Implement a data protection policy

To ensure data is secure at all times, it’s important to create a data protection policy that outlines how data should be handled by employees. This policy should include clear instructions on when data sharing is acceptable, as well as guidance on password use and device security protocols. Yet, no matter how well you define your procedures and policy, they will only work if you impart their importance to your employees. 

Use secure devices & networks

Businesses should always ensure they are using high-security devices like secure computers, firewalls and data encryption software. Additionally, they should connect to a secure Wi-Fi network while working remotely. Plus, they should consider using virtual private networks (VPNs), which can help protect data when transferring between different networks.

This should also include physical security networks, such as a digital mailbox. Thess allow for security in multiple ways. Services like iPostal1 prevent mail and package theft for your business, but also allow for privacy.  

Password system

Ensure that all data is kept secure by setting up a strong password system. All team members should have unique passwords, and these should be changed regularly or after any data breaches. Passwords should include upper and lower case characters, numbers, symbols and be at least 14-16 digits in length.

Monitor access privileges

Businesses should also ensure that data is only shared with those employees and customers who need it and that their access rights are monitored constantly to avoid data leakage. It’s important to review who has what access to data and ensure those permissions are up-to-date with their position within the company. While your business might not be big enough to warrant hiring a security expert, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the newest issues in the security industry.

Incorporating the use of unlimited residential proxies into a data protection policy can help employees understand how to protect sensitive information. Regularly educating employees on data protection practices and the importance of secure online behavior can create a culture of security within the organization.

Backup & recovery plan

Finally, businesses should set up a comprehensive data backup plan. This should include data stored on both physical and digital devices, as well as data stored offsite or in the cloud. Regularly testing data backups is also essential to ensure data can be recovered quickly and easily in the event of a data breach. While the hope is that everything will be secure, it’s still necessary to prepare for the worst.

In Conclusion

By following these five steps, businesses can protect their data and increase security both online and offline. Data protection is vital for any organization, so it’s important that business owners take the time to make sure their data is secure from any potential threats. If businesses choose to not spend the money to ensure security from the beginning, they will certainly be paying for it in the end. 

The post The Top Five Improvements for Business Security in 2023 appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.

Use long, unique passwords for each of your accounts. These should be hard to crack but easy to remember. Use two or more factor authentication wherever possible.

If in doubt: Delete!

Emails, social media posts, texts, and more aren’t always what they appear to be — sometimes they contain malware or malicious links. If you are unsure whether the sources are trustworthy, click» Delete«.

Keep your computer clean!

Keep all software up to date to reduce the risk of ransomware and malware infection. 

Secure yourself!

Create backups of your important data. In the case of ransomware attacks or other threats, these can help prevent permanent data loss. 

Take control of your online life!

Set up your accounts’ privacy and security settings immediately after registration and check them regularly, and this ensures that the settings are permanently configured to your liking. 

Share with care!

Before posting any personal information about yourself or others, consider the possible consequences.

Beware of WiFi hotspots!

WiFi hotspots are not secure, and that means potentially anyone can see what you’re doing on your device while connected to WiFi hotspots. Consider a VPN connection or mobile hotspot for more security.

The post Stay Safe Online With Seven Simple Tips appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.

Email Fraud – Phishing, Malware & Ransomware Increasing Via Email

A few months ago, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3; Complaints Office for Internet Crime ), run by the FBI, published its annual Internet Crime Report (PDF). This report explains the impact of attacks on organizations worldwide and relates to the past year, 2020. The figures mentioned are likely to be alarming: 791,790 complaints were received last year, with more than 4 billion US dollars in total annual losses. The report also shows which risks companies should specifically address:

BEC / EAC & Phishing

In addition to business email compromise, email account compromise (EAC) caused the highest losses, which the IC3 puts at over 1.8 billion US dollars. BEC / EAC and phishing are more significant threats than ransomware. According to the report: Financial losses were 64 times higher than ransomware attacks. These attacks account for a whopping 44% of the total loss! Completely different from the complaints: Overall, they only accounted for 2.4% of all complaints.

The supply chain ecosystem appears attractive for cybercriminals to attack companies indirectly. In particular, imitating and compromising providers turns out to be risky for companies since many organizations unfortunately hardly have an overview of the risks of their providers. There is an increasing number of different BEC / EAC variants:

• Redirecting salary payments,

• Gift card fraud after providers have been compromised,

• Fraud related to acquisitions or mergers,

• Redirecting deliveries or also

• Fabrication with invoices from suppliers/partners.

There were significantly more complaints when it came to phishing: Almost a third of the complaints received by IC3 related to phishing. The fact that the number of complaints almost doubled from 126,640 reports in 2019 to 241,342 complaints in 2020 can prove that the targets of the attack are less the infrastructure weaknesses than the people in the company. With targeted employee awareness-raising, criminal actors can be prevented from successfully exploiting human weaknesses. In our article on phishing protection, we go into different types of phishing and give you tips on how to protect yourself against phishing.

Email Fraud – Criminals Take Advantage of The Corona Crisis

The IC3 report shows that criminals were able to take advantage of the pandemic for their attacks. The year 2020 with the corona crisis was a hit for cybercriminals – that’s why we issued warnings in March and again in December 2020. Pandemic topics were used for general phishing or targeted social engineering attacks: vaccines, aids for companies, or new COVID19 variants spurred the creativity of cybercriminals. Please expect that pandemic topics will continue to be used for attacks in the future.

Malware Like Ransomware Is Gaining Traction.

Email fraud – more specifically, email phishing campaigns – is one of the most common ways of getting infected with ransomware; this is also evident from the IC3 report. There were 2,474 incidents, according to the information in 2020. The losses are put at more than 29 million US dollars. Explosive: The report emphasizes that ransomware losses were kept “artificially low” in the account. The number given does not include information about lost business, wages, lost time, failed devices, or lost files. Reports from FBI field offices were also not taken into account. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the actual numbers related to ransomware are significantly higher.

Not only ransomware but also other malware is relevant to the field of email fraud. In our article “Identity theft on the Internet: What is malware?” We look at different types of malware and give you tips on malware detection.

Study: Pattern Recognition in Email Fraud

In collaboration with researchers from Stanford University, Internet giant Google has looked at patterns that make users the preferred victims of email fraud. Based on data from more than a billion malware and phishing emails, the investigation aimed to find out whether attack victims become targets for any reason. As a result, it could be possible to optimize protection strategies. Indeed, the researchers succeeded in identifying various factors that can increase the likelihood of attack:

The origin of potential targets of attack could already be the first characteristic. After all, 42% of all email attacks target victims in the US, followed by 10% in the UK and 5% in Japan. The researchers found that attackers do not necessarily localize their emails. Instead, the same email template with an everyday linguistic basis is used so that English-speaking users are preferred victims for this reason alone. With these identical templates, criminals try to contact small groups of between 100 and 1,000 recipients for two or three days.

Users whose email addresses were already traded in one of the numerous data leaks in recent years were written to five times the probability of average users. 

For the researchers, the age of potential victims also increased the risk: Email fraud occurs almost twice as often in people between the ages of 55 and 64 as in the 18 to 24 age group. These figures could also go hand in hand with mobile devices: If people only used emails on their mobile devices, the risk of attack compared to people who access emails on different devices was 20% lower.

Overall, the study shows that one could hardly speak of an indiscriminate approach, but there is usually no specific targeting. Therefore, choosing specific targets as attack victims is more likely with BEC / EAC attacks than with phishing and malware attacks.

Also Read: Email marketing In B2B – How Well Are Your Mailings Working?

Protect Yourself From Email Fraud

Knowledge is power – this philosophy also applies to your email security! Therefore, the first way to protect yourself against email fraud is to learn as much as you can about various attack vectors. This is why the study carried out by Google and Stanford University is valuable: it helps to assess how at-risk you as a user are. It is also helpful to know where you stand – and you can quickly test that: With our phishing quiz and our S / MIME test, you can measure yourself against colleagues and test your knowledge. You can also use the following tips to protect yourself efficiently against email fraud:

• Up-to-date: Stay up to date by learning about email scams. It’s straightforward with our support: We report on current developments in our blog and our newsletter.
• Stay Skeptical: Keep your healthy skepticism about your emails. That means: If you receive an email with links and attachments, don’t just click on it, but check the message. Email fraudsters are becoming more and more professional so that fraudulent emails are not always easy to detect. In addition to the origin, check the sender of the message; the source text of your emails provides further information. However, it would help if you also considered the possibilities of email spoofing, i.e., concealing the sender’s true identity and simulating a different identity. If in doubt, call the alleged sender to find out whether the message came from there. Also, keep in mind
• No direct replies: If you find an email suspicious, ideally, do not reply directly. Instead, start a new communication using one of the communication channels used by your company.
• Strong logins: Rely on solid passwords for your email account – and ideally also on two-factor authentication (2FA). We have put together helpful tips for you in the article “Secure passwords: Strong passwords increase security” for creating strong passwords.
• AV Suite: Good antivirus programs also warn you about email scams. It is advisable to read reviews of AV suites regularly because the numerous antivirus programs differ massively in their functions and malware detection.
• Updates: Your AV suite, your email client, your operating system, and all other programs you use should receive regular updates. Ideally, you should apply security patches immediately to prevent published vulnerabilities from attracting cybercriminals.
• Encryption: encrypt your emails! In this way, you not only create confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity but also create competitive advantages for yourself: Industrial espionage is a genuine threat that you can prevent with email encryption and eavesdropping or manipulation by cybercriminals.
• Awareness: We cannot emphasize it enough: The most significant security gap in companies is people. Employees who do not know what types of email fraud naturally cannot protect themselves against it. Therefore: Train your employees because a sensitized team is a safe team.

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