The recent spate of global ransomware attacks reported on the world news has made us all more aware of our cyber-hygiene tendencies. And while we often deploy antivirus or software firewall solutions on our computers to stop the spread of malware, there is another type of cyber-attack that is of a more personal nature. These attacks are called “phishing” attacks and are more often directed at individuals rather than wildly broadcasted, with the perpetrator hoping to “hook” someone into responding.
Cybersecurity experts continually stress the following fact: humans are the biggest cybersecurity vulnerability. A breach can be the result of a single employee’s carelessness, an employee seeking revenge for being fired or laid-off, or the victimization of an employee by a sophisticated hacker. Advancing technology makes our lives easier and more convenient; however, none of this technology fully protects us from phishing scams.
Increased sophistication of scams will test even the most discerning employee’s ability to recognize an attack. Gone are the days of “I am a Prince in the nation of <insert country> and I need someone to help transfer some money out of my country.” Today, social engineering techniques (i.e. spear-phishing) succeed because the attacker has already garnered important information about the target before launching the directed attack. Many times, that data can come from information on your Facebook page, your LinkedIn profile, and the many other social media sites that you use.
There are all too many incidents reported where human error and “convenience” lead to opportunities to be compromised:
We assume that technology will protect us from these attacks or think that the cyber-attack will never affect us (it always happens far away to people that I don’t know much about).
Seeing how we expose ourselves daily and our organizations to cybersecurity threats can be disheartening. Awareness of risk is a critical first step to avoiding a targeted attack. In my next post, I’ll go deeper into how attackers operate so that you’re not tempted to take the bait!
Part 2 of this blog discusses what steps you can do to help prevent you from being “phished”.
R.L. (Rick) Gorskie | Global Sales Manager - Cybersecurity
Emerson Automation Solutions | 1100 W. Louis Henna Blvd. | Round Rock | Texas | USA | 78681-7430Rick.Gorskie@Emerson.com
Rick Gorskie
Global Sales Manager - Cybersecurity
Emerson Automation Solutions