The increase in cyber attacks and how to stay safe

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about cyber attacks & hacks. That’s nothing new, but with the new season coming up I’ve decided to take my online security more serious.

The business world is going mobile and, while this is good news for those who enjoy remote work and flexible hours, it’s bad news for cyber security. As a business owner, you’re hopefully quite thorough when it comes to keeping your business safe – be it online or offline, yet very few understand how important it is to communicate this to their employees.

Mobile businesses, with all its advantages, need to be protected on every platform. Here is how business owners can regain control and put their employees on the frontline, keeping cyber criminals as far at bay as possible.

The rise in cyber attacks

As technology advances are businesses are floating up to the clouds and joining their employees at home, cyber criminals realize the increased windows of opportunity. While the computers you’ve installed in the office have all the latest security software, few business owners stop to consider whether their employees have taken the same caution.

This is despite the number of cyber attacks targeted at large corporations the last years and the quadrupling of organizations experiencing ransomware attack. All the evidence is there, and every alarm is blinking red, yet business owners feel overly confident about their cyber security.

In fact, as much as 39 % of employees surveyed admit to having opened emails that they had suspected might be fraudulent or an attempt at phishing – and only 36 % claimed they were ‘very confident’ about being able to spot a phishing attempt.

This is unsettling enough when they’re opening these emails in the office with all its antivirus software installed – but it’s catastrophic when they access your system through their own laptops at home, having no safety software installed whatsoever.

Employee training

So what can business owners do about their team’s behavior at home? It’s bad enough to hawk over them in the office as it is, and you might be reluctant to pop by around dinner time just to check up on their computers – understandably enough. Give them the tools to spot fraudulent attempts, however, by treating them to a few cyber security training sessions per year, and they’ll take much better care of your business.

As little as 39 % of the employees in the survey said they received sufficient cyber security training, and it’s a good idea to invest in this to make sure your details are safe. You can also consider looking at the best way to get a small business loan in order to finance this and safeguard their computers – that’s how important this training is.

The cost of cyber attacks worldwide is, in fact, estimated to be more than $9.5 million per year. Provide them with training, and you’re safeguarding yourself against expensive attacks.

After a session, try to point out a few ‘super users’ who perhaps have a bit of experience with cyber security already – or just seem to be a few steps ahead of the others. Peer-to-peer learning is the way to go, especially if your team consists of multiple generations.

Let them lead each other, tell the rest of the team that they should alert the super users whenever they’re wondering about something, and watch in amazement how much your cyber security improves already.

Any well-liked business manager would want to continue to allow their employees flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home – but not at the expense of their company’s safety. Take care of this in one smooth go by arming them with knowledge and giving them the tools to keep your business safe.