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Is your company safe from security flaws like the Twitter hack?Every day brings a new security threat or a new report of a massively destructive cyber attack and 2019 was one of the worst years on record for attacks and breaches. Over the course of 2019 there was a massive 54% increase in data breaches - many with dire consequences. ![]() Source: pixabay.com What you read in the press is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the fates of global players such as Verizon, Capital One, British Airways and many others, with the implications of many attacks still yet to be seen. Predictably IT companies continue to innovate to provide the best in class infrastructure solutions: And yet the attackers continue to prevail and profit while businesses are crippled or heavily fined or both. In 2020, the outbreak of the Covid-19 ripped up any virtual defences organisations had put in place, by forcing employees to work from improvised home offices, with devices that were neither up to date, nor secure. Businesses had to rely on the common sense of their employees to keep their systems safe, leaving them exposed to cyber criminals and targeted attacks. It wasn’t much later that the World Health Organisation reported a fivefold increase in cyber attacks compared to the previous year. Fast forward to July, and the news of a Twitter hack that targeted the accounts of US leaders Joe Biden and Barack Obama is being reported everywhere, leaving the public with one big question. If not even our leaders are safe, then who is? Although cyber attacks and Twitter hacks aren’t new phenomena, this particular incident has opened up a public discussion about cybersecurity and what organisations and individuals can do to prevent them from happening, even with limited resources and a remote workforce. Comes down to human errorUsing technology to counter the problem, while necessary, is only one part of the whole solution. Passing the responsibility to the IT function for your companies defences to these criminals is misguided at best. Enterprises are now discovering the technology piece only goes so far. It is just one piece of the armoury. The fact is that 90% of all breaches are caused by human error - a massive statistic when you consider that even the most technically robust of networks can be undone by one simple absent-minded click on a phishing email. Unfortunately the best technical solutions in the world cannot secure your IT infrastructure alone. Your IT department will be the first to agree that their day-to-day challenge is dealing with users who undo all their good work! Just as it takes an army to be trained to use the weapons they are given so it is that your people should be trained to defend your company’s systems. The only way to effectively ensure that your defences are not breached is to train your footsoldiers how to use their technical arsenal. Cybersecurity awareness The type of vulnerabilities that are being exploited by criminals are varied and difficult to address internally without expertise: A natural step to address these vulnerabilities is cybersecurity awareness training. Many organisations that do implement cybersecurity training programs often just train the technical staff – missing the real source of the problem – the employee at the frontline. The fact is that every computer, every communications device, is an open door to a criminal and at the moment untrained employees are not only opening the door - they are propping it open and inviting them in. For other companies, training their staff comes after they have been attacked and the source of the breach is revealed. The organisations that really do understand that these attacks are never going to go away and plan long term protective measures are the ones that build a real cyber awareness culture recognising that cybersecurity is a real business issue. The practice of doing this is actually relatively simple and resource and cost effective. There is a lot to be gained from a staged approach:
However, implementing a program like this can be surprisingly cost effective and ultimately invaluable. The human touch works both ways: it can bring you down or it can be the best defence. It’s your decision. |