An innumerable amount of people become vulnerable to phishing scams every year. Through social engineering, this rather simple attack targets unsuspecting victims across various industries. Small businesses are more susceptible to cyber attacks due to their size. Larger businesses, on the other hand, have the means to invest in IT and security teams who vigilantly monitor suspicious cyber activity.
At Keystone Technology Management, we specialize in hard drive data destruction in New York and surrounding areas. Companies with old or unused IT equipment can sell their hardware to us, rather than leaving it to collect dust. Ensuring client and employee information is kept private requires a series of steps, whether it be to invest in secure data destruction or to protect current hardware and the information that can be obtained through scams — such as phishing.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a tactic used by attackers to gain private and personal information by sending an email claiming to be a reputable entity. Once victims open infected attachments or click on a link that takes them to a malicious website, the attacker has everything they need to collect sensitive information, including passwords.
Taking precautionary steps to prevent a phishing attack is fairly simple and can mean the difference between secure and vulnerable information. Here are three essential steps you can take to protect your users, data, and systems:
Educate Employees
If employees know how to distinguish a suspicious email from a trusted one, they can avoid falling into phishing traps. Check out how employees can avoid falling into phishing traps below:
Enforce a Policy for Password Security
Phishing attacks do not result from a data breach; however, enforcing a strict password policy can help protect data in the case of an attack. Passwords should be complex and regularly changed. If complex passwords are difficult to remember, invest in a password management tool. Another way to protect your data in the case of a phishing attack is to enable two-factor authentication or 2FA. If an attacker gets hold of your password, having to go through an added layer of security makes obtaining your information that much more difficult.
Monitor Suspicious Activity
Even with complex security measures, attackers can still attempt to find a way around them. For an extra line of defense, invest in automated solutions to help monitor outbound communications and detect when there is malicious activity present on your network.
Protect your client and employee information sitting in old and unused equipment by allowing Keystone Technology Management to conduct hard disk shredding services in New York. For more information on our secure data destruction services, please feel free to contact us at 800-419-7176.