Inside Threats: Secure Workplace Strategies

It’s frustrating, but it’s true: Cyber criminals routinely target workplaces, especially small businesses. Online attackers have learned through trial-and-error that breaking through a company’s security, whether through hacking or social engineering, can lead to a pretty big windfall. IT directors, CTOs, and other security professionals are responsible for maintaining internet and data security within their companies, and yet, they are often pitted against well-funded, thoroughly researched, and highly sophisticated scammers. These cyber criminals change their methods all the time, adapting and adjusting. Unfortunately, there is another concern to be aware of: insider threats from disgruntled, angry, terminated, or ideologically motivated employees. You may not realize that someone within your organization is harboring negative intentions. There are even scammers who go to work every day, with their employers having no idea what that person could do if they decided to harm the company. That’s why it is so important to regularly assess and update your cybersecurity measures. You have to stay ahead of the scammers that are undoubtedly going to target your infrastructure or your employees. Recent data confirms that cyber attackers go after workplaces, and the impact is significant. Check out these statistics from Viking Cloud : It’s no surprise that companies are trying to figure out how to prevent cyber attacks in the workplace. A single attack has the potential to devastate your organization! Workplaces are susceptible to cyber attacks because they are an appealing target for cyber criminals. In almost every case, businesses are responsible for far more data than any individual. Also, every employee is a possible weak link in the chain, and there are far more opportunities to target people through social engineering scams . These criminals are eager to access: There is also a monetary interest in holding a company hostage through ransomware ; businesses are forced to pay huge amounts of money to get access to their systems again after one of these attacks. Signs that your company may be susceptible to a cyber attack include: Sensitive work is happening on other networks without a VPN Employees typically don’t intend to cooperate with hackers to harm their employer. However, that’s exactly what happens when savvy criminals trick employees into downloading ransomware, handing over passwords, or accidentally creating an “in” for the hacker to exploit. Unfortunately, there are times when insiders intentionally use their knowledge of or access to an organization to cause harm. Whether intentional or not, insider attacks are a growing threat to modern companies. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration (CISA) includes the following as forms of insider attacks: CISA provides an Insider Threat Mitigation Guide to help corporations, organizations, and government entities avoid these threats. It is essential to your organization’s health that you protect your data, networks, and hardware. This isn’t an impossible task, but it is challenging! Consider these steps: Protecting your network from insider attacks, whether intentional or unintentional, is a major responsibility for every single company. It’s also a company-wide effort that requires contributions from everyone, from the newest entry-level employee to the executives in the C-suite. The worst thing you can do is assume that “it will never happen here.” That’s how ill-prepared companies end up losing millions of dollars to cyber attacks. The best approach is to be proactive. Plan your security efforts with precision, care, and attention to the latest scams .