Your West Palm Beach IT services company should be aware that Business Email Compromise, better known as BEC, has affected over 7,000 businesses in the past three years, resulting in over $7 million in losses. These numbers will only continue to grow. As your personal IT consultant, your tech team needs to stay up-to-date on this threat and how it might affect your business. Here’s what your IT consultant should know to keep your network and company safe:
The Newest Threats and What They Look Like
One of the reasons BEC exploits are so effective is because they continually evolve, something your West Palm Beach IT services company needs to be aware of. When a hacker breaches a business, he gets access to the company’s email accounts. This means he can send personal email from high-level executives to everyone in their contact list. Emails appear perfectly legitimate, causing unsuspecting recipients to open them without much thought. BEC schemes then spread like wildfire. When your consultant knows the hallmarks of the newest fraudulent emails, they can update you and your staff about how to identify them.
How to Help You Educate Your Team and Prevent Losses
Many BEC attacks either infect the user’s network or request money from the victim--- both can have devastating effects on your business. When your IT team stays up-to-date on these types of threats, they can provide employee education to your staff. This includes how to independently verify emails before clicking on attachments, noticing signs of compromise, and securing any private data they have access to.
Your IT team can also implement measures such as phone verification of payment changes, secondary sign-offs, and frequent monitoring of your system. While these safeguards may not work 100% of the time, they can catch and prevent many attacks from happening. When you tighten up security and beef up training, your network is more secure and your company is safer.
How and to Whom Your System is Connected
Does your IT team know all of your contacts and the contacts of your staff members? Do they know what private data can be compromised and stolen should a breach happen? Being aware of how and to whom your network is connected is important both for protection and mitigation, should an attack happen. Immediate notification to all of your contacts that you’ve been hacked is crucial and can only happen if your IT team is proactive. Remote back-up and protection of private information are also important, but your consultant needs to know where the data resides to keep it safe. This can also lead them to make suggestions about storing private data in different locations or limiting access to it.
Your West Palm Beach IT services company should be your first line of defense when it comes to cyber security. They should be up-to-date on Business Email Compromise schemes so they can train your team and put safeguards in place to keep your network secure. At Nexxen Technologies, we can help you implement a safe and secure strategy to avoid BEC and any other cyberattacks. Contact us today to learn more.