — including service providers or server administrators — will have access to your files (the so-called “zero-knowledge” privacy). Among such services are Spideroak and Wuala.” Twitter: @CIOonline

70. Make sure your email provider is safe and reputable.

Much like not all cloud storage providers are created equal, neither are email providers. Inc.com interviews Patrick Peterson, Patrick Peterson, the founder and CEO of San Mateo, California-based email security firm Agari, about data protection, password management, and choosing safe service providers. “Be sure yours provides proper security. ‘There’s been technology development that stops people from impersonating your ISP, your bank, or your travel site,” Peterson says. “You need to make sure your email provider uses technology like DMARC to stop that phishing. The good news is that Google does it, Yahoo does it, Microsoft supports it, AOL supports it, so if you’re on one of those, you’re on your way to minimizing your risk.’” Twitter: @WillYakowicz

71. Data Protection Following a Data Breach

After a data breach, change your passwords immediately.

If a company through which you have an account has suffered a data breach, immediately change your password. An article on ConsumerReports.org discusses the JPMorgan Chase data breach, offering tips for consumers to take steps to protect their data after a breach. “We still recommend online and mobile banking, because it allows you to watch your account in real-time from almost anywhere. Yes, it’s now clear that Internet banking is not impervious to hacking, but ‘the convenience you get from banking digitally greatly supersedes any security risk,’ said Al Pascual, head of fraud and security research at Javelin Strategy and Research, a California-based financial services industry consulting firm. As part of your monitoring, watch out for changes to your debit card PIN.” Twitter: @consumerreports

72. Check to see if a breach has actually occurred.

There are many opportunists who use the likelihood of a data breach to trick unassuming consumers into actually handing over their passwords and other information when a data breach hasn’t actually occurred. Before responding to any requests to update your login info through a link sent to you in an email, visit the company’s website by typing the URL into your address bar and confirming the breach occurred, or call the company to verify the information. “First, make sure that your card information has actually been compromised. If you receive a notification via email requesting ‘confirmation’ of your card information, don’t respond – it could be an opportunistic fraudster. Check the merchant’s website for news about a breach or reach out to customer support for details,” says the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). Twitter: @joxman

73. If you need a new card, please request one.

If a data breach has affected a company that has issued you a card, such as a bank-issued or retail store-issued credit card, cancel your existing card and request a new one. This action makes the previous card number invalid, so if it has been stolen by hackers, it is no longer usable and your finances are secure. “You may be able to do this through your issuer’s customer service department, or through the lost and stolen card department. Some companies will charge a small fee for a replacement card, but most will swap cards for you for free. When you request a new credit card, your old card and its number are destroyed. That means that if a thief tries to use your card in the future, the card will be declined. You will have to wait for the new card to arrive in the mail, so make sure you have money to pay for your purchases during this time,” says CT Watchdog. Twitter: @ctwatchdog

74. Consider A Credit Freeze.

This is a major step, but one that can be especially helpful if you suspect or know your identity has been stolen. It’s possible to restrict access to your credit reports, meaning that thieves who are assuming your identity and attempting to open accounts in your name won’t be able to do so. “Also known as a security freeze, this tool lets you restrict access to your credit report, which in turn makes it more difficult for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name. That’s because most creditors need to look at your credit report before approving a new account. If they can’t see your file, they may not extend the credit. To place a freeze on your credit reports, contact each of the nationwide credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You will need to supply your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and other personal information. Fees vary based on where you live, but commonly range from $5 to $10,” according to a Consumer Information article from the Federal Trade Commission. Twitter: @FTC

75. Free Credit Monitoring Is Helpful.

If a major corporation suffers a data breach and your account information has been compromised, the company may offer affected consumers free credit monitoring services. “If your personal information is hacked, the company that was victimized will probably offer you credit monitoring. (Although a Chase bank spokeswoman told CNBC that credit monitoring would not be provided to customers affected by this week’s breach because no financial information was compromised.) If it does, go ahead and take it,” says Bob Sullivan in an article on CNBC. Twitter: @CNBC

76. If your friends are telling you that they’ve been getting emails from your account, don’t ignore it.

One of the most common ways people learn they’ve been hacked is when their friends or family members report receiving an odd email or social media message or even seeing strange updates posted on social media profiles. It’s easy to ignore these warnings and assume it’s some sort of fluke or someone who simply changed the “reply-to” when sending a spam email, but this is often a sure indicator that your account has been compromised. Don’t ignore these tips. According to Consumer Affairs, “Anytime you receive a new “friend” request from someone who’s already on your Facebook friends list, the simplest thing to do is send your real friend a message asking if they know about their apparent double.” Twitter: @ConsumerAffairs

77. It’s important to know what the warning signs are of a data breach.

There are many possible indications that an account has been hacked, your identity stolen, or your data breached in some other way. Educate yourself on the warning signs of a potential breach and create positive habits for monitoring your personal data security to identify potential attacks or breaches before they escalate to devastation. Read up on data protection tips (such as the guide you’re reading right now) and on information outlining the common warning signs of a data breach or hack, such as this list of “11 Sure Signs You’ve Been Hacked” from InfoWorld. Twitter: @infoworld

78. If your account is compromised, take the necessary steps to regain control of it.

All too frequently, if one account has been hacked, your data is no longer secure on other accounts using the same login information, particularly if you use the same password for multiple services. “Regaining control of a hacked email account can be tougher. You’ll have to contact the email provider and prove that you’re the true account holder. Of course, if the hacker changes your password, you can’t use your regular email to contact the provider. It’s important to have more than one email address and make each the alternate contact address for the other. Did you use your email address as a username on other sites? That’s certainly a common practice. But if you also used the same password that you used for the hacked email account, those accounts are now compromised as well. Even if you didn’t use the same password, you could still be in trouble. Think about this. If you forget a website password, what do you do? Right—you click to get a password reset link sent to your email address. A smart hacker who has control of the email account will quickly seek your other accounts, social media, perhaps, or worse, shopping and banking accounts,” explains Neil J. Rubenking in an article at PCMag. Twitter: @neiljrubenking

79. It is important to find out the root of the problem in order to fix it.

If your account has been hacked, your data lost, or your device is stolen, consider it a learning opportunity. Find out exactly what went wrong and how you could have protected your data by taking better precautions. “While you are fixing things, it’s a good time to take a step back, and ask yourself a more basic question: What was the reason for the breach? If it was your bank account, the answer may be obvious. In other cases, such as e-mail, it can be for a host of reasons — from using it to send spam, to requesting money from your contacts, to getting password resets on other services. An attacker may even be trying to gain access to your business. Knowing why you were targeted can also sometimes help you understand how you were breached,” says Mat Honan at Wired.

80. Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio helps information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

Keeping your passwords, financial information, and other personal data safe is important for both companies and individuals as they are important methods of securing information and also ensure data security. 

Social engineering is becoming more common and sophisticated. With hackers devising clever ways to fool company employees, companies need to use due diligence in order to stay two steps ahead of cybercriminals.

Social engineering attacks usually involve some form of psychological manipulation, and they’re tricky to prevent, and these are the most common form of social engineering used by hackers. 

We wanted to educate companies, employees, and end-users on how to better recognize social engineering efforts. We asked a panel of data security experts about the most common attacks being used today.

“What are the common social engineering attacks made on companies, and how can they be prevented?”

Here are a couple of the top insights from our experts:

  1. “We’re launching an initiative to make sure all job postings for entry-level positions have been reviewed by HR and that they meet EEOC compliance.”
  2. “Our company is working on making diversity training mandatory for managers, as well as providing unconscious bias training during onboarding.”

Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Social Engineering Techniques 

One way social engineering can occur is through email. You might receive an email that looks like it came from a credible company, but if you open the attachment or respond with your username and password, these devices are easily compromised.

What is social engineering attack?

Symantec Security Response’s technical director says that bad guys are not typically trying to exploit the vulnerabilities in Windows, but instead they target you through social engineering. This means it doesn’t matter if your computer is a PC or Mac because 97% of malware attacks try to trick users into opening malicious attachments.

Phishing

Phishing is one of the most common social engineering attacks, and it usually comes in two forms. Phishing or spear-phishing are both types of this attack based on current events disasters tax season.

Here are some of the worst examples of social engineering hacking:

Scammers are sending phishing emails claiming to come from a real law firm called ‘Baker & McKenzie’ and telling you that you’re scheduled for court. If the link is clicked, malware will be downloaded and installed on your computer.

Taxpayers are waiting to hear about their refunds before the April 15th deadline. Cybercriminals know this, and they’re using social engineering tactics to trick taxpayers into opening a Word file that contains ransomware.

A new phishing campaign was discovered through CareerBuilder. The attacker uploaded malicious attachments instead of résumés, forcing the job portal to act as a delivery vehicle for phishing emails.

The attacker used a known job site to target email recipients. The malware was deployed in stages.

The attack starts by submitting a malicious Word document (named resume.doc or cv.doc) to the job listing on Career Builder, and when someone submits an attachment to the posting, they will get notified of it.

A police department in Durham, New Hampshire was hit by ransomware last June when an employee clicked on a legitimate-looking email. Ransomware has also infected other departments, including Swansea and Tewksbury, MA; the Dickson County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s office; and more.

Here are some examples of social engineering scams:

One of the most common banking scams is a phishing email. Hackers send you an email that looks like it’s coming from your bank, but really they’re just trying to steal your info.

The Carbanak heist was reported on extensively in Feb 2015. It involved 30 countries and nearly a billion dollars worth of lost funds.

When the Carbanak scam happened, spear-phishing emails were sent to employees that infected workstations. The hackers tunneled deeper into bank systems until they controlled employee terminals and made cash transfers.

A scammer would send an email with a link that looked like it was coming from someone in the company. The links contained malicious code which infected all of your computers, and they recorded everything you did to learn how things were done at your organization. Then when they had mastered what goes on there, they commandeered them for their own purposes, including ATM hits, but also artificially inflating bank balances so customers’ balance went up by $1,000 or more before taking out some money.

This is a scam that will do damage to your computer. It’s common for companies who still use faxes, such as document management and insurance firms.

Dropbox Link Scam: Just wait until you see what’s in Dropbox.

One of the phishing emails was a fake Dropbox password reset that would lead users to an outdated browser message. When clicked, it launched malware.

Another email had a Dropbox link with CryptoWall ransomware.

A phony link, confirming your complaint is a scam. They want you to complain about something else, so they’ll have more information from you.

The company has used this for years. 

This is a scam. Vin Diesel has not died and this will be the link to your death.

This is a common trend. When celebrities die, some people will try and exploit their death with fake videos or links that lead to scam pages.

The other day, my staff attempted to social engineer me and catch me in a prank.

They attempted to get my credentials by contacting me. I received an email from the Director of HR that looked like it was sent from them, but they were actually trying to trick me and steal information.


HR@knowbe4.com

10:45 AM (1 hour ago)

to: stus

Stu,

I saw a user on the company’s security forum, who goes by “securitybull72” make some negative comments about our executive compensation and you, claiming that you are overpaid and incompetent. He gave details of his disagreements with us from a financial standpoint which may have inadvertently revealed confidential information to other people.

Some of the replies to this post were negative, but I understand that he has every right to his opinion. He should have expressed it through proper channels before posting on social media.

The first time I saw this, it reminded me of something. Here’s the link.

Could you please talk to him?

Thanks.


Nine out of ten would fall for this. I was lucky that when I hovered over the link, it said that it had been created by me – a simulated phishing attack.

Prevention is the best way to avoid any issues with diversity in your workplace. The most important thing you can do is make sure that there are no barriers for anyone trying to get a job, and then monitor how well they’re being treated once they’ve been hired.

Train users with an effective training program that routinely uses an integrated anti-phishing tool to make sure they are thinking about security.

Have a backup plan in case something goes wrong and make sure to test it regularly.

Some of the more common ways to break into a computer system are…

PHISHING

Phishing has become a problem in the last few years and it’s hard to fight against. Attackers usually send well-crafted emails with attachments that carry malicious payloads. They often use Tor or something like that, making them difficult to find.

RANSOMWARE

Recently, there has been an increase in the use of phishing emails with ransomware. The attackers often send out attachments that look like they are important files, but actually contain a virus.

Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself from these dirty schemes:

  • Know your rights and know what is expected of you.
  • Don’t give personal information like bank account numbers, driver’s license numbers,s or social security numbers.
  • If you do not know the sender, never open an email in a spam folder or from someone you don’t know.
  • When you receive an email from a sender who is unknown to you, do not open the attachments they have sent.
  • To protect your computer, use reputable antivirus software like Kaspersky or Symantec.
  • Back up your data on an external hard drive or in the cloud.
  • When backing up, make sure to disconnect your backup drive from the computer. Current ransomware is known to encrypt both your primary and secondary drives.
  • The reason they keep using this type of blackmailing attack is that people are giving in. To try to get your data back, go see a professional.

How to prevent social engineering

  • Humans are the weakest link in a company. Companies should have at least bi-annual training for each user group so that everyone is up to date on new cyber attacks.
  • Employees should be tested by having an outside party conduct a social engineering test. This kind of testing will make them more aware and help to protect their data.
  • In response to the increase in these attacks, a number of security firms have new defenses that can block phishing attempts before they even reach your company’s internal servers. AppRiver is one such service.
  • If they get through, the best way to stop them is probably an endpoint protection system that can block the latest malware.
  • Cyphort’s IDSIPS system is a good last line of defense against known attacks and to detect how far they have invaded the network by signature, behavior, or community knowledge.

Organizations should know that when it comes to social engineering attacks, they need to be aware that email is the number one way to attack a company or individual. It’s used by everyone, even older employees who are less likely to be on social media and more prone to opening an email.

If an email is opened, the message has to be compelling enough for them to click on a link or open up any attachments. There are many strategies that have been successful including:

  • Fake email addresses are often used when sending out these types of emails. They may look very professional or seem to be from a company that the reader would trust.
  • A lot of companies are experiencing fake invoices, blocked payments, deliveries, or faxes.
  • Emails are designed to scare the recipient into clicking on a link in order for them to receive more information about whatever it is they’re trying to get you interested in.

Most companies put all of their defense efforts into software and hardware solutions to keep these threats from ever reaching employees. But this approach is flawed because most people connect the internet through email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or web pages at home or on mobile devices. Few companies also include employee education about identifying threats such as mouse-over skills and understanding the anatomy of an email address or domain name.

To prevent social engineering attacks, it is important to identify them.

When it comes to data theft, the most common source is from within. In 2013, $143 billion was lost as a result of this.

Social engineering is hard to prevent, but there are ways of detecting it. For instance, if you have a number of sensitive files and someone downloads them after hours or shares the file with others outside their group, that should be identified as suspicious behavior.

Article: A new study conducted by the United States Department of Labor found that workers who receive paid sick leave were less likely to go to work while they’re ill.

Today, there are many ways an attacker will try and compromise a corporate network, but in the end, it is the individual who has the most to lose. Attackers take whatever means necessary to break into networks and steal information; one of which is social engineering. Social engineering was responsible for some major attacks, including Sony’s 2014 hack as well as The White House last year. There are two common types of these attacks: phishing (using email) or vishing (voice-phishing).

One of the most common ways to get hacked is through a phishing attack. An individual will open an email that seems harmless but actually has malicious code in it, or they’ll download something from somewhere with malware on it.

Vishing is when someone pretends to be a company and calls you over the phone. With some information about your name or birthday, they may get all of your login credentials.

To protect a company, it’s important to teach employees what they should be looking for when receiving phone calls or emails. When an individual receives a call asking for information, he or she must establish the identity of the person without giving any hints about their personal details.

It’s important to know the basics in order to protect your digital identity from social engineering attacks.

  • Be careful when you get an email that: urges the user to provide personal or financial information with high urgency. Threatens the user if they don’t respond quickly.
  • The scammer will ask for personal or financial information in a high-pressure way, so be wary of anyone who seems too pushy.
  • Pop-ups are designed to scare the user into making an immediate purchase.
  • Is sent by unknown senders.
  • Keep a close eye on your bank account to make sure no unauthorized transactions have been made.
  • When you’re using public computers, don’t share personal information like passwords and credit card numbers.
  • Never click on links or download files from unknown senders.
  • If you’re going to make online transactions, be sure that the site is secure. You’ll know this if there’s a padlock next to it.
  • Never give out personal information over the phone, and never respond to emails asking for your account number or other important data.
  • Never send sensitive information such as personal and financial data through email.
  • When you get an email from a website that seems legitimate, watch out for links to web forms. Phishing websites are often exact replicas of legitimate ones.
  • Pop-ups can be dangerous and it’s important to never enter personal information or click on them.
  • It’s important to have the right defense systems in place, such as spam filters and anti-virus software.
  • Users of social networks should never post personal information or download uncertified applications. They also shouldn’t click on links and videos from unknown origins.

Keith Casey

social engineering attacks

@CaseySoftware

Keith Casey currently works as the director of product for Clarify.io, a company that helps make APIs easier and more consistent.

The most common form of social engineering attack is when hackers impersonate someone in the company, like a CEO or other high-level executive.

“I just need.” Basically, someone calls the company claiming to represent the phone company, internet provider, etc., and starts asking questions. They claim to have a simple problem or know about a problem that can be fixed quickly, but they just need one little thing. It could be as innocuous as asking for a username or someone’s schedule or as blatant as asking for a password. Once the attacker has this information, they call someone else in the company and use the new information to refine their attack. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Many people are tricked into giving away company information by pretending to be an employee. They get access to email accounts, phone records, and travel itineraries.

The best way to protect yourself when someone calls is not to give them your information. Instead, ask for their phone number and offer to call them back at that number.

You should never give your credit card number to someone who calls you. Call the company’s customer service line and they will help.

Joe Ferrara

social engineering attacks

@WombatSecurity

Joe Ferrara is the CEO of Wombat Security Technologies, and he’s been working in technology for 20 years. Recently Joe was a finalist for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, as well as receiving a CEO award from CEO World. He has spoken at numerous information security conferences around the world, including RSA Europe, CISO Executive Network forum, ISSA International., etc.

Here are some tips on how to protect against social engineering attacks.

Social engineering is a phenomenon that exploits human psychology to gain access to buildings, systems, and data. It’s so advanced now that technology solutions and policies alone cannot protect critical resources.

Companies should:

  • Make sure to take a baseline assessment of your employees’
  • Let employees know why they need to be discreet when it comes to company information.
  • A good way to start is by targeting the most risky employees andor common behaviors.
  • Give employees the power to make decisions about security instead of relying on a central authority.
  • Interactive training can be used to help increase knowledge retention. With short sessions that are convenient for employees’ busy schedules, these training will provide proven effective learning science principles.
  • Send automated reminders to employees about training deadlines.
  • With these reports, executives can easily see when knowledge is improving over time.

Companies need to focus on the human side of security more than just investing in technology defenses. Companies should be training their employees about current threats and how to avoid them.

Companies should use social engineering attacks to test their employees, and then train them on how to combat these types of scenarios. Having a security program in place can help protect your company from data breaches.

Sanjay Ramnath

social engineering attacks

@Barracuda

Sanjay Ramnath is the Senior Director of Product Management for Barracuda, a company that provides powerful and easy-to-use IT solutions.

When it comes to social engineering, I recommend…

The following is a list of paraphrases for the given article:
-I had no idea what was going on in my company.
-We were always looking at ways that we could motivate our employees more and different things would work better than others but they never lasted too long. We wanted something stable and reliable so people didn’t feel like their jobs were constantly being threatened with change.
-In hindsight, if I knew then what I know now about how much an employee’s livelihood affects his or her performance, there are some changes that might have helped me hire better salespeople from the beginning instead of just assuming pay plus commission bonuses would be enough motivation.With my first salespeople, all those tests made them less motivated because they felt as though every time we changed something new he only one who suffered financially which affected their productivity considerably.More recently when hiring someone into a management position where responsibilities include managing

Companies need to find a way to use social media for their business. They can’t just block these sites from the network.

Training is important, but it’s not enough. There are many ways to mitigate the risks of social media while allowing them to be used; for example, creating a code of conduct that everyone agrees on and having someone monitor what employees post online.

With Bring Your Own Device, network administrators are under a lot of pressure to protect the company’s network of devices that were not created with it in mind.

Social media is a zero-trust environment. You don’t know who you’re talking to, and often people’s guards are lowered when they use it.

In a case like social engineering, where people are subject to spear-phishing attacks and other scams before they even reach the network, it is good to have spam firewall and web filter in place as well as training for employees on how not fall prey.

byod is a growing problem, so it’s important for companies to have security solutions in place.

Alex Markowitz

social engineering attacks

@ChelseaTech

Alex Markowitz is a Systems Engineer for Chelsea Technologies, and he has 10 years of IT experience in the financial sector.

To prevent social engineering attacks, I suggest that companies…

The Power of No.

Google the top social engineering attacks. What do you get? Stories about Trojan Horses, phishing attacks, malware injections, redirects, spam, and people giving up way too much personal information on public websites. The surface area for social engineering attacks is as big as all the employees and users in your corporation. The best social engineering attack will involve nothing but an unnoticed slip or mistake from one user. I am going address the very specific aspect of internal security and leave you with the following: the most important protection you need in your company is the ability to say, “No.”

It is important to know the history of attacks, but that will not protect you. The attackers are always ahead of those who defend against them. A social engineer has an endless well of creativity and should be treated as such–technology changes, but humans do not.

I have noticed that there are always executives, managers, and other powerful people who want to be treated special. They refuse to follow the rules because they think it doesn’t apply to them or their family members.

They want things that will make their professional lives, even easier than we, in IT, struggle to make it. Unfortunately, in IT, we are in the habit of saying, “Yes.” I have seen directors and CTOs create special exceptions for other high-ranking users to garner favors and popularity, but also because they are scared for their own position. This is lazy; this is arrogant; this is stupid, but this is most of all, human. We human beings are the system attacked by social engineering, and then we leave ourselves open by falling prey to our insecurities, giving an attacker an invitation to storm our gates. All IT needs to learn how to say is “No,” and IT management needs to be strong and stubborn for the good of a company. One of the best ways to protect your company from social engineers is to learn how to say, “No.” Keep politics and climbing the office ladder out of IT security.

I know I am addressing a very specific aspect of IT, but one of the best ways to shrink your attack surface is to learn how to say, “No.” It takes strong leadership and determination from IT management to keep our protection streamlined. Only after our protection, is streamlined can we accurately educate our users and create a secure infrastructure. Every individual exception opens a Pandora’s Box for social engineers to find (or even just stumble upon) and exploit.

Robert Harrow

social engineering attacks

@robert_harrow

Robert Harrow is a credit card, home insurance, and health insurance researcher. He’s interested in security because of the data breaches he studied.

The biggest threat to companies today is people who are skilled at manipulating others.

The most common type of social engineering is a phishing scam. In 2013, there were reported to be $5.9 billion in losses from close to 450,000 attacks.

Spam filters are useful for employees, but they don’t work with spear phishing. These attacks are less frequent but more targeted to specific high-value individuals — likely CEOs and CFOs. Spam filters can’t prevent these types of attacks.

It is important to educate employees about phishing and not open any e-mails that sound suspicious.

Steven J.J. Weisman, Esq.

social engineering attacks

@Scamicide

Steven J.J. Weisman is a lawyer and college professor, who teaches at Bentley University about White Collar Crime.

I advise companies to do the following in order to prevent social engineering attacks:

In major data breaches, the malware generally has to be downloaded into a company’s computers from an outside source. Usually, this is done through social engineering tactics that trick employees into clicking on links or downloading attachments.

They use an email marketing campaign to persuade employees.

  • Most of them try to make it look like the email is from a friend, but they’ve actually hacked their account.
  • They make it appear that the email comes from someone within the company, and they may have gotten their name or email address through a variety of databases like LinkedIn.
  • They gather information on targets by looking at their social media accounts, where they may have posted personal info that a hacker can use to contact them and trick them into clicking on a link.
  • The link is to a website where you can watch free pornography.
  • The link is to provide photos or gossip about celebrities.
  • The link is to provide sensational and compelling photographs or videos of an important news event.
  • The notification came from someone in IT security at the company.

These are just a few of the more common tactics that hackers use to penetrate company networks.

The best way to stop these people is by preventing them from getting jobs in the first place.

Train employees on my motto, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” No one should ever provide personal information to anyone in response to a request until they have verified that the request is legitimate. No one should ever click on any link without confirming that it is legitimate.

It’s important to teach employees about the dangers of phishing and spear-phishing schemes, so they can be more vigilant when responding to emails.

It is important to keep up-to-date on the latest anti-virus and anti-malware software, but hackers are always one step ahead.

Employees should only have access to the information they need in order to do their job.

Make sure you use two-factor authentication and strong passwords that are changed on a regular basis.

Aurelian Neagu

social engineering attacks

@HeimdalSecurity

Aurelian Neagu, a technical writer with 6 years of experience in the cyber security field at Bitdefender and Heimdal Security, has been studying how technology changes human relationships within society.

A type of attack on a company is to use social engineering.

Diversity can come from both inside and outside the company.

Malicious insiders use social engineering to commit fraud.

According to PwC’s survey, 21% of current or former employees use social engineering for various reasons. Some do it just because they are curious and others out of revenge.

Social engineering methods can include:

  • Hacking into a company and stealing their passwords.
  • Using confidential information as a bargaining chip for trying to find another job or better position within the company.
  • Leaving the company and using confidential information for malicious purposes.

Cyber crime and hacking

  • Malicious outsiders try to trick employees into giving them information. They can do that by contacting someone over the phone, sending an email, or coming in person.
  • Social engineering relies on the confidence that cyber criminals have, and also their trust in reputable companies.
  • One way this information can be used is to gain the victim’s trust, which would then give them sensitive information.
  • Once the malware is inside, it can act in various ways. For example, if someone sends an employee a malicious email attachment like that before they open it and then clicks on ‘yes’ when asked to run or save the file (even though they don’t know what’s in there), their system could be compromised.
  • Cybercriminals use phishing to trick employees into giving up their credentials and sensitive information.

Social engineering can be used either to get information or infiltrate the company’s defenses and cause massive damage, as it happened in Target’s case in 2013.

In March 2015, there was a spear-phishing attack on Danish architecture firms.

With my first salespeople, I made the mistake of constantly testing pay and commission structure. I felt that with enough base pay and lucrative commissions, it would be enough motivation for them. With my first salespeople, I had this idea in mind: if they were paid well plus given high commissions and bonuses then their motivations wouldn’t need to change at all. But after giving some time to think about what happened over those few years- which led me back here again -it’s pretty clear that more is needed besides just compensation as an incentive behind building successful teams

How can you keep yourself from being social engineered?

  • The best way a company can protect itself from cyber security is to invest in educating its employees about it. If they know how to spot social engineering attempts and what the consequences are, they’ll be able to stop them before they happen.
  • Periodic cyber security assessments are necessary because companies change, grow, and evolve. When this happens, penetration testing should be carried out to find ways that can improve data safety across the organization.
  • For companies who haven’t done this yet, I always recommend that you define and implement a robust security policy. This is the type of investment worth making because it can have a huge impact on your organization by preventing cyber attacks.

Shobha Mallarapu

social engineering attacks

@anvayasolutions

Shobha Mallarapu is the president and CEO of Anvaya Solutions, Inc. The company trains employees on cyber security awareness in businesses around the world.

Companies are often attacked by social engineers who…

One of the most common scams is phishing, where an email impersonates a company or government organization to extract information from you. The hacker will use your login and password for sensitive accounts within the company, as well as hijack known emails by sending links that embed malware on your computer.

If someone calls you pretending to be a trusted source or authorized organization, they can make it seem like their call is something important and convince you to give them information that may hurt your company.

It’s important to remember that sharing too much information on social media can enable attackers to guess passwords or extract a company’s confidential information through posts by employees. Security Awareness is the key to preventing such incidents, and policies should be established with training for employees and measures like warnings or other disciplinary actions in place, especially for repeat offenders.

If you are not expecting an email, type the link address instead of clicking on it. Or, call a person to confirm that the email came from them before following any links or providing your personal information (phone number). The same principles apply to phone phishing attacks. Tell them you will call back and get their number by looking up the organization beforehand with Google Voice Lookup. If they do belong to a valid company, make sure to verify this over the phone before calling back.

Elvis Moreland

social engineering attacks

Elvis Moreland is a Computerworld magazine premier 100 IT leader and CISO.

The most common social engineering attack these days is…

The following are examples of paraphrases that do not match the original text. 

A spear-phishing attack is an email that seems to be from a company you know or trust but contains malicious content.

Countermeasure(s):

1. If you are not sure about the source of a link or attachment, do not open it. Report an unknown sender to your IT department.

2. If the email seems to be from a normal source, ask yourself “Why would they want me to open this link or attachment? Is that normal behavior?” If not, report it!

Before you send out any important email, check the source and content of it. If there is anything suspicious about the email or if you are not sure what to do with it, contact your IT security department.

There are many network security options for companies to protect themselves, including anti-spam filters and SMTP gateways with scanning or filtering mechanisms.

AV and firewalls are not enough to protect you from these types of attacks.

Greg Mancusi-Ungaro

social engineering attacks

@BrandProtect

Greg Mancusi-Ungaro is a passionate evangelist for emerging technologies, business practices, and customer-centricity. He has led marketing initiatives in the past with Active Risk, Savi Technologies, Sepaton Deltek Novell Ximian

Social engineering schemes in the past have included…

The stranded traveler scam is a social engineer sending an email to someone claiming they are in need of money. He or she will have access to your company’s emails and be able to create a convincing story for why they can’t use the company system.

A common social engineering attack outside of the business environment is to copy profiles, substitute headshots, and steal an entire online identity. Once they have a stolen identity, it’s only a matter of time before another malicious ask.

Social engineering schemes are the most sophisticated because they use your network to get inside. A social engineer can send you an email pretending to know someone in your company and asking for help getting a job, like sending their resume or cover letter.

Once a social engineer has gained the trust of one person, they’ll use that to gain access to other people or networks. Social engineers usually have their eyes on something bigger than what they’re targeting; it’s just an easy way for them to get what they want.

How can you stop social engineers from succeeding?
Article: What is happening with the Affordable Care Act and Congress right now?

As a company, the easiest way to protect your brand is by closely monitoring for unauthorized emails that use your logo. This will help you find out if someone has taken over one of your social domains and can be an indication of identity theft.

One of the easiest ways to reduce social engineering exposure is a simple way: if you’re not sure, don’t help. If they claim that they are your friend and want something from you, call them on their cell phone or email them using another account.

It might seem like common sense, but companies should invest in educating their employees about these and other risks. Just by raising awareness of the dangers, a lot of corporate risks will be reduced.

David Howard

social engineering attacks

David Howard has been a Certified Ethical Hacker since 2009 and is currently the founder of PPL Hack. David also offers free seminars across the country to teach small business owners how to protect their company data.

The most common types of social engineering attacks are phishing, vishing, and surfing.

As a Certified Ethical Hacker and founder of PPL HACK, I have done numerous intrusion attempts. One method is phishing email where you send out emails that look legitimate, but are actually trying to get the recipient to click on something or install some kind of malware.

One of the most common types of attack is called a wireless man in the middle. That’s when someone places their own WiFi access point inside your environment and all traffic goes through that person, who can then spy on it.

Oren Kedem

social engineering attacks

@BioCatch

With 15 years of experience in product management, Oren’s areas are web fraud detection and enterprise security. He has also served at various marketing positions for RSA (now part of EMC) and BMC covering the identify and access management solutions.

There are many common attacks on organizations, such as…

APTs are sophisticated attacks that involve two phases: reconnaissance and attack. Social engineering plays a big role in both of these phases.

Employees are tricked into thinking these attacks come from a trusted source. The attackers will call and email employees to perform actions that seem normal, such as approving transactions or sending contracts for signing.

The first step of an APT attack is reconnaissance. This can take months or even a year to complete, but the criminal patiently waits for this phase.

Social engineering is a type of attack where someone tries to convince you that it’s ok to install malicious software or open a web page. In one famous example, an HR administrator opened an excel sheet attached in an email from her boss with stats on employees’ salaries – but the spreadsheet was actually malware. A few months later, some code stolen from RSA was used as part of another social engineering phone call scam against Lockheed Martin.

So what can organizations do?

Make sure employees know the rules and have a clear understanding of what they’re supposed to do.

Don’t respond to unsolicited communications (email, phone) without verifying the person’s identity. The easiest way is to tell them you will call back and then verify their phone number.

Don’t ever open attachments or go to sites you don’t trust. Your company provides an “unsafe” computer that can be used for accessing any document, but it should never store sensitive data.

You should change your passwords and access them frequently, but unpredictably.

Article: There are many benefits of telecommuting, such as increased work-life balance, greater productivity for some jobs (such as graphic design), less stress on the environment from commuting traffic.

Share ‘war stories’ and industry experience with employees to help them become aware of the threats. They can’t be cautious if they are not aware of what’s out there.

Roberto Rodriguez

social engineering attacks

@HumanFirewalls

HumanFirewalls is an organization that offers security services for small-mid-sized companies. They offer a variety of different types of service, including Security Awareness Training which trains employees on how to recognize and respond to cyberattacks.

There are a few common types of social engineering attacks that companies need to be on the lookout for.

Phishing & Spear Phishing

Phishing emails are crafted to trick the user into downloading an attachment, clicking on a malicious link, or simply providing sensitive information. These emails can be sent out to an entire company without targeting specific people in that organization.

Cyber criminals are using phishing to break into organizations, and it is becoming more popular than ever. It was ranked #3 on the Verizon Report in 2014, showing that cybercriminals focus less on technology these days because they know how easy it can be to fool someone with social engineering tools like SET (Social Engineering Toolkit). Spam filters are great for stopping spam emails from getting through, but if an attacker knows what he or she is doing then you could easily get tricked by a phishing email. One perfect example would be receiving an email from your bank asking you to call a number provided in the email so they can change your ATM PIN – when really there’s no problem at all! The cyber criminal provides a number where he waits for people who follow his instructions and captures their audio video chat.

How to prevent it?

If a company is proactive about security, it will have a better awareness of the risks and how to reduce them. Security Awareness Training programs are especially helpful in making it easier for people to be aware of their surroundings.

Vishing (Voice and Phishing)

This is a very popular social-based attack that’s used in customer service departments. They might try to satisfy the customer over the phone and end up giving away information about possible targets, hours of operation, financial or personal information, even password resets.

How to prevent it?

You want to make sure that employees understand what information they can and cannot share. Technology such as NAC solutions limits the access of data without authorization.

Tailgating or Piggybacking

This is a social-based attack that involves an attacker without authorized access and an employee with a low level of awareness. The way it works is by having the unaware user, cooperate and provide the unauthorized person access to a restricted area. This is common in many organizations because there are always people such as delivery guys from different institutions dropping packages and interacting with unaware users, creating a level of comfort and making it a routine. Once again, technology such as swiping cards to get into elevators or open doors in big organizations not always work, and this is because all it takes is, “I forgot my badge, and I am late for a meeting. Would you mind?” To trick the user and gain access.

How to prevent it?

Security Awareness Training, where the user learns about company policies and how to avoid risky behavior in order to keep themselves safe.

Jayson Street

social engineering attacks

@JaysonStreet

Jayson is an Infosec Ranger at Pwnie Express, a well-known conference speaker, and author of the book “Dissecting the hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network.” Jayson has been with them since before they were acquired by General Dynamics Corp.

Here are some common social engineering attacks…

A common solution to all these problems is enhanced awareness and employee training. Companies need to include security practices as part of their job descriptions, train employees on how to think critically about suspicious activity, and then react appropriately when necessary.

One of the most common ways that hackers infiltrate your company is through spear phishing. They do this by sending emails to people in your network, making them seem like they are from someone you know and trust when really it’s a hacker pretending to be so.

2. The Rogue Technician: Stealthy social engineers often pretend to be technicians or delivery people, making it easy for them to walk right into the company and physically compromise the network.

3. Malicious Websites: Often, malicious websites are disguised as corporate or partner sites and will prompt visitors to update javaAdobe or install a specific plug-in.

Patricia Titus

social engineering attacks

@RUSecur

Patricia Titus has 20+ years of experience in security management, and she’s responsible for designing robust information security programs.

Titus recently served as the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Freddie Mac. In this position, he helped to protect information assets while transforming their security program.

Even with all these technical solutions, the weakest link is usually…

Humans should be the ones to protect against this problem, but they need rigorous training and testing in order for it to work.

Common social engineering is when someone tricks or cons, employees to give up information that leads them into getting access to systems and criminal behavior, such as fraud.

To prevent social engineering attacks, it’s important to keep in mind people, processes, and technology. The following steps should be taken into consideration:

People

  • Create a security awareness program for your employees. Make it interactive and interesting to keep them engaged.
  • Create a company-wide campaign to promote social engineering awareness. Train employees, partners, and vendors about the risks of it so they can be prepared.
  • Make sure you have a framework and program for high-trust employees.
  • The employees have access to the most sensitive information in order to do their jobs.
  • They have more of a focus on training and testing than other companies.
  • The company performs background checks periodically, including random drug tests and credit score verification.

Process

  • Identify any data that could be sensitive or cause harm if exposed to social engineering. Then, have a third party assess the security gaps.
  • Decide how to handle sensitive information.
  • Report back to senior management on the results of your social engineering tests both good and bad.
  • I should be testing my employees for social engineering techniques, so I can catch them in the act.

Technology

The technology selection can be very diverse and specific to the data you want to protect from social engineering. It may involve one or more of these programs, but is not limited to them:
– Data encryption
– Hashing algorithms

  • Identity and access management
  • A system to monitor and report security incidents or events.
  • The technology is not signature-based.
  • Proxy blocking is a good way to keep your company secure and also avoid spam.
  • We monitor all incoming and outgoing communication for our employees.

Greg Scott

social engineering attacks

@DGregScott

Greg Scott is a veteran of the IT industry. He started his own company after working at Digital Equipment Corporation but then was bought out by another firm during the dot-com bust.

One of the most common social engineering attacks I’ve seen is…

I get a lot of phishing emails and they seem to come from Amazon, asking for me to open their .zip or document file up. Or sometimes the first names in the email will match someone I know so it makes them more believable.

I took a phone call this morning from somebody with an IP phone in my area code and they wanted to send me the $100 gift card for which I had requested last week. When I asked who it was, she said that her company fulfills orders from many customers and so she couldn’t tell me where the order came from.

And then there are those pesky phone scams that try to steal your information.

The best defense against this is to be vigilant. I make sure the email comes from, where it says and check for any signs of a scam.

Ondrej Krehel

social engineering attacks

@lifarsllc

Ondrej Krehel is the founder and principal of LIFARS LLC, an international cybersecurity firm. He has more than two decades of experience in computer security and digital forensics. His work has received attention from major news outlets like CNN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Social engineering is usually done through email or phone calls. They are also used to get information on the company, such as passwords.

The phishing email tries to trick users into giving up information by looking like the real thing. It’s a popular way of obtaining sensitive information and credentials from people.

Spear phishing is a more sophisticated form of phishing. It’s usually targeted and the attacker will know information about you to make it seem like they’re someone official from your company, so when you click on something in the email, the malware installs onto your computer.

Phone scams are common. They can be part of a larger scam or they can happen on their own.

Part of a larger scam:

Imagine if your bank account credentials were stolen by hackers. You would be unable to transfer money without a unique code that gets sent to your phone.

As a standalone scam:

This is just one of many ways that social engineering can be used in the digital world to commit crimes and victimize innocent people.

Amichai Shulman

social engineering attacks

@Imperva

Amichai Shulman is the co-founder and CTO of Imperva. Amichi oversees security research for this company, which has been credited with discovering vulnerabilities in commercial Web applications.

Social engineering attacks include…

One of the most powerful tools in an attacker’s arsenal is social engineering. The problem with this type of attack is that it usually takes place over email, and there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work.

Cybercriminals rely on these mass scale infection campaigns, which can be more effective with smaller distribution lists

The other day, I got an email from a company that asked if they could send me something. They said it was urgent and would help with my life goals.

1. Try to match the email you send to your target audience, for example, if it is a birthday card then make sure that both spouses are mentioned in the text.

When I received an email from a company that had done business with me in the past, it looked like they were sending out information to everyone on their contact list. It was actually automated and wasn’t coming from them.

2. Spoofing

I recently received a fake email from the company I booked my trip with, which looked to have come from their address. It was actually sent by someone pretending to be them and it could trick many people into giving up information about themselves without realizing what they’re doing.

As the average employee, you’re going to click on things and download attachments. It’s your job to do that. Organizations need a security suite that can detect when something is wrong quickly and quarantine it before anything else happens.

Ken Simpson

social engineering attacks

@ttul

Ken Simpson is the co-founder and CEO of MailChannels. He has had a passion for software since his father brought home one of the first IBM PCs in 1980, teaching him how to write simple programs in BASIC. Since then he’s combined entrepreneurs with his skill set by participating as an early-stage employee at four different startups that have lasted long enough to be successful, including Voice over IP, Wireless Internet, etc., but mainly anti-spam.

A social engineer might use manipulation to get personal information, for example by pretending to be someone else.

With social engineering, an attacker may have certain information about the employees within a company and he uses that to learn something new – for instance, a password to an internal system. There is this misconception that once someone fakes their way in by pretending they’re from the cable company or some other entity, then all of these credit card numbers are immediately stolen. Professional cybercriminals extract one piece at a time slowly earning their way into deeper parts of organizations.

RSA was famously hacked via social engineering to gain access to the SecurID infrastructure. The first step was for them to send two phishing messages with Excel malware that executed a zero-day attack against their machines.

Spear phishing is the most common social engineering attack in today’s world. It often starts with a message that seems genuine, and if it gets through to one person then they’ll send out more messages until someone clicks on something or installs malware.

Kurt Simione

social engineering attacks

@TechnologySeed

Kurt started Technology Seed in 2000. He does a little bit of everything, and he loves the challenges that come with IT work. Kurt is often seen at UCLA Bruin games when his kids are playing.

The most common types of social engineering attacks that companies are faced with include…

Email scams haven’t changed much in recent years. They used to be random, but now they are more targeted and deliberate.

Find a company and do your research.

This is a different type of attack than previous ones. It’s not random, it targets specific people.

The attacker buys a domain name that is very similar to the target company’s so they can access it easier.

This new attack is significant because it actually costs the scammer money.

It is important to find the appropriate executives of a company before you start applying for jobs.

A scam is usually a well-written email from someone who wanted to exploit the trust of C-level executives. These emails are often sent when they’re too busy to properly vet their emails.

In the tech world, we find that no matter what steps are taken to protect people from scams or prevent them, end-user training is always best. If something doesn’t feel right or you’re unsure of it, pick up the phone and contact a trusted resource.

Luis A. Chapetti

social engineering attacks

@CudaSecurity

Luis Chapetti is an engineer and data scientist at Barracuda. He has various responsibilities, including IP reputation systems, Spydef databases on the Barracuda Real-time protection system.

If you want to prevent social engineering attacks, I recommend that…

Once upon a time, hackers and spammers would blast spam phishing emails to as many people as possible. Now they go after the most specific targets in order to get access through malicious attachments or links.

LinkedIn has given a lot of information about employees at any company, and Facebook can help in the attack by not only finding out who are the C-level executives, but also family members that might have access to devices or machines connected with their network.

To be safe, we recommend the following two things to use in social engineering: common knowledge and personal information.

  • I recommend using a mobile device management system that carries the same level of security as your headquarters. It will be on your phone, no matter where you are.
  • Limit the number of people that have access to sensitive data. Be sure only those with credentials can get into it.
  • Hackers can gain information or infect machines by sending out emails. A powerful filter will help protect you.
  • LinkedIn and Facebook should only be used to connect with people you know. It is not an easy way to get more friends or popularity on social media.
  • It is important to educate employees about the risks of these types of social engineering attacks. The more they know, the better off your company will be.

Nathan Maxwell

social engineering attacks

@CCI_team

Nathan Maxwell is a cyber security consultant, and he helps organizations accessmitigate risk so they are less vulnerable than the company next door.

Social engineering is a dangerous way for people to gain access into an organization.

The most important part of any company is its employees.

Hackers are using methods that have been the same for years. They leverage data from corporate breaches to create emails tailored specifically to you.

Creative emails will use unusual letter combinations, like “é” vs. “è”, to trick the recipient about who actually sent it.

The most effective way to protect against social engineering is through employee training. Employees should be instructed not to click on links and delete the email if it appears as though they are from Dropbox.

Additionally, it’s a great idea to use an email service that checks every web address as you click on them.

Kamyar Shah

social engineering attacks

@kshahwork

Kamyar Shah is a small business advisor who helps companies increase their productivity and profitability. He offers remote CMO, or Chief Marketing Officer services as well.

There are too many different social engineering attacks, to name them all, but the most successful ones have a few things in common…

The urgency for a deal is usually created by the potential benefits or penalties.

There are a lot of ways to minimize the impact of a sophisticated attack, but having education and backup is one way that will help reduce successful attacks. Continuous training can aid in reducing overall successful attacks.

Ian MacRae

social engineering attacks

@encomputers

Ian MacRae has been passionate about technology his entire life. He is an IT service provider in Washington DC and Virginia since 1997, providing computer repair services to customers. His favorite part of the job includes problem-solving and working with a variety of different people on various projects.

There are three types of social engineering attacks.

When I first began hiring salespeople, I just assumed pay along with commissions and bonuses would be enough motivation for them. With my first salespeople, however, I made the mistake of constantly testing out different payment structures in order to find what was best- a base salary or commission structure that included both large and small rewards throughout the year depending on performance? It turns out there is no one perfect answer to this question: some people work better when they’re motivated by money while others do not care so much about it as long as they have job security. Once we realized how little control we had over which type of person each individual employee wanted to be motivated by (and also once our finances allowed us more freedom), we went ahead and implemented an incentive system where employees were free choose their own form(s)of compensation based off company guidelines- either through a fixed wage or via commission rates set at specific percentages; whichever method worked for

2. Phishing is when someone sends an email that looks like it’s from your bank, to get you to divulge personal information.

The easiest way to avoid being a victim of fraud is to remember that if someone asks you for information or money, and it’s out of the ordinary, be cautious. Make sure they verify who they are by voice before completing any requests.

It’s important to be careful when clicking on links in emails. They might take you to a website that will ask for your information.

When I first got my computer, there were a lot of emails coming in from people pretending to be Microsoft or other companies and saying they had something for me. They wanted access to my computer so that they could get into all the stuff I was doing online.

3. Being held ransom.

You might receive an email saying: “We have your password and a compromising video of you, pay us or else.” There are a lot of ways to help prevent any of this from happening to you. First, when you get a new software or system, you need to be trained and not just on how to use it the first time. The training needs to be continual. Education is the best way to keep these criminals from playing into the fear of technology. For example, one of the measures we’ve used is phishing simulators to help people recognize malicious attempts.

If you have an IT help desk, good communication is the best way to prevent social engineering attacks. If not, talk with your provider about how they charge for services and what their hours are so that employees can feel comfortable picking up the phone when suspicious emails or texts come in.

Adnan Raja

social engineering attacks

@AtlanticNet

Adnan Raja is the Vice President of Marketing for Atlantic.net, a company that specializes in providing HIPAA-Compliant and Managed Cloud hosting.

Cyberattacks are very common in today’s digital workplaces.

The data breach often involves confidential information from a variety of employees, including the CEO and helpdesk colleagues.

A common attack is phishing when third parties try to impersonate a genuine source and send fraudulent communications in the hopes of extracting confidential data. An example would be pretending they are from banks or insurance companies.

Another common attack is whaling, which targets high-ranking executives. This type of cyber attack often relies on hackers who look for people with a higher turnover in their email account or those that have accidentally opened attachments from someone they don’t know.

Outsourcing IT operations to a provider who has an established reputation for security can help prevent social engineering attacks. They offer hardware protection and proactively monitor suspicious activity.

Brandon Schroth

social engineering attacks

@gwdatarecovery

Brandon Schroth is the Digital Manager at Gillware Data Recovery. He has a background in digital forensics and data recovery.

People who call helpdesks might be trying to trick them for information.

It is possible that a hacker will attempt to gain access to confidential information, such as bank account information. They may try this by asking for password resets or attempting to get more personal details from the call center employees.

Uladzislau Murashka

social engineering attacks

@ScienceSoft

Uladzislau Murashka is a Certified Ethical Hacker who has been working in the field of penetration testing for six years. His spheres of competence include reverse engineering, black box, white box, and gray-box application penetration tests as well as bug hunting and research work on Information Security.

Cyberattacks are the most common security threats that companies face. The types of attacks include social engineerings like phishing emails and identity theft.

Companies should also train their employees on how to use complex passwords and not log in with a company email address. This way if they get hacked, the hacker can’t access information from other sites.

The term “social engineering” is often used to describe a hacker’s attempt at obtaining unauthorized information by exploiting human trust or credulity. Phishing scams are an example of social engineering.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

Social engineering is becoming more common and sophisticated. With hackers devising clever ways to fool company employees, companies need to use due diligence in order to stay two steps ahead of cybercriminals.

Social engineering attacks usually involve some form of psychological manipulation, and they’re tricky to prevent, and these are the most common form of social engineering used by hackers. 

We wanted to educate companies, employees, and end-users on how to better recognize social engineering efforts. We asked a panel of data security experts about the most common attacks being used today.

“What are the common social engineering attacks made on companies, and how can they be prevented?”

Here are a couple of the top insights from our experts:

  1. “We’re launching an initiative to make sure all job postings for entry-level positions have been reviewed by HR and that they meet EEOC compliance.”
  2. “Our company is working on making diversity training mandatory for managers, as well as providing unconscious bias training during onboarding.”

Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Social Engineering Techniques 

One way social engineering can occur is through email. You might receive an email that looks like it came from a credible company, but if you open the attachment or respond with your username and password, these devices are easily compromised.

What is social engineering attack?

Symantec Security Response’s technical director says that bad guys are not typically trying to exploit the vulnerabilities in Windows, but instead they target you through social engineering. This means it doesn’t matter if your computer is a PC or Mac because 97% of malware attacks try to trick users into opening malicious attachments.

Phishing

Phishing is one of the most common social engineering attacks, and it usually comes in two forms. Phishing or spear-phishing are both types of this attack based on current events disasters tax season.

Here are some of the worst examples of social engineering hacking:

Scammers are sending phishing emails claiming to come from a real law firm called ‘Baker & McKenzie’ and telling you that you’re scheduled for court. If the link is clicked, malware will be downloaded and installed on your computer.

Taxpayers are waiting to hear about their refunds before the April 15th deadline. Cybercriminals know this, and they’re using social engineering tactics to trick taxpayers into opening a Word file that contains ransomware.

A new phishing campaign was discovered through CareerBuilder. The attacker uploaded malicious attachments instead of résumés, forcing the job portal to act as a delivery vehicle for phishing emails.

The attacker used a known job site to target email recipients. The malware was deployed in stages.

The attack starts by submitting a malicious Word document (named resume.doc or cv.doc) to the job listing on Career Builder, and when someone submits an attachment to the posting, they will get notified of it.

A police department in Durham, New Hampshire was hit by ransomware last June when an employee clicked on a legitimate-looking email. Ransomware has also infected other departments, including Swansea and Tewksbury, MA; the Dickson County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s office; and more.

Here are some examples of social engineering scams:

One of the most common banking scams is a phishing email. Hackers send you an email that looks like it’s coming from your bank, but really they’re just trying to steal your info.

The Carbanak heist was reported on extensively in Feb 2015. It involved 30 countries and nearly a billion dollars worth of lost funds.

When the Carbanak scam happened, spear-phishing emails were sent to employees that infected workstations. The hackers tunneled deeper into bank systems until they controlled employee terminals and made cash transfers.

A scammer would send an email with a link that looked like it was coming from someone in the company. The links contained malicious code which infected all of your computers, and they recorded everything you did to learn how things were done at your organization. Then when they had mastered what goes on there, they commandeered them for their own purposes, including ATM hits, but also artificially inflating bank balances so customers’ balance went up by $1,000 or more before taking out some money.

This is a scam that will do damage to your computer. It’s common for companies who still use faxes, such as document management and insurance firms.

Dropbox Link Scam: Just wait until you see what’s in Dropbox.

One of the phishing emails was a fake Dropbox password reset that would lead users to an outdated browser message. When clicked, it launched malware.

Another email had a Dropbox link with CryptoWall ransomware.

A phony link, confirming your complaint is a scam. They want you to complain about something else, so they’ll have more information from you.

The company has used this for years. 

This is a scam. Vin Diesel has not died and this will be the link to your death.

This is a common trend. When celebrities die, some people will try and exploit their death with fake videos or links that lead to scam pages.

The other day, my staff attempted to social engineer me and catch me in a prank.

They attempted to get my credentials by contacting me. I received an email from the Director of HR that looked like it was sent from them, but they were actually trying to trick me and steal information.


HR@knowbe4.com

10:45 AM (1 hour ago)

to: stus

Stu,

I saw a user on the company’s security forum, who goes by “securitybull72” make some negative comments about our executive compensation and you, claiming that you are overpaid and incompetent. He gave details of his disagreements with us from a financial standpoint which may have inadvertently revealed confidential information to other people.

Some of the replies to this post were negative, but I understand that he has every right to his opinion. He should have expressed it through proper channels before posting on social media.

The first time I saw this, it reminded me of something. Here’s the link.

Could you please talk to him?

Thanks.


Nine out of ten would fall for this. I was lucky that when I hovered over the link, it said that it had been created by me – a simulated phishing attack.

Prevention is the best way to avoid any issues with diversity in your workplace. The most important thing you can do is make sure that there are no barriers for anyone trying to get a job, and then monitor how well they’re being treated once they’ve been hired.

Train users with an effective training program that routinely uses an integrated anti-phishing tool to make sure they are thinking about security.

Have a backup plan in case something goes wrong and make sure to test it regularly.

Some of the more common ways to break into a computer system are…

PHISHING

Phishing has become a problem in the last few years and it’s hard to fight against. Attackers usually send well-crafted emails with attachments that carry malicious payloads. They often use Tor or something like that, making them difficult to find.

RANSOMWARE

Recently, there has been an increase in the use of phishing emails with ransomware. The attackers often send out attachments that look like they are important files, but actually contain a virus.

Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself from these dirty schemes:

  • Know your rights and know what is expected of you.
  • Don’t give personal information like bank account numbers, driver’s license numbers,s or social security numbers.
  • If you do not know the sender, never open an email in a spam folder or from someone you don’t know.
  • When you receive an email from a sender who is unknown to you, do not open the attachments they have sent.
  • To protect your computer, use reputable antivirus software like Kaspersky or Symantec.
  • Back up your data on an external hard drive or in the cloud.
  • When backing up, make sure to disconnect your backup drive from the computer. Current ransomware is known to encrypt both your primary and secondary drives.
  • The reason they keep using this type of blackmailing attack is that people are giving in. To try to get your data back, go see a professional.

How to prevent social engineering

  • Humans are the weakest link in a company. Companies should have at least bi-annual training for each user group so that everyone is up to date on new cyber attacks.
  • Employees should be tested by having an outside party conduct a social engineering test. This kind of testing will make them more aware and help to protect their data.
  • In response to the increase in these attacks, a number of security firms have new defenses that can block phishing attempts before they even reach your company’s internal servers. AppRiver is one such service.
  • If they get through, the best way to stop them is probably an endpoint protection system that can block the latest malware.
  • Cyphort’s IDSIPS system is a good last line of defense against known attacks and to detect how far they have invaded the network by signature, behavior, or community knowledge.

Organizations should know that when it comes to social engineering attacks, they need to be aware that email is the number one way to attack a company or individual. It’s used by everyone, even older employees who are less likely to be on social media and more prone to opening an email.

If an email is opened, the message has to be compelling enough for them to click on a link or open up any attachments. There are many strategies that have been successful including:

  • Fake email addresses are often used when sending out these types of emails. They may look very professional or seem to be from a company that the reader would trust.
  • A lot of companies are experiencing fake invoices, blocked payments, deliveries, or faxes.
  • Emails are designed to scare the recipient into clicking on a link in order for them to receive more information about whatever it is they’re trying to get you interested in.

Most companies put all of their defense efforts into software and hardware solutions to keep these threats from ever reaching employees. But this approach is flawed because most people connect the internet through email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or web pages at home or on mobile devices. Few companies also include employee education about identifying threats such as mouse-over skills and understanding the anatomy of an email address or domain name.

To prevent social engineering attacks, it is important to identify them.

When it comes to data theft, the most common source is from within. In 2013, $143 billion was lost as a result of this.

Social engineering is hard to prevent, but there are ways of detecting it. For instance, if you have a number of sensitive files and someone downloads them after hours or shares the file with others outside their group, that should be identified as suspicious behavior.

Article: A new study conducted by the United States Department of Labor found that workers who receive paid sick leave were less likely to go to work while they’re ill.

Today, there are many ways an attacker will try and compromise a corporate network, but in the end, it is the individual who has the most to lose. Attackers take whatever means necessary to break into networks and steal information; one of which is social engineering. Social engineering was responsible for some major attacks, including Sony’s 2014 hack as well as The White House last year. There are two common types of these attacks: phishing (using email) or vishing (voice-phishing).

One of the most common ways to get hacked is through a phishing attack. An individual will open an email that seems harmless but actually has malicious code in it, or they’ll download something from somewhere with malware on it.

Vishing is when someone pretends to be a company and calls you over the phone. With some information about your name or birthday, they may get all of your login credentials.

To protect a company, it’s important to teach employees what they should be looking for when receiving phone calls or emails. When an individual receives a call asking for information, he or she must establish the identity of the person without giving any hints about their personal details.

It’s important to know the basics in order to protect your digital identity from social engineering attacks.

  • Be careful when you get an email that: urges the user to provide personal or financial information with high urgency. Threatens the user if they don’t respond quickly.
  • The scammer will ask for personal or financial information in a high-pressure way, so be wary of anyone who seems too pushy.
  • Pop-ups are designed to scare the user into making an immediate purchase.
  • Is sent by unknown senders.
  • Keep a close eye on your bank account to make sure no unauthorized transactions have been made.
  • When you’re using public computers, don’t share personal information like passwords and credit card numbers.
  • Never click on links or download files from unknown senders.
  • If you’re going to make online transactions, be sure that the site is secure. You’ll know this if there’s a padlock next to it.
  • Never give out personal information over the phone, and never respond to emails asking for your account number or other important data.
  • Never send sensitive information such as personal and financial data through email.
  • When you get an email from a website that seems legitimate, watch out for links to web forms. Phishing websites are often exact replicas of legitimate ones.
  • Pop-ups can be dangerous and it’s important to never enter personal information or click on them.
  • It’s important to have the right defense systems in place, such as spam filters and anti-virus software.
  • Users of social networks should never post personal information or download uncertified applications. They also shouldn’t click on links and videos from unknown origins.

Keith Casey

social engineering attacks

@CaseySoftware

Keith Casey currently works as the director of product for Clarify.io, a company that helps make APIs easier and more consistent.

The most common form of social engineering attack is when hackers impersonate someone in the company, like a CEO or other high-level executive.

“I just need.” Basically, someone calls the company claiming to represent the phone company, internet provider, etc., and starts asking questions. They claim to have a simple problem or know about a problem that can be fixed quickly, but they just need one little thing. It could be as innocuous as asking for a username or someone’s schedule or as blatant as asking for a password. Once the attacker has this information, they call someone else in the company and use the new information to refine their attack. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Many people are tricked into giving away company information by pretending to be an employee. They get access to email accounts, phone records, and travel itineraries.

The best way to protect yourself when someone calls is not to give them your information. Instead, ask for their phone number and offer to call them back at that number.

You should never give your credit card number to someone who calls you. Call the company’s customer service line and they will help.

Joe Ferrara

social engineering attacks

@WombatSecurity

Joe Ferrara is the CEO of Wombat Security Technologies, and he’s been working in technology for 20 years. Recently Joe was a finalist for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, as well as receiving a CEO award from CEO World. He has spoken at numerous information security conferences around the world, including RSA Europe, CISO Executive Network forum, ISSA International., etc.

Here are some tips on how to protect against social engineering attacks.

Social engineering is a phenomenon that exploits human psychology to gain access to buildings, systems, and data. It’s so advanced now that technology solutions and policies alone cannot protect critical resources.

Companies should:

  • Make sure to take a baseline assessment of your employees’
  • Let employees know why they need to be discreet when it comes to company information.
  • A good way to start is by targeting the most risky employees andor common behaviors.
  • Give employees the power to make decisions about security instead of relying on a central authority.
  • Interactive training can be used to help increase knowledge retention. With short sessions that are convenient for employees’ busy schedules, these training will provide proven effective learning science principles.
  • Send automated reminders to employees about training deadlines.
  • With these reports, executives can easily see when knowledge is improving over time.

Companies need to focus on the human side of security more than just investing in technology defenses. Companies should be training their employees about current threats and how to avoid them.

Companies should use social engineering attacks to test their employees, and then train them on how to combat these types of scenarios. Having a security program in place can help protect your company from data breaches.

Sanjay Ramnath

social engineering attacks

@Barracuda

Sanjay Ramnath is the Senior Director of Product Management for Barracuda, a company that provides powerful and easy-to-use IT solutions.

When it comes to social engineering, I recommend…

The following is a list of paraphrases for the given article:
-I had no idea what was going on in my company.
-We were always looking at ways that we could motivate our employees more and different things would work better than others but they never lasted too long. We wanted something stable and reliable so people didn’t feel like their jobs were constantly being threatened with change.
-In hindsight, if I knew then what I know now about how much an employee’s livelihood affects his or her performance, there are some changes that might have helped me hire better salespeople from the beginning instead of just assuming pay plus commission bonuses would be enough motivation.With my first salespeople, all those tests made them less motivated because they felt as though every time we changed something new he only one who suffered financially which affected their productivity considerably.More recently when hiring someone into a management position where responsibilities include managing

Companies need to find a way to use social media for their business. They can’t just block these sites from the network.

Training is important, but it’s not enough. There are many ways to mitigate the risks of social media while allowing them to be used; for example, creating a code of conduct that everyone agrees on and having someone monitor what employees post online.

With Bring Your Own Device, network administrators are under a lot of pressure to protect the company’s network of devices that were not created with it in mind.

Social media is a zero-trust environment. You don’t know who you’re talking to, and often people’s guards are lowered when they use it.

In a case like social engineering, where people are subject to spear-phishing attacks and other scams before they even reach the network, it is good to have spam firewall and web filter in place as well as training for employees on how not fall prey.

byod is a growing problem, so it’s important for companies to have security solutions in place.

Alex Markowitz

social engineering attacks

@ChelseaTech

Alex Markowitz is a Systems Engineer for Chelsea Technologies, and he has 10 years of IT experience in the financial sector.

To prevent social engineering attacks, I suggest that companies…

The Power of No.

Google the top social engineering attacks. What do you get? Stories about Trojan Horses, phishing attacks, malware injections, redirects, spam, and people giving up way too much personal information on public websites. The surface area for social engineering attacks is as big as all the employees and users in your corporation. The best social engineering attack will involve nothing but an unnoticed slip or mistake from one user. I am going address the very specific aspect of internal security and leave you with the following: the most important protection you need in your company is the ability to say, “No.”

It is important to know the history of attacks, but that will not protect you. The attackers are always ahead of those who defend against them. A social engineer has an endless well of creativity and should be treated as such–technology changes, but humans do not.

I have noticed that there are always executives, managers, and other powerful people who want to be treated special. They refuse to follow the rules because they think it doesn’t apply to them or their family members.

They want things that will make their professional lives, even easier than we, in IT, struggle to make it. Unfortunately, in IT, we are in the habit of saying, “Yes.” I have seen directors and CTOs create special exceptions for other high-ranking users to garner favors and popularity, but also because they are scared for their own position. This is lazy; this is arrogant; this is stupid, but this is most of all, human. We human beings are the system attacked by social engineering, and then we leave ourselves open by falling prey to our insecurities, giving an attacker an invitation to storm our gates. All IT needs to learn how to say is “No,” and IT management needs to be strong and stubborn for the good of a company. One of the best ways to protect your company from social engineers is to learn how to say, “No.” Keep politics and climbing the office ladder out of IT security.

I know I am addressing a very specific aspect of IT, but one of the best ways to shrink your attack surface is to learn how to say, “No.” It takes strong leadership and determination from IT management to keep our protection streamlined. Only after our protection, is streamlined can we accurately educate our users and create a secure infrastructure. Every individual exception opens a Pandora’s Box for social engineers to find (or even just stumble upon) and exploit.

Robert Harrow

social engineering attacks

@robert_harrow

Robert Harrow is a credit card, home insurance, and health insurance researcher. He’s interested in security because of the data breaches he studied.

The biggest threat to companies today is people who are skilled at manipulating others.

The most common type of social engineering is a phishing scam. In 2013, there were reported to be $5.9 billion in losses from close to 450,000 attacks.

Spam filters are useful for employees, but they don’t work with spear phishing. These attacks are less frequent but more targeted to specific high-value individuals — likely CEOs and CFOs. Spam filters can’t prevent these types of attacks.

It is important to educate employees about phishing and not open any e-mails that sound suspicious.

Steven J.J. Weisman, Esq.

social engineering attacks

@Scamicide

Steven J.J. Weisman is a lawyer and college professor, who teaches at Bentley University about White Collar Crime.

I advise companies to do the following in order to prevent social engineering attacks:

In major data breaches, the malware generally has to be downloaded into a company’s computers from an outside source. Usually, this is done through social engineering tactics that trick employees into clicking on links or downloading attachments.

They use an email marketing campaign to persuade employees.

  • Most of them try to make it look like the email is from a friend, but they’ve actually hacked their account.
  • They make it appear that the email comes from someone within the company, and they may have gotten their name or email address through a variety of databases like LinkedIn.
  • They gather information on targets by looking at their social media accounts, where they may have posted personal info that a hacker can use to contact them and trick them into clicking on a link.
  • The link is to a website where you can watch free pornography.
  • The link is to provide photos or gossip about celebrities.
  • The link is to provide sensational and compelling photographs or videos of an important news event.
  • The notification came from someone in IT security at the company.

These are just a few of the more common tactics that hackers use to penetrate company networks.

The best way to stop these people is by preventing them from getting jobs in the first place.

Train employees on my motto, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” No one should ever provide personal information to anyone in response to a request until they have verified that the request is legitimate. No one should ever click on any link without confirming that it is legitimate.

It’s important to teach employees about the dangers of phishing and spear-phishing schemes, so they can be more vigilant when responding to emails.

It is important to keep up-to-date on the latest anti-virus and anti-malware software, but hackers are always one step ahead.

Employees should only have access to the information they need in order to do their job.

Make sure you use two-factor authentication and strong passwords that are changed on a regular basis.

Aurelian Neagu

social engineering attacks

@HeimdalSecurity

Aurelian Neagu, a technical writer with 6 years of experience in the cyber security field at Bitdefender and Heimdal Security, has been studying how technology changes human relationships within society.

A type of attack on a company is to use social engineering.

Diversity can come from both inside and outside the company.

Malicious insiders use social engineering to commit fraud.

According to PwC’s survey, 21% of current or former employees use social engineering for various reasons. Some do it just because they are curious and others out of revenge.

Social engineering methods can include:

  • Hacking into a company and stealing their passwords.
  • Using confidential information as a bargaining chip for trying to find another job or better position within the company.
  • Leaving the company and using confidential information for malicious purposes.

Cyber crime and hacking

  • Malicious outsiders try to trick employees into giving them information. They can do that by contacting someone over the phone, sending an email, or coming in person.
  • Social engineering relies on the confidence that cyber criminals have, and also their trust in reputable companies.
  • One way this information can be used is to gain the victim’s trust, which would then give them sensitive information.
  • Once the malware is inside, it can act in various ways. For example, if someone sends an employee a malicious email attachment like that before they open it and then clicks on ‘yes’ when asked to run or save the file (even though they don’t know what’s in there), their system could be compromised.
  • Cybercriminals use phishing to trick employees into giving up their credentials and sensitive information.

Social engineering can be used either to get information or infiltrate the company’s defenses and cause massive damage, as it happened in Target’s case in 2013.

In March 2015, there was a spear-phishing attack on Danish architecture firms.

With my first salespeople, I made the mistake of constantly testing pay and commission structure. I felt that with enough base pay and lucrative commissions, it would be enough motivation for them. With my first salespeople, I had this idea in mind: if they were paid well plus given high commissions and bonuses then their motivations wouldn’t need to change at all. But after giving some time to think about what happened over those few years- which led me back here again -it’s pretty clear that more is needed besides just compensation as an incentive behind building successful teams

How can you keep yourself from being social engineered?

  • The best way a company can protect itself from cyber security is to invest in educating its employees about it. If they know how to spot social engineering attempts and what the consequences are, they’ll be able to stop them before they happen.
  • Periodic cyber security assessments are necessary because companies change, grow, and evolve. When this happens, penetration testing should be carried out to find ways that can improve data safety across the organization.
  • For companies who haven’t done this yet, I always recommend that you define and implement a robust security policy. This is the type of investment worth making because it can have a huge impact on your organization by preventing cyber attacks.

Shobha Mallarapu

social engineering attacks

@anvayasolutions

Shobha Mallarapu is the president and CEO of Anvaya Solutions, Inc. The company trains employees on cyber security awareness in businesses around the world.

Companies are often attacked by social engineers who…

One of the most common scams is phishing, where an email impersonates a company or government organization to extract information from you. The hacker will use your login and password for sensitive accounts within the company, as well as hijack known emails by sending links that embed malware on your computer.

If someone calls you pretending to be a trusted source or authorized organization, they can make it seem like their call is something important and convince you to give them information that may hurt your company.

It’s important to remember that sharing too much information on social media can enable attackers to guess passwords or extract a company’s confidential information through posts by employees. Security Awareness is the key to preventing such incidents, and policies should be established with training for employees and measures like warnings or other disciplinary actions in place, especially for repeat offenders.

If you are not expecting an email, type the link address instead of clicking on it. Or, call a person to confirm that the email came from them before following any links or providing your personal information (phone number). The same principles apply to phone phishing attacks. Tell them you will call back and get their number by looking up the organization beforehand with Google Voice Lookup. If they do belong to a valid company, make sure to verify this over the phone before calling back.

Elvis Moreland

social engineering attacks

Elvis Moreland is a Computerworld magazine premier 100 IT leader and CISO.

The most common social engineering attack these days is…

The following are examples of paraphrases that do not match the original text. 

A spear-phishing attack is an email that seems to be from a company you know or trust but contains malicious content.

Countermeasure(s):

1. If you are not sure about the source of a link or attachment, do not open it. Report an unknown sender to your IT department.

2. If the email seems to be from a normal source, ask yourself “Why would they want me to open this link or attachment? Is that normal behavior?” If not, report it!

Before you send out any important email, check the source and content of it. If there is anything suspicious about the email or if you are not sure what to do with it, contact your IT security department.

There are many network security options for companies to protect themselves, including anti-spam filters and SMTP gateways with scanning or filtering mechanisms.

AV and firewalls are not enough to protect you from these types of attacks.

Greg Mancusi-Ungaro

social engineering attacks

@BrandProtect

Greg Mancusi-Ungaro is a passionate evangelist for emerging technologies, business practices, and customer-centricity. He has led marketing initiatives in the past with Active Risk, Savi Technologies, Sepaton Deltek Novell Ximian

Social engineering schemes in the past have included…

The stranded traveler scam is a social engineer sending an email to someone claiming they are in need of money. He or she will have access to your company’s emails and be able to create a convincing story for why they can’t use the company system.

A common social engineering attack outside of the business environment is to copy profiles, substitute headshots, and steal an entire online identity. Once they have a stolen identity, it’s only a matter of time before another malicious ask.

Social engineering schemes are the most sophisticated because they use your network to get inside. A social engineer can send you an email pretending to know someone in your company and asking for help getting a job, like sending their resume or cover letter.

Once a social engineer has gained the trust of one person, they’ll use that to gain access to other people or networks. Social engineers usually have their eyes on something bigger than what they’re targeting; it’s just an easy way for them to get what they want.

How can you stop social engineers from succeeding?
Article: What is happening with the Affordable Care Act and Congress right now?

As a company, the easiest way to protect your brand is by closely monitoring for unauthorized emails that use your logo. This will help you find out if someone has taken over one of your social domains and can be an indication of identity theft.

One of the easiest ways to reduce social engineering exposure is a simple way: if you’re not sure, don’t help. If they claim that they are your friend and want something from you, call them on their cell phone or email them using another account.

It might seem like common sense, but companies should invest in educating their employees about these and other risks. Just by raising awareness of the dangers, a lot of corporate risks will be reduced.

David Howard

social engineering attacks

David Howard has been a Certified Ethical Hacker since 2009 and is currently the founder of PPL Hack. David also offers free seminars across the country to teach small business owners how to protect their company data.

The most common types of social engineering attacks are phishing, vishing, and surfing.

As a Certified Ethical Hacker and founder of PPL HACK, I have done numerous intrusion attempts. One method is phishing email where you send out emails that look legitimate, but are actually trying to get the recipient to click on something or install some kind of malware.

One of the most common types of attack is called a wireless man in the middle. That’s when someone places their own WiFi access point inside your environment and all traffic goes through that person, who can then spy on it.

Oren Kedem

social engineering attacks

@BioCatch

With 15 years of experience in product management, Oren’s areas are web fraud detection and enterprise security. He has also served at various marketing positions for RSA (now part of EMC) and BMC covering the identify and access management solutions.

There are many common attacks on organizations, such as…

APTs are sophisticated attacks that involve two phases: reconnaissance and attack. Social engineering plays a big role in both of these phases.

Employees are tricked into thinking these attacks come from a trusted source. The attackers will call and email employees to perform actions that seem normal, such as approving transactions or sending contracts for signing.

The first step of an APT attack is reconnaissance. This can take months or even a year to complete, but the criminal patiently waits for this phase.

Social engineering is a type of attack where someone tries to convince you that it’s ok to install malicious software or open a web page. In one famous example, an HR administrator opened an excel sheet attached in an email from her boss with stats on employees’ salaries – but the spreadsheet was actually malware. A few months later, some code stolen from RSA was used as part of another social engineering phone call scam against Lockheed Martin.

So what can organizations do?

Make sure employees know the rules and have a clear understanding of what they’re supposed to do.

Don’t respond to unsolicited communications (email, phone) without verifying the person’s identity. The easiest way is to tell them you will call back and then verify their phone number.

Don’t ever open attachments or go to sites you don’t trust. Your company provides an “unsafe” computer that can be used for accessing any document, but it should never store sensitive data.

You should change your passwords and access them frequently, but unpredictably.

Article: There are many benefits of telecommuting, such as increased work-life balance, greater productivity for some jobs (such as graphic design), less stress on the environment from commuting traffic.

Share ‘war stories’ and industry experience with employees to help them become aware of the threats. They can’t be cautious if they are not aware of what’s out there.

Roberto Rodriguez

social engineering attacks

@HumanFirewalls

HumanFirewalls is an organization that offers security services for small-mid-sized companies. They offer a variety of different types of service, including Security Awareness Training which trains employees on how to recognize and respond to cyberattacks.

There are a few common types of social engineering attacks that companies need to be on the lookout for.

Phishing & Spear Phishing

Phishing emails are crafted to trick the user into downloading an attachment, clicking on a malicious link, or simply providing sensitive information. These emails can be sent out to an entire company without targeting specific people in that organization.

Cyber criminals are using phishing to break into organizations, and it is becoming more popular than ever. It was ranked #3 on the Verizon Report in 2014, showing that cybercriminals focus less on technology these days because they know how easy it can be to fool someone with social engineering tools like SET (Social Engineering Toolkit). Spam filters are great for stopping spam emails from getting through, but if an attacker knows what he or she is doing then you could easily get tricked by a phishing email. One perfect example would be receiving an email from your bank asking you to call a number provided in the email so they can change your ATM PIN – when really there’s no problem at all! The cyber criminal provides a number where he waits for people who follow his instructions and captures their audio video chat.

How to prevent it?

If a company is proactive about security, it will have a better awareness of the risks and how to reduce them. Security Awareness Training programs are especially helpful in making it easier for people to be aware of their surroundings.

Vishing (Voice and Phishing)

This is a very popular social-based attack that’s used in customer service departments. They might try to satisfy the customer over the phone and end up giving away information about possible targets, hours of operation, financial or personal information, even password resets.

How to prevent it?

You want to make sure that employees understand what information they can and cannot share. Technology such as NAC solutions limits the access of data without authorization.

Tailgating or Piggybacking

This is a social-based attack that involves an attacker without authorized access and an employee with a low level of awareness. The way it works is by having the unaware user, cooperate and provide the unauthorized person access to a restricted area. This is common in many organizations because there are always people such as delivery guys from different institutions dropping packages and interacting with unaware users, creating a level of comfort and making it a routine. Once again, technology such as swiping cards to get into elevators or open doors in big organizations not always work, and this is because all it takes is, “I forgot my badge, and I am late for a meeting. Would you mind?” To trick the user and gain access.

How to prevent it?

Security Awareness Training, where the user learns about company policies and how to avoid risky behavior in order to keep themselves safe.

Jayson Street

social engineering attacks

@JaysonStreet

Jayson is an Infosec Ranger at Pwnie Express, a well-known conference speaker, and author of the book “Dissecting the hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network.” Jayson has been with them since before they were acquired by General Dynamics Corp.

Here are some common social engineering attacks…

A common solution to all these problems is enhanced awareness and employee training. Companies need to include security practices as part of their job descriptions, train employees on how to think critically about suspicious activity, and then react appropriately when necessary.

One of the most common ways that hackers infiltrate your company is through spear phishing. They do this by sending emails to people in your network, making them seem like they are from someone you know and trust when really it’s a hacker pretending to be so.

2. The Rogue Technician: Stealthy social engineers often pretend to be technicians or delivery people, making it easy for them to walk right into the company and physically compromise the network.

3. Malicious Websites: Often, malicious websites are disguised as corporate or partner sites and will prompt visitors to update javaAdobe or install a specific plug-in.

Patricia Titus

social engineering attacks

@RUSecur

Patricia Titus has 20+ years of experience in security management, and she’s responsible for designing robust information security programs.

Titus recently served as the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Freddie Mac. In this position, he helped to protect information assets while transforming their security program.

Even with all these technical solutions, the weakest link is usually…

Humans should be the ones to protect against this problem, but they need rigorous training and testing in order for it to work.

Common social engineering is when someone tricks or cons, employees to give up information that leads them into getting access to systems and criminal behavior, such as fraud.

To prevent social engineering attacks, it’s important to keep in mind people, processes, and technology. The following steps should be taken into consideration:

People

  • Create a security awareness program for your employees. Make it interactive and interesting to keep them engaged.
  • Create a company-wide campaign to promote social engineering awareness. Train employees, partners, and vendors about the risks of it so they can be prepared.
  • Make sure you have a framework and program for high-trust employees.
  • The employees have access to the most sensitive information in order to do their jobs.
  • They have more of a focus on training and testing than other companies.
  • The company performs background checks periodically, including random drug tests and credit score verification.

Process

  • Identify any data that could be sensitive or cause harm if exposed to social engineering. Then, have a third party assess the security gaps.
  • Decide how to handle sensitive information.
  • Report back to senior management on the results of your social engineering tests both good and bad.
  • I should be testing my employees for social engineering techniques, so I can catch them in the act.

Technology

The technology selection can be very diverse and specific to the data you want to protect from social engineering. It may involve one or more of these programs, but is not limited to them:
– Data encryption
– Hashing algorithms

  • Identity and access management
  • A system to monitor and report security incidents or events.
  • The technology is not signature-based.
  • Proxy blocking is a good way to keep your company secure and also avoid spam.
  • We monitor all incoming and outgoing communication for our employees.

Greg Scott

social engineering attacks

@DGregScott

Greg Scott is a veteran of the IT industry. He started his own company after working at Digital Equipment Corporation but then was bought out by another firm during the dot-com bust.

One of the most common social engineering attacks I’ve seen is…

I get a lot of phishing emails and they seem to come from Amazon, asking for me to open their .zip or document file up. Or sometimes the first names in the email will match someone I know so it makes them more believable.

I took a phone call this morning from somebody with an IP phone in my area code and they wanted to send me the $100 gift card for which I had requested last week. When I asked who it was, she said that her company fulfills orders from many customers and so she couldn’t tell me where the order came from.

And then there are those pesky phone scams that try to steal your information.

The best defense against this is to be vigilant. I make sure the email comes from, where it says and check for any signs of a scam.

Ondrej Krehel

social engineering attacks

@lifarsllc

Ondrej Krehel is the founder and principal of LIFARS LLC, an international cybersecurity firm. He has more than two decades of experience in computer security and digital forensics. His work has received attention from major news outlets like CNN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Social engineering is usually done through email or phone calls. They are also used to get information on the company, such as passwords.

The phishing email tries to trick users into giving up information by looking like the real thing. It’s a popular way of obtaining sensitive information and credentials from people.

Spear phishing is a more sophisticated form of phishing. It’s usually targeted and the attacker will know information about you to make it seem like they’re someone official from your company, so when you click on something in the email, the malware installs onto your computer.

Phone scams are common. They can be part of a larger scam or they can happen on their own.

Part of a larger scam:

Imagine if your bank account credentials were stolen by hackers. You would be unable to transfer money without a unique code that gets sent to your phone.

As a standalone scam:

This is just one of many ways that social engineering can be used in the digital world to commit crimes and victimize innocent people.

Amichai Shulman

social engineering attacks

@Imperva

Amichai Shulman is the co-founder and CTO of Imperva. Amichi oversees security research for this company, which has been credited with discovering vulnerabilities in commercial Web applications.

Social engineering attacks include…

One of the most powerful tools in an attacker’s arsenal is social engineering. The problem with this type of attack is that it usually takes place over email, and there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work.

Cybercriminals rely on these mass scale infection campaigns, which can be more effective with smaller distribution lists

The other day, I got an email from a company that asked if they could send me something. They said it was urgent and would help with my life goals.

1. Try to match the email you send to your target audience, for example, if it is a birthday card then make sure that both spouses are mentioned in the text.

When I received an email from a company that had done business with me in the past, it looked like they were sending out information to everyone on their contact list. It was actually automated and wasn’t coming from them.

2. Spoofing

I recently received a fake email from the company I booked my trip with, which looked to have come from their address. It was actually sent by someone pretending to be them and it could trick many people into giving up information about themselves without realizing what they’re doing.

As the average employee, you’re going to click on things and download attachments. It’s your job to do that. Organizations need a security suite that can detect when something is wrong quickly and quarantine it before anything else happens.

Ken Simpson

social engineering attacks

@ttul

Ken Simpson is the co-founder and CEO of MailChannels. He has had a passion for software since his father brought home one of the first IBM PCs in 1980, teaching him how to write simple programs in BASIC. Since then he’s combined entrepreneurs with his skill set by participating as an early-stage employee at four different startups that have lasted long enough to be successful, including Voice over IP, Wireless Internet, etc., but mainly anti-spam.

A social engineer might use manipulation to get personal information, for example by pretending to be someone else.

With social engineering, an attacker may have certain information about the employees within a company and he uses that to learn something new – for instance, a password to an internal system. There is this misconception that once someone fakes their way in by pretending they’re from the cable company or some other entity, then all of these credit card numbers are immediately stolen. Professional cybercriminals extract one piece at a time slowly earning their way into deeper parts of organizations.

RSA was famously hacked via social engineering to gain access to the SecurID infrastructure. The first step was for them to send two phishing messages with Excel malware that executed a zero-day attack against their machines.

Spear phishing is the most common social engineering attack in today’s world. It often starts with a message that seems genuine, and if it gets through to one person then they’ll send out more messages until someone clicks on something or installs malware.

Kurt Simione

social engineering attacks

@TechnologySeed

Kurt started Technology Seed in 2000. He does a little bit of everything, and he loves the challenges that come with IT work. Kurt is often seen at UCLA Bruin games when his kids are playing.

The most common types of social engineering attacks that companies are faced with include…

Email scams haven’t changed much in recent years. They used to be random, but now they are more targeted and deliberate.

Find a company and do your research.

This is a different type of attack than previous ones. It’s not random, it targets specific people.

The attacker buys a domain name that is very similar to the target company’s so they can access it easier.

This new attack is significant because it actually costs the scammer money.

It is important to find the appropriate executives of a company before you start applying for jobs.

A scam is usually a well-written email from someone who wanted to exploit the trust of C-level executives. These emails are often sent when they’re too busy to properly vet their emails.

In the tech world, we find that no matter what steps are taken to protect people from scams or prevent them, end-user training is always best. If something doesn’t feel right or you’re unsure of it, pick up the phone and contact a trusted resource.

Luis A. Chapetti

social engineering attacks

@CudaSecurity

Luis Chapetti is an engineer and data scientist at Barracuda. He has various responsibilities, including IP reputation systems, Spydef databases on the Barracuda Real-time protection system.

If you want to prevent social engineering attacks, I recommend that…

Once upon a time, hackers and spammers would blast spam phishing emails to as many people as possible. Now they go after the most specific targets in order to get access through malicious attachments or links.

LinkedIn has given a lot of information about employees at any company, and Facebook can help in the attack by not only finding out who are the C-level executives, but also family members that might have access to devices or machines connected with their network.

To be safe, we recommend the following two things to use in social engineering: common knowledge and personal information.

  • I recommend using a mobile device management system that carries the same level of security as your headquarters. It will be on your phone, no matter where you are.
  • Limit the number of people that have access to sensitive data. Be sure only those with credentials can get into it.
  • Hackers can gain information or infect machines by sending out emails. A powerful filter will help protect you.
  • LinkedIn and Facebook should only be used to connect with people you know. It is not an easy way to get more friends or popularity on social media.
  • It is important to educate employees about the risks of these types of social engineering attacks. The more they know, the better off your company will be.

Nathan Maxwell

social engineering attacks

@CCI_team

Nathan Maxwell is a cyber security consultant, and he helps organizations accessmitigate risk so they are less vulnerable than the company next door.

Social engineering is a dangerous way for people to gain access into an organization.

The most important part of any company is its employees.

Hackers are using methods that have been the same for years. They leverage data from corporate breaches to create emails tailored specifically to you.

Creative emails will use unusual letter combinations, like “é” vs. “è”, to trick the recipient about who actually sent it.

The most effective way to protect against social engineering is through employee training. Employees should be instructed not to click on links and delete the email if it appears as though they are from Dropbox.

Additionally, it’s a great idea to use an email service that checks every web address as you click on them.

Kamyar Shah

social engineering attacks

@kshahwork

Kamyar Shah is a small business advisor who helps companies increase their productivity and profitability. He offers remote CMO, or Chief Marketing Officer services as well.

There are too many different social engineering attacks, to name them all, but the most successful ones have a few things in common…

The urgency for a deal is usually created by the potential benefits or penalties.

There are a lot of ways to minimize the impact of a sophisticated attack, but having education and backup is one way that will help reduce successful attacks. Continuous training can aid in reducing overall successful attacks.

Ian MacRae

social engineering attacks

@encomputers

Ian MacRae has been passionate about technology his entire life. He is an IT service provider in Washington DC and Virginia since 1997, providing computer repair services to customers. His favorite part of the job includes problem-solving and working with a variety of different people on various projects.

There are three types of social engineering attacks.

When I first began hiring salespeople, I just assumed pay along with commissions and bonuses would be enough motivation for them. With my first salespeople, however, I made the mistake of constantly testing out different payment structures in order to find what was best- a base salary or commission structure that included both large and small rewards throughout the year depending on performance? It turns out there is no one perfect answer to this question: some people work better when they’re motivated by money while others do not care so much about it as long as they have job security. Once we realized how little control we had over which type of person each individual employee wanted to be motivated by (and also once our finances allowed us more freedom), we went ahead and implemented an incentive system where employees were free choose their own form(s)of compensation based off company guidelines- either through a fixed wage or via commission rates set at specific percentages; whichever method worked for

2. Phishing is when someone sends an email that looks like it’s from your bank, to get you to divulge personal information.

The easiest way to avoid being a victim of fraud is to remember that if someone asks you for information or money, and it’s out of the ordinary, be cautious. Make sure they verify who they are by voice before completing any requests.

It’s important to be careful when clicking on links in emails. They might take you to a website that will ask for your information.

When I first got my computer, there were a lot of emails coming in from people pretending to be Microsoft or other companies and saying they had something for me. They wanted access to my computer so that they could get into all the stuff I was doing online.

3. Being held ransom.

You might receive an email saying: “We have your password and a compromising video of you, pay us or else.” There are a lot of ways to help prevent any of this from happening to you. First, when you get a new software or system, you need to be trained and not just on how to use it the first time. The training needs to be continual. Education is the best way to keep these criminals from playing into the fear of technology. For example, one of the measures we’ve used is phishing simulators to help people recognize malicious attempts.

If you have an IT help desk, good communication is the best way to prevent social engineering attacks. If not, talk with your provider about how they charge for services and what their hours are so that employees can feel comfortable picking up the phone when suspicious emails or texts come in.

Adnan Raja

social engineering attacks

@AtlanticNet

Adnan Raja is the Vice President of Marketing for Atlantic.net, a company that specializes in providing HIPAA-Compliant and Managed Cloud hosting.

Cyberattacks are very common in today’s digital workplaces.

The data breach often involves confidential information from a variety of employees, including the CEO and helpdesk colleagues.

A common attack is phishing when third parties try to impersonate a genuine source and send fraudulent communications in the hopes of extracting confidential data. An example would be pretending they are from banks or insurance companies.

Another common attack is whaling, which targets high-ranking executives. This type of cyber attack often relies on hackers who look for people with a higher turnover in their email account or those that have accidentally opened attachments from someone they don’t know.

Outsourcing IT operations to a provider who has an established reputation for security can help prevent social engineering attacks. They offer hardware protection and proactively monitor suspicious activity.

Brandon Schroth

social engineering attacks

@gwdatarecovery

Brandon Schroth is the Digital Manager at Gillware Data Recovery. He has a background in digital forensics and data recovery.

People who call helpdesks might be trying to trick them for information.

It is possible that a hacker will attempt to gain access to confidential information, such as bank account information. They may try this by asking for password resets or attempting to get more personal details from the call center employees.

Uladzislau Murashka

social engineering attacks

@ScienceSoft

Uladzislau Murashka is a Certified Ethical Hacker who has been working in the field of penetration testing for six years. His spheres of competence include reverse engineering, black box, white box, and gray-box application penetration tests as well as bug hunting and research work on Information Security.

Cyberattacks are the most common security threats that companies face. The types of attacks include social engineerings like phishing emails and identity theft.

Companies should also train their employees on how to use complex passwords and not log in with a company email address. This way if they get hacked, the hacker can’t access information from other sites.

The term “social engineering” is often used to describe a hacker’s attempt at obtaining unauthorized information by exploiting human trust or credulity. Phishing scams are an example of social engineering.


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SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) means bring your own device policy remains both an opportunity and a challenge, but it’s possible to capitalize on the benefits without adding risk by following these guidelines on this BYOD blog.

When employees are allowed to bring their own devices into the workplace, there is a higher risk of introducing security risks. Previously only company-issued devices were used in the workplace.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Devices at Work vs. Devices for Work

Employees are constantly at risk of security breaches, either through email or accessing company applications on their own devices.

The difference is that in the one case, employees are using their personal devices at work; and in the other case, they’re using them to conduct work. Devices that come into a company but don’t have access to its network, usually aren’t problematic as long as there’s strict BYOD policy and enforcement.

The Challenges of BYOD Security

Businesses are struggling with BYOD security because they need to exert some form of control over smartphones, tablets, and laptops that belong to employees instead of the company. As more businesses adopt BYOD policy due to awareness about these risks growing, it will become easier for companies.

More and more companies are allowing employees to use their own devices for work, which means they can be happier because it is easier to access the apps that suit them best.

About one-fourth of the survey respondents were not adopting BYOD because they felt it would introduce vulnerabilities to their company’s network and data.

The Need for BYOD security

A recent study shows that the BYOD market will reach $350 billion by 2022, and significant growth is expected in this area between 2020 and 2026. This is driven mainly by people wanting to use their smartphones for work-related tasks such as sending emails when they’re outside of the office.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, companies were forced to let people work from home. A lot of employees began using their personal devices for company-related tasks even if they weren’t supposed to.

In this study, it’s shown that employees will use their personal devices for business, whether or not the company knows and has a policy against using them. The companies who ignore these findings are ignoring what could be serious security risks.

Some companies embrace BYOD and some don’t. Some of the benefits include increased employee productivity, greater satisfaction with work-life balance, and a safer environment for employees because they’re not bringing their own devices to work.

Stakeholder and Employee Buy-In

When companies are faced with BYOD, they want to make sure their policies are in line. The first step is getting buy-in from stakeholders and employees.

Various departments in the company should be represented on a BYOD project management team, and they all have their own perspective to offer.

In order to have an effective BYOD policy, the company needs input from employees. If they don’t participate in creating it, there is a chance that policies will be too restrictive or not offer support for what devices are used.

An employee survey is the best way to get data about what devices employees are using, and which ones they would like to use in the future. You can also learn how comfortable people feel with their company’s BYOD policy.

Defining a BYOD security policy 

It is important to have a BYOD policy in order to maintain security when employees are bringing their own devices. TechTarget has outlined some essential elements of the BYOD policy, including:

  • The acceptable use policy should specify what applications and assets, employees can access from their personal devices.
  • There are minimum security controls that every device should have.
  • Company-provided components, such as device authentication with SSL certificates
  • Some companies have the right to remotely wipe devices if they are lost or stolen.

Security is a big issue with BYOD policy, and even something as simple as requiring passwords can be really effective for employees. They’re motivated to follow the policy if it’s clear that there are consequences.

Your BYOD policy should also include a service policy for personal devices, including what support is available from IT when employees connect to the company network and how they can resolve conflicts between applications on their phone versus those that are provided by work.

When it comes to BYOD policy, there are a few things that need to be outlined. These include the ownership of apps and data as well as what applications are permitted or not allowed.

When an employee leaves the company, it is crucial to have a clear, policy that explains what will happen to their device. You should also include in your written policies how IT wipes devices when employees leave.

In addition to that, companies should be able to inform employees of their liability in the event a device is wiped for security purposes. They also need to mention what happens if an employee leaks sensitive company data due negligence or misuse.

BYOD POLICY EXAMPLE FOR MANAGERS

It’s important to have a strong policy and proper implementation of it. The first thing is making sure that employees are aware of the policies, so they don’t unknowingly break them.

Password Provisions

When it comes to sensitive information, password protections are non-negotiable. Strong passwords on mobile devices and computers is a must for organizations.

Privacy Provisions

Personal devices are used for work purposes, but company data is not supposed to be on these personal devices. Privacy needs to be a concern in this situation.

Data Transfer Provisions

If someone is using an app that’s not approved for transferring data, and this application has a breach, there can be serious legal ramifications. Data should be encrypted with passwords to protect it from being transferred on other apps.

Proper Maintenance/Updates

Companies need to make sure they are up-to-date with patches and updates. They should also include protecting their devices in any policy.

Common Sense Provisions

Technology is a double-edged sword. While it can help people do their jobs more efficiently, there are also problems that come with it.

  • No BYOD device use while driving
  • It’s important to be focused on the task at hand and not get distracted by personal calls.
  • Do not take video (except possible in areas like break rooms with coworker permission).
  • Approved Applications -there are a number of apps used in the workplace. One study found employees use more than five business applications every day. Without a firm list of approved programs, your team may establish their own apps to use. Make sure to include dedicated secure messaging, email, CRM, and other apps and explicitly forbid the use of unapproved programs. Upon TerminationLeaving company data on a personal device when that person retires, finds work elsewhere, or possibly gets terminated is a bad idea. Even worse is not having a specific set of procedures when this occurs. Upon any termination, an organization is obliged to ensure all data is removed from the device and permissions removed from company applications.
  • Data Wipe Procedures. The complexity of wiping data from an employee’s phone, tablet, or computer is enough to make some businesses provide all devices to employees. Parsing through multiple email accounts and deleting certain things from apps used for both private and company affairs isn’t easy. It’s for these reasons the steps are clearly laid out in the policy.
  • Accountability Provisions: a policy with a list of guidelines, yet without clear disciplinary action for failing to abide by those provisions, means your policy has no teeth. Your policy should describe in detail how accountability is tracked, measured, and enforced. Every member of the team should understand not only how devices are to be used, but also the consequences of failing to keep company data safe.
  • Evaluate Your Technology Capabilities: In addition to creating and communicating your BYOD policy, you must ensure that you have the right technology resources at your disposal. An evaluation of your current capabilities will help to identify and fill these gaps to ensure a successful BYOD rollout.
  • Lack of oversight is one of the most common concerns surrounding BYOD implementation. Companies implementing BYOD policies need to have adequate staff in their IT support departments to help employees get set up and provide ongoing support and monitoring. Not all solutions are compatible with all BYOD device security or operating systems.
  • Companies may opt to purchase a software solution with cross-device compatibility, or they may place greater importance on features and offer a different solution for different devices and OS.
  • Companies should implement measures and procedures for verifying the installation of security solutions on all devices accessing company data. They should also create protocols for identifying and enforcing policies related to the evaluation of the risks of various apps and determining which specific applications are deemed safe as well as which applications should be prohibited. Finally, if reimbursement is included in the BYOD policy, budgetary issues should be considered and appropriate resources allocated for this purpose.
  • Considering BYOD device security Solutions: once your systems and protocols are in place, providing ongoing employee education on the importance of acceptable use as well as basic data security hygiene is critical for BYOD success. Beyond this, the right security solutions can minimize your BYOD risk and enable your policy to run smoothly. There are several elements that should be addressed by an effective BYOD security solution. The ideal solution is one that encompasses several or all of these elements and facilitates a comprehensive mobile security strategy. Below are short descriptions of various security measures which may be used as part of a comprehensive BYOD security program. 
  • Encryption for data at rest and in transit because BYOD usage takes data outside of the control of many other enterprise security measures, it is important that organizations encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit. Encryption ensures that the contents of sensitive files are protected even in a worst-case scenario such as a stolen device or traffic being intercepted over an unsecure network.
  • Requiring the use of strong passwords offers some protection, but encryption is better. As this article on the InfoSec Institute notes, “To ensure protection, organizations need to implement encryption for the entire duration of the data lifecycle (in-transit and at-rest). And to prevent unauthorized access and maintain the encryption in case of a security breach, the IT department of the concerned organization should take control of encryption keys.”
  • Application installation control. There are some controls available with certain devices and operating systems that IT can utilize to exert control over the apps installed on an employee’s device. For instance, Apple iOS devices can be configured to deny access to the App Store, and for Android devices, companies can make use of Android Enterprise for a managed Google Play portal that contains only approved applications (among many other useful features for BYOD). However, restricting an employee’s ability to download or install applications on their own devices for personal use isn’t a practical solution for most companies. These methods are similar to measures taken for parental control purposes, so naturally, employees are likely to feel as though this is an infringement on their personal freedoms. Most employees have the expectation that they will be able to use their personal devices as they choose when they’re not on the clock, conducting business, or connected to a secured company network, making other solutions more practical for BYOD security. It’s worth noting that Android Enterprise offers a containerized environment to separate work and personal applications and data, which allows companies to have better control over devices used for work purposes without limiting an employee’s personal use of their device. We’ll discuss containerization in more detail below.
  • Mobile device management: Mobile device management (MDM) solutions offer a balance between total control for employers and total freedom for employees, offering the ability to deploy, secure, and integrate devices into a network and then monitor and manage those devices centrally. The MDM field is still finding its footing and is not without its share of problems. For instance, this article in CIO reports that some enterprises could take advantage of more advanced features available with MDM, creating a less-than-ideal user experience that’s too restrictive and leading employees to resist the enterprise’s BYOD program.
  • Containerization is increasingly being offered in conjunction with (or paired with) MDM solutions. Containerization is a method by which a portion of a device can essentially be segregated into its own protected bubble, protected by a separate password and regulated by a separate set of policies, from the remainder of the applications and content on the device. This allows employees to enjoy full, uninhibited use of their devices on their own time without introducing security risks to the company’s network. When a user is logged into the containerized area, personal apps and other features not managed by the container are inaccessible. Containerization is an appealing solution that doesn’t limit employees’ ability to use their personal devices as they choose, while eliminating the possibility of employees using or accessing apps that don’t meet the company’s security threshold when working. Containerization limits corporate liability without impacting personal use, but on the downside, it doesn’t protect employees’ personal data on devices that are lost or stolen and must be wiped. This is a challenge that’s easily overcome with proper personal data backup.
  • Blacklisting is a term that describes the process of blocking or prohibiting specific applications that are determined to pose a risk to enterprise security. Blacklisting is also a method some companies use to restrict employee access to apps that can hinder productivity, such as games or social networking apps. File-sharing services are another category of apps that often find themselves on blacklists, as companies fear that sensitive information could be shared with unauthorized third parties, either intentionally or inadvertently, by employees. While it can be effective by limiting access to applications that don’t meet your company’s security criteria, blacklisting is not often used for BYOD, as the process means controlling access to applications on employees’ personal devices both during work and during off-hours. Naturally, this poses an issue for some employees who enjoy playing Pokémon GO when they’re not at work.
  • Whitelisting is simply the opposite of blacklisting. Instead of blocking access to a list of specific applications, whitelisting allows access only to a list of approved applications. It’s often considered a more effective process simply because of the sheer number of applications and websites that exist. Waiting until an employee has downloaded an app and used it to transmit data to determine that it poses a security risk is sometimes too little, too late.Whitelisting circumvents this issue by simply not allowing access to anything unless it has been pre-approved as safe by IT. Of course, like blacklisting, this can create problems for BYOD by blocking employees’ access to apps that they might want to use when they’re not at work.Other BYOD security measuresThere are a variety of other security measures that are sometimes used as part of a comprehensive BYOD security program. Antivirus software installed on individual devices, for instance, is often a staple of such security programs. Companies may purchase a volume license and install software on BYOD devices or simply require employees to install their own and verify with IT that their devices are protected. With more malware targeting mobile devices, the risk of such a malicious program impacting the company network by way of an employee’s personal device is very real.
  • Monitoring is another component sometimes used as part of a BYOD security program, albeit with mixed opinions. IT could implement systems that monitor the GPS location of employee devices, or Internet traffic on individual devices. While these monitoring systems can prove beneficial for detecting unusual activity or locating a lost device, many consider these solutions to venture too far into employees’ privacy.
  • The bottom line is that BYOD security, like enterprise security, requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses the potential risks while minimizing intrusions on employee privacy and usability when it comes to personal use. Context-aware security solutions that provide control over user access, applications, network connectivity, and devices, in addition to encryption capabilities, combine the key elements necessary for ensuring enterprise security in the BYOD landscape. Enterprises embracing these solutions capitalize on the benefits and reap the rewards of BYOD, such as employee productivity and satisfaction due to greater work-life balance, while effectively mitigating the security risks that once plagued companies adopting BYOD.

Approved Applications

There are many apps that people use in the workplace, and some of them may not be approved. It’s important to include secure messaging, emailing tools like CRM or other programs on a list of what is allowed for employees.

Upon Termination

When a person leaves the company, they should never take any data with them. This is especially true if an employee has been terminated because their access to anything on that device will be revoked.

Data Wipe Procedures

Companies are more aware of the difficulty in wiping data from devices. They want to avoid any issues with personal and company use so they provide their employees with all necessary equipment.

Accountability Provisions

You need to make sure you have clear guidelines, but also know how accountability is tracked and enforced.

Evaluate Your Technology Capabilities

You should make sure you have the right technology in place before implementing BYOD. You need to evaluate your current capabilities and identify any gaps that could lead to a failed rollout.

One of the most common concerns with BYOD policies is that there’s not enough IT support staff to help employees get set up and provide ongoing support. There are some solutions that work for everyone, but others don’t work on every device.

Companies should consider allocating more money for BYOD reimbursement if they want to give their employees the option of bringing in a personal device. They also need to make sure that policies are set up so people can’t download apps on company devices without permission from IT, and decide what communication protocols will be used when an employee is fired.

Considering BYOD Security Solutions 

Once your systems and protocols are in place, providing ongoing employee education on the importance of acceptable use as well as basic data security hygiene is critical for BYOD success. Beyond this, you’ll need to make sure that you have the right solutions: There should be several elements that will help minimize risk and support a successful policy.

It’s not enough to just have a diverse workforce, but it is important that the culture of an organization be inclusive and welcoming

Encryption for data at rest and in transit

BYOD usage takes data outside of the control of many other enterprise security measures, so it’s important to encrypt sensitive files. This ensures that even in a worst-case scenario like theft or interception over an unsecure network, the file contents are protected.

Strong passwords offer some protection, but encryption is better. As this article on the InfoSec Institute notes, “To ensure protection and prevent unauthorized access to data in-transit or at rest, organizations need to implement encryption for the entire duration of a file’s lifecycle (in transit and at rest). To maintain control over keys in case of security breaches though they should be under IT department management.”

Application installation control

IT can control the apps employees install on their devices with certain features.

Employees can’t download and install applications on their own devices for personal use, which is a violation of their rights. There are other solutions that allow employees to have better control over work purposes without limiting an employee’s personal use of the device.

Mobile device management

Mobile device management solutions offer a balance between total control and freedom for employees, but these systems are not perfect.

Containerization

Containerization is a new method for companies that allows employees to use their personal devices with no restrictions while at work. Containerized areas are separate from the rest of the device and password protected, which keeps all company data safe.

Containerization limits corporate liability without impacting personal use, but on the downside, it doesn’t protect employees’ personal data if their devices are lost or stolen. This can be overcome by doing proper backups of your own personal data.

Blacklisting

Blacklisting is the process of blocking or prohibiting specific applications that are determined to pose a risk to enterprise security. Blacklisting also refers to restricting employee access by companies who fear sensitive information could be shared with unauthorized third parties, either intentionally or inadvertently, by employees.

Blacklisting is not often used for BYOD, because it restricts access to applications on employees’ personal devices, both during work and off-hours. This can be a problem for some people who enjoy playing Pokémon GO when they’re not at work.

Whitelisting

Whitelisting is when you allow specific programs, instead of blocking access to the list. It’s better because with all the apps out there it can be hard to keep track.

The whitelisting approach just means that you’re not allowed to access anything unless it has been pre-approved by IT. Of course, this can cause problems for BYOD because employees might want to use certain apps when they are not at work.

Other BYOD security measures

There are a number of other security measures that may be used in conjunction with BYOD. For instance, antivirus software installed on individual devices is often an important part of such programs.

Monitoring is sometimes used in BYOD security programs, but many people think this goes too far into employee privacy.

The bottom line is that BYOD security, like enterprise security, requires a multi-faceted approach to mitigate the risks while also allowing employees their privacy and usability when it comes to personal use. Context-aware solutions offer control over user access, applications on devices with network connectivity and encryption capabilities which combine all of the key elements for ensuring this in an environment where enterprises are embracing these types of strategies.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) means bring your own device policy remains both an opportunity and a challenge, but it’s possible to capitalize on the benefits without adding risk by following these guidelines on this BYOD blog.

When employees are allowed to bring their own devices into the workplace, there is a higher risk of introducing security risks. Previously only company-issued devices were used in the workplace.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Devices at Work vs. Devices for Work

Employees are constantly at risk of security breaches, either through email or accessing company applications on their own devices.

The difference is that in the one case, employees are using their personal devices at work; and in the other case, they’re using them to conduct work. Devices that come into a company but don’t have access to its network, usually aren’t problematic as long as there’s strict BYOD policy and enforcement.

The Challenges of BYOD Security

Businesses are struggling with BYOD security because they need to exert some form of control over smartphones, tablets, and laptops that belong to employees instead of the company. As more businesses adopt BYOD policy due to awareness about these risks growing, it will become easier for companies.

More and more companies are allowing employees to use their own devices for work, which means they can be happier because it is easier to access the apps that suit them best.

About one-fourth of the survey respondents were not adopting BYOD because they felt it would introduce vulnerabilities to their company’s network and data.

The Need for BYOD security

A recent study shows that the BYOD market will reach $350 billion by 2022, and significant growth is expected in this area between 2020 and 2026. This is driven mainly by people wanting to use their smartphones for work-related tasks such as sending emails when they’re outside of the office.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, companies were forced to let people work from home. A lot of employees began using their personal devices for company-related tasks even if they weren’t supposed to.

In this study, it’s shown that employees will use their personal devices for business, whether or not the company knows and has a policy against using them. The companies who ignore these findings are ignoring what could be serious security risks.

Some companies embrace BYOD and some don’t. Some of the benefits include increased employee productivity, greater satisfaction with work-life balance, and a safer environment for employees because they’re not bringing their own devices to work.

Stakeholder and Employee Buy-In

When companies are faced with BYOD, they want to make sure their policies are in line. The first step is getting buy-in from stakeholders and employees.

Various departments in the company should be represented on a BYOD project management team, and they all have their own perspective to offer.

In order to have an effective BYOD policy, the company needs input from employees. If they don’t participate in creating it, there is a chance that policies will be too restrictive or not offer support for what devices are used.

An employee survey is the best way to get data about what devices employees are using, and which ones they would like to use in the future. You can also learn how comfortable people feel with their company’s BYOD policy.

Defining a BYOD security policy 

It is important to have a BYOD policy in order to maintain security when employees are bringing their own devices. TechTarget has outlined some essential elements of the BYOD policy, including:

  • The acceptable use policy should specify what applications and assets, employees can access from their personal devices.
  • There are minimum security controls that every device should have.
  • Company-provided components, such as device authentication with SSL certificates
  • Some companies have the right to remotely wipe devices if they are lost or stolen.

Security is a big issue with BYOD policy, and even something as simple as requiring passwords can be really effective for employees. They’re motivated to follow the policy if it’s clear that there are consequences.

Your BYOD policy should also include a service policy for personal devices, including what support is available from IT when employees connect to the company network and how they can resolve conflicts between applications on their phone versus those that are provided by work.

When it comes to BYOD policy, there are a few things that need to be outlined. These include the ownership of apps and data as well as what applications are permitted or not allowed.

When an employee leaves the company, it is crucial to have a clear, policy that explains what will happen to their device. You should also include in your written policies how IT wipes devices when employees leave.

In addition to that, companies should be able to inform employees of their liability in the event a device is wiped for security purposes. They also need to mention what happens if an employee leaks sensitive company data due negligence or misuse.

BYOD POLICY EXAMPLE FOR MANAGERS

It’s important to have a strong policy and proper implementation of it. The first thing is making sure that employees are aware of the policies, so they don’t unknowingly break them.

Password Provisions

When it comes to sensitive information, password protections are non-negotiable. Strong passwords on mobile devices and computers is a must for organizations.

Privacy Provisions

Personal devices are used for work purposes, but company data is not supposed to be on these personal devices. Privacy needs to be a concern in this situation.

Data Transfer Provisions

If someone is using an app that’s not approved for transferring data, and this application has a breach, there can be serious legal ramifications. Data should be encrypted with passwords to protect it from being transferred on other apps.

Proper Maintenance/Updates

Companies need to make sure they are up-to-date with patches and updates. They should also include protecting their devices in any policy.

Common Sense Provisions

Technology is a double-edged sword. While it can help people do their jobs more efficiently, there are also problems that come with it.

  • No BYOD device use while driving
  • It’s important to be focused on the task at hand and not get distracted by personal calls.
  • Do not take video (except possible in areas like break rooms with coworker permission).
  • Approved Applications -there are a number of apps used in the workplace. One study found employees use more than five business applications every day. Without a firm list of approved programs, your team may establish their own apps to use. Make sure to include dedicated secure messaging, email, CRM, and other apps and explicitly forbid the use of unapproved programs. Upon TerminationLeaving company data on a personal device when that person retires, finds work elsewhere, or possibly gets terminated is a bad idea. Even worse is not having a specific set of procedures when this occurs. Upon any termination, an organization is obliged to ensure all data is removed from the device and permissions removed from company applications.
  • Data Wipe Procedures. The complexity of wiping data from an employee’s phone, tablet, or computer is enough to make some businesses provide all devices to employees. Parsing through multiple email accounts and deleting certain things from apps used for both private and company affairs isn’t easy. It’s for these reasons the steps are clearly laid out in the policy.
  • Accountability Provisions: a policy with a list of guidelines, yet without clear disciplinary action for failing to abide by those provisions, means your policy has no teeth. Your policy should describe in detail how accountability is tracked, measured, and enforced. Every member of the team should understand not only how devices are to be used, but also the consequences of failing to keep company data safe.
  • Evaluate Your Technology Capabilities: In addition to creating and communicating your BYOD policy, you must ensure that you have the right technology resources at your disposal. An evaluation of your current capabilities will help to identify and fill these gaps to ensure a successful BYOD rollout.
  • Lack of oversight is one of the most common concerns surrounding BYOD implementation. Companies implementing BYOD policies need to have adequate staff in their IT support departments to help employees get set up and provide ongoing support and monitoring. Not all solutions are compatible with all BYOD device security or operating systems.
  • Companies may opt to purchase a software solution with cross-device compatibility, or they may place greater importance on features and offer a different solution for different devices and OS.
  • Companies should implement measures and procedures for verifying the installation of security solutions on all devices accessing company data. They should also create protocols for identifying and enforcing policies related to the evaluation of the risks of various apps and determining which specific applications are deemed safe as well as which applications should be prohibited. Finally, if reimbursement is included in the BYOD policy, budgetary issues should be considered and appropriate resources allocated for this purpose.
  • Considering BYOD device security Solutions: once your systems and protocols are in place, providing ongoing employee education on the importance of acceptable use as well as basic data security hygiene is critical for BYOD success. Beyond this, the right security solutions can minimize your BYOD risk and enable your policy to run smoothly. There are several elements that should be addressed by an effective BYOD security solution. The ideal solution is one that encompasses several or all of these elements and facilitates a comprehensive mobile security strategy. Below are short descriptions of various security measures which may be used as part of a comprehensive BYOD security program. 
  • Encryption for data at rest and in transit because BYOD usage takes data outside of the control of many other enterprise security measures, it is important that organizations encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit. Encryption ensures that the contents of sensitive files are protected even in a worst-case scenario such as a stolen device or traffic being intercepted over an unsecure network.
  • Requiring the use of strong passwords offers some protection, but encryption is better. As this article on the InfoSec Institute notes, “To ensure protection, organizations need to implement encryption for the entire duration of the data lifecycle (in-transit and at-rest). And to prevent unauthorized access and maintain the encryption in case of a security breach, the IT department of the concerned organization should take control of encryption keys.”
  • Application installation control. There are some controls available with certain devices and operating systems that IT can utilize to exert control over the apps installed on an employee’s device. For instance, Apple iOS devices can be configured to deny access to the App Store, and for Android devices, companies can make use of Android Enterprise for a managed Google Play portal that contains only approved applications (among many other useful features for BYOD). However, restricting an employee’s ability to download or install applications on their own devices for personal use isn’t a practical solution for most companies. These methods are similar to measures taken for parental control purposes, so naturally, employees are likely to feel as though this is an infringement on their personal freedoms. Most employees have the expectation that they will be able to use their personal devices as they choose when they’re not on the clock, conducting business, or connected to a secured company network, making other solutions more practical for BYOD security. It’s worth noting that Android Enterprise offers a containerized environment to separate work and personal applications and data, which allows companies to have better control over devices used for work purposes without limiting an employee’s personal use of their device. We’ll discuss containerization in more detail below.
  • Mobile device management: Mobile device management (MDM) solutions offer a balance between total control for employers and total freedom for employees, offering the ability to deploy, secure, and integrate devices into a network and then monitor and manage those devices centrally. The MDM field is still finding its footing and is not without its share of problems. For instance, this article in CIO reports that some enterprises could take advantage of more advanced features available with MDM, creating a less-than-ideal user experience that’s too restrictive and leading employees to resist the enterprise’s BYOD program.
  • Containerization is increasingly being offered in conjunction with (or paired with) MDM solutions. Containerization is a method by which a portion of a device can essentially be segregated into its own protected bubble, protected by a separate password and regulated by a separate set of policies, from the remainder of the applications and content on the device. This allows employees to enjoy full, uninhibited use of their devices on their own time without introducing security risks to the company’s network. When a user is logged into the containerized area, personal apps and other features not managed by the container are inaccessible. Containerization is an appealing solution that doesn’t limit employees’ ability to use their personal devices as they choose, while eliminating the possibility of employees using or accessing apps that don’t meet the company’s security threshold when working. Containerization limits corporate liability without impacting personal use, but on the downside, it doesn’t protect employees’ personal data on devices that are lost or stolen and must be wiped. This is a challenge that’s easily overcome with proper personal data backup.
  • Blacklisting is a term that describes the process of blocking or prohibiting specific applications that are determined to pose a risk to enterprise security. Blacklisting is also a method some companies use to restrict employee access to apps that can hinder productivity, such as games or social networking apps. File-sharing services are another category of apps that often find themselves on blacklists, as companies fear that sensitive information could be shared with unauthorized third parties, either intentionally or inadvertently, by employees. While it can be effective by limiting access to applications that don’t meet your company’s security criteria, blacklisting is not often used for BYOD, as the process means controlling access to applications on employees’ personal devices both during work and during off-hours. Naturally, this poses an issue for some employees who enjoy playing Pokémon GO when they’re not at work.
  • Whitelisting is simply the opposite of blacklisting. Instead of blocking access to a list of specific applications, whitelisting allows access only to a list of approved applications. It’s often considered a more effective process simply because of the sheer number of applications and websites that exist. Waiting until an employee has downloaded an app and used it to transmit data to determine that it poses a security risk is sometimes too little, too late.Whitelisting circumvents this issue by simply not allowing access to anything unless it has been pre-approved as safe by IT. Of course, like blacklisting, this can create problems for BYOD by blocking employees’ access to apps that they might want to use when they’re not at work.Other BYOD security measuresThere are a variety of other security measures that are sometimes used as part of a comprehensive BYOD security program. Antivirus software installed on individual devices, for instance, is often a staple of such security programs. Companies may purchase a volume license and install software on BYOD devices or simply require employees to install their own and verify with IT that their devices are protected. With more malware targeting mobile devices, the risk of such a malicious program impacting the company network by way of an employee’s personal device is very real.
  • Monitoring is another component sometimes used as part of a BYOD security program, albeit with mixed opinions. IT could implement systems that monitor the GPS location of employee devices, or Internet traffic on individual devices. While these monitoring systems can prove beneficial for detecting unusual activity or locating a lost device, many consider these solutions to venture too far into employees’ privacy.
  • The bottom line is that BYOD security, like enterprise security, requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses the potential risks while minimizing intrusions on employee privacy and usability when it comes to personal use. Context-aware security solutions that provide control over user access, applications, network connectivity, and devices, in addition to encryption capabilities, combine the key elements necessary for ensuring enterprise security in the BYOD landscape. Enterprises embracing these solutions capitalize on the benefits and reap the rewards of BYOD, such as employee productivity and satisfaction due to greater work-life balance, while effectively mitigating the security risks that once plagued companies adopting BYOD.

Approved Applications

There are many apps that people use in the workplace, and some of them may not be approved. It’s important to include secure messaging, emailing tools like CRM or other programs on a list of what is allowed for employees.

Upon Termination

When a person leaves the company, they should never take any data with them. This is especially true if an employee has been terminated because their access to anything on that device will be revoked.

Data Wipe Procedures

Companies are more aware of the difficulty in wiping data from devices. They want to avoid any issues with personal and company use so they provide their employees with all necessary equipment.

Accountability Provisions

You need to make sure you have clear guidelines, but also know how accountability is tracked and enforced.

Evaluate Your Technology Capabilities

You should make sure you have the right technology in place before implementing BYOD. You need to evaluate your current capabilities and identify any gaps that could lead to a failed rollout.

One of the most common concerns with BYOD policies is that there’s not enough IT support staff to help employees get set up and provide ongoing support. There are some solutions that work for everyone, but others don’t work on every device.

Companies should consider allocating more money for BYOD reimbursement if they want to give their employees the option of bringing in a personal device. They also need to make sure that policies are set up so people can’t download apps on company devices without permission from IT, and decide what communication protocols will be used when an employee is fired.

Considering BYOD Security Solutions 

Once your systems and protocols are in place, providing ongoing employee education on the importance of acceptable use as well as basic data security hygiene is critical for BYOD success. Beyond this, you’ll need to make sure that you have the right solutions: There should be several elements that will help minimize risk and support a successful policy.

It’s not enough to just have a diverse workforce, but it is important that the culture of an organization be inclusive and welcoming

Encryption for data at rest and in transit

BYOD usage takes data outside of the control of many other enterprise security measures, so it’s important to encrypt sensitive files. This ensures that even in a worst-case scenario like theft or interception over an unsecure network, the file contents are protected.

Strong passwords offer some protection, but encryption is better. As this article on the InfoSec Institute notes, “To ensure protection and prevent unauthorized access to data in-transit or at rest, organizations need to implement encryption for the entire duration of a file’s lifecycle (in transit and at rest). To maintain control over keys in case of security breaches though they should be under IT department management.”

Application installation control

IT can control the apps employees install on their devices with certain features.

Employees can’t download and install applications on their own devices for personal use, which is a violation of their rights. There are other solutions that allow employees to have better control over work purposes without limiting an employee’s personal use of the device.

Mobile device management

Mobile device management solutions offer a balance between total control and freedom for employees, but these systems are not perfect.

Containerization

Containerization is a new method for companies that allows employees to use their personal devices with no restrictions while at work. Containerized areas are separate from the rest of the device and password protected, which keeps all company data safe.

Containerization limits corporate liability without impacting personal use, but on the downside, it doesn’t protect employees’ personal data if their devices are lost or stolen. This can be overcome by doing proper backups of your own personal data.

Blacklisting

Blacklisting is the process of blocking or prohibiting specific applications that are determined to pose a risk to enterprise security. Blacklisting also refers to restricting employee access by companies who fear sensitive information could be shared with unauthorized third parties, either intentionally or inadvertently, by employees.

Blacklisting is not often used for BYOD, because it restricts access to applications on employees’ personal devices, both during work and off-hours. This can be a problem for some people who enjoy playing Pokémon GO when they’re not at work.

Whitelisting

Whitelisting is when you allow specific programs, instead of blocking access to the list. It’s better because with all the apps out there it can be hard to keep track.

The whitelisting approach just means that you’re not allowed to access anything unless it has been pre-approved by IT. Of course, this can cause problems for BYOD because employees might want to use certain apps when they are not at work.

Other BYOD security measures

There are a number of other security measures that may be used in conjunction with BYOD. For instance, antivirus software installed on individual devices is often an important part of such programs.

Monitoring is sometimes used in BYOD security programs, but many people think this goes too far into employee privacy.

The bottom line is that BYOD security, like enterprise security, requires a multi-faceted approach to mitigate the risks while also allowing employees their privacy and usability when it comes to personal use. Context-aware solutions offer control over user access, applications on devices with network connectivity and encryption capabilities which combine all of the key elements for ensuring this in an environment where enterprises are embracing these types of strategies.


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What is a Security Analyst?

If you want to know more about the security analyst role, this is a good place to start.

What Does a Security Analyst Do?

The security analyst is responsible for identifying and correcting flaws in the company’s security systems. They also recommend ways to improve it.


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Security Analysts Job Responsibilities

A security analyst’s job is to secure company data from being accessed by unauthorized users. They have the responsibility of securing both online and on-premise infrastructures, filtering through metrics and suspicious activity, identifying risks before a breach occurs.

Security analysts are also responsible for generating reports to evaluate the network security. They may create training modules and programs, as well.

Security analysts are responsible for a lot of things, including security systems and documentation. They also have to plan for incidents and disasters.

Security analyst job responsibilities include: 

  • Monitoring security access
  • Doing a security assessment by testing for vulnerabilities and evaluating risk.
  • An internal security audit is performed by the company itself, while an external one is done by a third-party corporation.
  • Security breaches are analyzed to find out what was the cause of it.
  • Company incident response and disaster recovery plans need to be updated regularly.
  • Making sure that third-party vendors are secure and working with them to make sure they comply with security requirements.

Security Analyst Skills

When considering how to become a security analyst, keep in mind that a security analysts should have a wide variety of skills to be successful, including:
-Analyzing and understanding complex systems
-Conducting research on emerging threats

  • Ethical hacking is a way of helping companies identify potential threats and protect themselves from malicious hackers. They do this by testing networks, computers, web-based applications, etc.
  • Intrusion prevention is a type of system that monitors network traffic and responds to any potential threats.
  • Incident response is responsible for repairing the damage done by an attack or breach, such as minimizing its impact and changing security controls to prevent future incidents.
  • Computer forensics helps prevent crime by collecting, analyzing and reporting data. It can also create evidence in the event of a breach.
  • Reverse engineering is a way to figure out how software works so that you can fix bugs or analyze malware.

Security analyst are expected to have expertise in cyber security, firewalls, network security etc. They must also keep up with the latest trends.

Security analysts need to be detail-oriented and analytical, as well as have good interpersonal skills. They also must work with scenarios – meaning they might spend hours poring over data looking for anomalies.

Cyber Security Analyst Requirements 

Security analysts have a high stress level, but it comes with excellent opportunities for advancement and salary. It is ranked 7th on the Best Technology Jobs list, 19th among The 100 best jobs in STEM fields and 52nd on the U.S News & World Report.

The median salary for security analysts in 2016 was $92,600 annually. Most companies require one to five years of work experience before hiring entry-level employees.

The security analyst industry is growing, and the need for qualified professionals will increase 18% between 2014-2024. An estimated 14,800 additional analysts are needed by 2024.

There are a lot of certifications that can help either current analysts or other security professionals looking to become an analyst.

  • The C.E.H credential means you are certified to use the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker, but only for legal purposes.
  • CompTIA Network+ is a vendor-neutral certification that tests your skills in designing, managing, troubleshooting and configuring networks.
  • The CWAPT Certified Penetration Tester course teaches you how to test and protect web applications.
  • If you want to be a Reverse Engineering Analyst, then this certification is for you.

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SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

What is a Security Analyst?

If you want to know more about the security analyst role, this is a good place to start.

What Does a Security Analyst Do?

The security analyst is responsible for identifying and correcting flaws in the company’s security systems. They also recommend ways to improve it.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Security Analysts Job Responsibilities

A security analyst’s job is to secure company data from being accessed by unauthorized users. They have the responsibility of securing both online and on-premise infrastructures, filtering through metrics and suspicious activity, identifying risks before a breach occurs.

Security analysts are also responsible for generating reports to evaluate the network security. They may create training modules and programs, as well.

Security analysts are responsible for a lot of things, including security systems and documentation. They also have to plan for incidents and disasters.

Security analyst job responsibilities include: 

  • Monitoring security access
  • Doing a security assessment by testing for vulnerabilities and evaluating risk.
  • An internal security audit is performed by the company itself, while an external one is done by a third-party corporation.
  • Security breaches are analyzed to find out what was the cause of it.
  • Company incident response and disaster recovery plans need to be updated regularly.
  • Making sure that third-party vendors are secure and working with them to make sure they comply with security requirements.

Security Analyst Skills

When considering how to become a security analyst, keep in mind that a security analysts should have a wide variety of skills to be successful, including:
-Analyzing and understanding complex systems
-Conducting research on emerging threats

  • Ethical hacking is a way of helping companies identify potential threats and protect themselves from malicious hackers. They do this by testing networks, computers, web-based applications, etc.
  • Intrusion prevention is a type of system that monitors network traffic and responds to any potential threats.
  • Incident response is responsible for repairing the damage done by an attack or breach, such as minimizing its impact and changing security controls to prevent future incidents.
  • Computer forensics helps prevent crime by collecting, analyzing and reporting data. It can also create evidence in the event of a breach.
  • Reverse engineering is a way to figure out how software works so that you can fix bugs or analyze malware.

Security analyst are expected to have expertise in cyber security, firewalls, network security etc. They must also keep up with the latest trends.

Security analysts need to be detail-oriented and analytical, as well as have good interpersonal skills. They also must work with scenarios – meaning they might spend hours poring over data looking for anomalies.

Cyber Security Analyst Requirements 

Security analysts have a high stress level, but it comes with excellent opportunities for advancement and salary. It is ranked 7th on the Best Technology Jobs list, 19th among The 100 best jobs in STEM fields and 52nd on the U.S News & World Report.

The median salary for security analysts in 2016 was $92,600 annually. Most companies require one to five years of work experience before hiring entry-level employees.

The security analyst industry is growing, and the need for qualified professionals will increase 18% between 2014-2024. An estimated 14,800 additional analysts are needed by 2024.

There are a lot of certifications that can help either current analysts or other security professionals looking to become an analyst.

  • The C.E.H credential means you are certified to use the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker, but only for legal purposes.
  • CompTIA Network+ is a vendor-neutral certification that tests your skills in designing, managing, troubleshooting and configuring networks.
  • The CWAPT Certified Penetration Tester course teaches you how to test and protect web applications.
  • If you want to be a Reverse Engineering Analyst, then this certification is for you.

Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


What is next generation firewall?

Firewalls are an important security tool, but in today’s changing threat landscape only next generation firewalls can provide proper protection.

NGFW Definition

NGFW stands for next generation firewall. Gartner when defining the next generation firewall (NGFW) said it is an inspection system that goes beyond protocol and port blocking. It includes application-level inspections with intrusion prevention capabilities.


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Key difference between standard and next generation firewalls

NGFW’s are a more advanced version of regular firewalls. Like their predecessors, NGFW’s use both static and dynamic packet filtering to secure connections between the network, internet, and firewall.

NGFW’s are different from traditional ones. A key difference between standard and next generation firewalls, for example, is that they can filter packets based on the applications that have been identified by analysis and signature matching.

NGFW’s have many benefits to companies that use them. They can block malware from entering a network, something traditional firewalls would never be able to do. NGFW’s are better equipped for Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). Companies with next generation firewall solutions may also notice the low cost because they don’t need as much security software and features like antivirus protection.

While both NGFW and traditional firewalls aim to protect an organization’s network and data assets, they also have several differences.

The main similarities include static packet filtering to block packets at the point of interface to network traffic. They also both have the capability to provide stateful packet inspection, network, and port address translations, and both can set up VPN connections.

One of the most important differences between traditional and next-generation firewalls is that NGFW’s offer deep-packet inspection that goes beyond simple port and protocol inspection by inspecting the data carried in network packets. Other key differences are that NGFW’s add application-level inspection, intrusion prevention, and the ability to act on data provided by threat intelligence services.

NGFW’s extend the traditional firewall functionality of NAT, PAT, and VPN support to operate both in routed mode — in which the firewall behaves as a router — and in transparent mode — in which the firewall behaves like a bump in the wire when it scans packets — while also integrating new threat management technologies.

Next-generation firewall features

NGFW’s combine the capabilities of traditional firewalls–including packet filtering, network address translation (NAT) and port address translation (PAT), URL blocking, and virtual private networks. These include intrusion prevention, SSL inspection or SSH inspection as well as deep-packet inspection. It has a reputation-based malware detection feature that is not found in traditional firewalls.

NGFW’s typically feature advanced functions including:

  • Application awareness;
  • Integrated intrusion prevention systems;
  • Identity awareness — user and group control;
  • Bridged and routed modes; and
  • The ability to use external intelligence sources.

Of these offerings, most next Generation Firewalls integrate at least three basic security features: enterprise firewall capabilities, an IPS and application control.

Stateful inspection is a new concept for traditional scanning. Firewalls, NGFWs bring additional context to the firewall’s decision-making process. They provide it with the ability to understand the details of web application traffic passing through it and to take action to block traffic that might find ways to take advantage of people’s weaknesses.

Benefits of next-generation firewalls

The different features of next-generation firewalls combine to create unique benefits for users. NGFW’s are often able to block malware before it enters a network, something that was not possible previously.

NGFW’s are also better equipped to address advanced persistent threats (APTs) because they can be used to fight cyber terrorism. NGFWs also can offer a low-cost option for companies trying to improve basic device security through the use of application awareness, inspection services, protection systems, and awareness tools.

Next gen firewall protection 

With the rise of personal devices and larger networks, an NGFW is almost as important. Threats to these devices are changing every day so having a flexible NGFW can protect from intrusions that wouldn’t have been stopped by an older style of the firewall. 


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What is UEBA?

Hackers now have many ways to break into firewalls, whether by sending you e-mails with infected attachments or bribing an employee. The old tools and systems are quickly becoming obsolete.

User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) helps you make sure that your organization is secure, while also detecting users who might compromise the system.


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A Definition of User and Entity Behavior Analytics

UEBA is a type of cyber security process that takes note of the normal conduct of users. For example, if someone regularly downloads 10 MB but suddenly they download gigabytes, it will be able to detect this anomaly and alert them immediately.

UEBA uses machine learning to see when there are deviations from established patterns, which could result in a potential or real threat. UEBA can also aggregate data you have and analyze file information.

UEBA is different from other security programs because it focuses on insider threats. These include rogue employees, compromised employees, and people who have access to your system but carry out targeted attacks or fraud attempts.

Benefits of UEBA

The old days of cyber security involved web gateways, firewalls and intrusion prevention tools. This is no longer the case as hackers are able to bypass these defenses with ease.

Even though you can’t prevent attacks, it’s important to know when they happen and minimize the damage as quickly as possible.

How UEBA Works

The premise of UEBA or ubea is actually very simple. You can easily steal an employee’s password and user name, but it’s much harder to mimic the person’s normal behavior once inside. For example, let’s say you steal Jane Doe’s username and password
You would still not be able to act precisely like Jane Doe once in the system unless given extensive research or preparation time for their specific profile personality
Therefore, when login from another account with different behavioral patterns than typical Jane Doe comes up – that will trigger alerts on UEBA security. 

If someone steals your credit card, they can go to a store and spend thousands of dollars without you knowing. If the thief’s spending pattern is different from yours, then fraud detection will often recognize it and block suspicious purchases.

UEBA in cyber security is an important component of IT security, which allows you to do the following prevent unauthorized access to your network.

Sometimes, user accounts are hacked. They may have installed malware on their machine or someone might be spoofing them. UEBA can help you weed out these compromised users before they cause any real problems.

A brute-force attack is when a hacker tries to guess your password by trying many different combinations. UEBA can detect and block these types of attacks, so hackers cannot get into your cloud servers or third-party authentication systems.

UEBA can help identify when a new super user is created, or if someone has been given unnecessary permissions.

You should monitor who is accessing your data and why they are doing so.

User Behavior Analytics 

SIEM is a complex set of tools and technologies that give you an accurate view of your IT system. It uses data from various sources to identify patterns or trends, then alerts you when there are anomalies.

One problem with SIEM is that advanced hackers can easily work around or evade these rules. UEBA, on the other hand, doesn’t rely on rules and instead uses risk scoring techniques to detect anomalies over time.

One of the best practices for IT security is to use both SIEM and UEBA because they create a better detection system.

User and Entity Behavior Analysis

UEBA is meant to be used as a supplement, not a replacement for other security systems.

Another great practice is to harness the storage and computational powers of big data, using machine learning and statistical analysis so that these systems automatically filter out irrelevant information for you.


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UEBA is software that uses machine learning and algorithms to identify anomalies in user behavior, which can be indicative of an impending security breach. UEBA strengthens the company’s defenses by monitoring users’ actions more closely.

Data Protection: Data At Rest vs. Data In Transit 

Data security is a hot topic for many companies, and there are different approaches you can take to protect your data. One approach is to use encryption. We’ll teach you more about that in this post.

Data at Rest and Data in Transit Defined

Data in transit, or data that is moving from one place to another like over the internet or through a private network, needs protection. Data security while it’s traveling from location to location across networks and being transferred between devices – wherever data is going, effective measures for protecting this type of information are necessary because it often isn’t as secure when its on the move.

Data at rest is data that does not move from device to device or network to network. For instance, it might be stored on a hard drive, laptop, flash drive or archived somewhere else.

Protecting sensitive data is imperative for modern companies, as attackers are finding increasingly innovative ways to steal it.


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Data at Rest and Data in Transit Encryption

Data is at risk when it’s in transit and when it’s stored, so there are two different approaches to protecting data. Encryption can protect both data in transit and data at rest.

One of the most effective ways to protect data is by using encryption. That way, even if there are any security breaches or attacks on your company’s system, all of the information will be protected.

In addition to encryption, best practices for protecting data include:
– Encrypting all data in transit and at rest.
– Requiring strong passwords with a minimum of 8 characters containing letters, numbers and symbols.

  • To protect data in transit, companies should implement network security controls like firewalls and network access control. These will help secure the networks used to transmit information against malware attacks or intrusions.
  • Don’t use reactive security to protect your data. Instead, identify at-risk data and implement proactive measures that keep it safe.
  • It’s important for companies to include data protection solutions in their choice of security options, which would prompt the user or encrypt sensitive information.
  • The company should create policies for categorizing and classifying all data, no matter where it resides. Policies are necessary to ensure that appropriate protections are in place while the data is at rest as well as when it’s accessed.

Don’t rely on the cloud service to secure your data. You need to evaluate vendors based on security measures they offer, and make sure you know who has access to your data.

Data in motion and data at rest both have risks, but it’s how valuable your data is that really determines the risk.

Data at Rest vs Data in Motion 

Employees are always transferring data, whether it be through email or other applications. Employees can use company-approved collaboration tools, but sometimes they opt for personal services without the knowledge of their employers.

Data is more vulnerable when it’s in motion. It could be exposed to attacks, or just fall into the wrong hands.

Data at rest is often more vulnerable to cybercriminals because it’s within the company network, and they’re looking for a big payoff. It can also be targeted by malicious insiders who want to damage a company or steal data before moving on.

Data at rest can be vulnerable if it is not in an office space.

Data at rest or in motion is always vulnerable to employee negligence. Whether data is stored locally or transferred over the internet, one moment of carelessness can leave it open for a breach.


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SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

Data Protection: Data At Rest vs. Data In Transit 

Data security is a hot topic for many companies, and there are different approaches you can take to protect your data. One approach is to use encryption. We’ll teach you more about that in this post.

Data at Rest and Data in Transit Defined

Data in transit, or data that is moving from one place to another like over the internet or through a private network, needs protection. Data security while it’s traveling from location to location across networks and being transferred between devices – wherever data is going, effective measures for protecting this type of information are necessary because it often isn’t as secure when its on the move.

Data at rest is data that does not move from device to device or network to network. For instance, it might be stored on a hard drive, laptop, flash drive or archived somewhere else.

Protecting sensitive data is imperative for modern companies, as attackers are finding increasingly innovative ways to steal it.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


Data at Rest and Data in Transit Encryption

Data is at risk when it’s in transit and when it’s stored, so there are two different approaches to protecting data. Encryption can protect both data in transit and data at rest.

One of the most effective ways to protect data is by using encryption. That way, even if there are any security breaches or attacks on your company’s system, all of the information will be protected.

In addition to encryption, best practices for protecting data include:
– Encrypting all data in transit and at rest.
– Requiring strong passwords with a minimum of 8 characters containing letters, numbers and symbols.

  • To protect data in transit, companies should implement network security controls like firewalls and network access control. These will help secure the networks used to transmit information against malware attacks or intrusions.
  • Don’t use reactive security to protect your data. Instead, identify at-risk data and implement proactive measures that keep it safe.
  • It’s important for companies to include data protection solutions in their choice of security options, which would prompt the user or encrypt sensitive information.
  • The company should create policies for categorizing and classifying all data, no matter where it resides. Policies are necessary to ensure that appropriate protections are in place while the data is at rest as well as when it’s accessed.

Don’t rely on the cloud service to secure your data. You need to evaluate vendors based on security measures they offer, and make sure you know who has access to your data.

Data in motion and data at rest both have risks, but it’s how valuable your data is that really determines the risk.

Data at Rest vs Data in Motion 

Employees are always transferring data, whether it be through email or other applications. Employees can use company-approved collaboration tools, but sometimes they opt for personal services without the knowledge of their employers.

Data is more vulnerable when it’s in motion. It could be exposed to attacks, or just fall into the wrong hands.

Data at rest is often more vulnerable to cybercriminals because it’s within the company network, and they’re looking for a big payoff. It can also be targeted by malicious insiders who want to damage a company or steal data before moving on.

Data at rest can be vulnerable if it is not in an office space.

Data at rest or in motion is always vulnerable to employee negligence. Whether data is stored locally or transferred over the internet, one moment of carelessness can leave it open for a breach.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


What is Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

We’ll cover how IAM works and why it’s important for organizations to have in order to protect their data. IAM stands for Identity and access management, it is a term for managing user identities and regulating who can do what within an organization.

There are two key concepts in IAM: access, which refers to what a user can do (like view or create files), and users, who could be employees or contractors.


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SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.


IAM Explained

IAM systems are designed to identify, authenticate and authorize users. This means that only the right people should have access to any IT resources or perform specific tasks.

Some of the most important components in an IAM framework are:

  • The database holds the identity and access privileges of users.
  • IAM tools are used to create, monitor, modify and delete access privileges.
  • A system that records login and access history.

IAM usually falls under IT departments and cybersecurity sections. IAM is about keeping access privileges up-to-date as new people come in or roles change.

IAM Examples

IAM is a good example of how to create an inclusive workplace.

  • When a user enters his login credentials, the system checks to see if they match what’s stored in its database. For example, when someone logs into a content management system and then posts their work on it, that person can only edit their own works but not others.
  • An operator can view an online work procedure, but not edit it. A supervisor may have the power to modify documents, which could lead to disastrous effects if there’s no IAM in place.
  • IAM helps companies meet stringent and complex regulations. IAM makes it so that only specific users in the organization are allowed to access sensitive information, which means outsiders can’t get into company files.

Role-Based Access

One of the benefits to role-based access control (RBAC) is that it helps keep employees focused on their jobs. It also minimizes any concerns about people having too much power and opening up sensitive information.

Single Sign-On

Single Sign-On (SSO) is when users only need to verify themselves one time. After they log in, they would be able to access all systems without the need for separate passwords.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Whenever you need an extra step for authentication, it’s either two-factor (2FA) or multi-factor (MFA). These processes combine something the user knows with a thing that they have or part of their body.

Why is IAM important?

Here are some of the main benefits that IAM is important for.

  • With IAM, companies can make sure the right people have access to information and prevent data breaches.
  • IAM can streamline IT workloads. Whenever a security policy gets updated, all access privileges across the organization can be changed in one sweep.
  • IAM helps with compliance, especially in the healthcare industry. It also implements best practices for IAM.
  • IAM helps you collaborate and be more productive. Companies can share information with outsiders without risking security.
  • SSO is an important feature for companies that want to improve user experience. It’s easy to use, and it eliminates the need for complex passwords.

Best Processes for IAM

One way to ensure your company is meeting the best IAM practices would be following relevant ISO standards. These include:

  • The ISOIEC 24760-1:2019 IT Security and Privacy is a framework for identity management. It defines the terminology used in this domain.
  • The ISOIEC 24760-2:2015 is the framework for identity management. It specifies reference architecture and requirements.
  • This standard provides a framework for using identity management in the workplace.
  • ISOIEC 29115:2013 is an international standard for authentication assurance framework.
  • The ISOIEC 29146:2016 standard is a framework for access management. It has been established as the international de facto best practice.
  • ISOIEC 29100:2011 is an international standard for privacy protection.
  • This standard is for an information security framework that includes privacy architecture.
  • ISOIEC TS 29003:2018 is used to identify and authenticate people.
  • ISOIEC 29134 is an international standard that provides instructions for doing a privacy assessment.

The more robust the identity management solution, the less likely it is to be hacked. But even with a secure system in place like this one, employees can still make mistakes and crack their own security.


Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio help information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.