It’s a wrap on the 2nd annual Airedale Business Showcase. A very busy day for some of the Cosurica team members demonstrating KnowBe4 – the cybersecurity awareness training solution. And what a wonderfully eye-opening event the Airedale Business Showcase in Keighley has been too! Keighley is home to some truly wonderful businesses and talented businesspeople. Hooray for Keighley!
Evan and Michelle returned to the air-conditioned comfort of Cosurica Towers this afternoon; their social batteries depleted after way more social interaction than most techies are accustomed to. Clearly they need to get out more. And now they’ve got a taste for it they certainly plan to!
The upside is they’re also now chock-full of ideas to help us convey our message to the SME community about the crucial role of the Human Firewall in the fight against cybercrime! So a very successful event indeed!
Their first idea is to share what we’ve heard from numerous people today, since this illustrates beautifully what we, and our partners in the IT security industry already know.
Human Firewalls are essential to your business!
Just about every person we’ve had a conversation with at the showcase event wanted to share their concerns, and experiences of, cybercrime. The vast majority of them told us they knew at least one person or organisation who’s fallen victim. Some shared that they have been a victim themselves, or their employer has.
One person admitted their employer’s email system had been used by cybercriminals to send out batches of fraudulent invoices to their customers no less than 3 times before they were alerted to the scams by one of their cyber-savvy customers. In the meantime, several customers had fallen victim to the offer of a significant discount on their invoice if they paid up quickly.
People are the weakest link!
What is common to all the stories we’ve heard today is that the weakest link tends not to be system security; more often it’s the people using the tech. And no, it’s not because they are lacking in intelligence!
Cyber criminals know people are very easy to trick into doing something dangerous, especially when they’re in a hurry or are distracted (and who isn’t these days?). This is why social engineering, of one form or another, rather than proper old-fashioned hacking, is used most often today to get the information bad actors need to carry out their crimes.
Can you Spot a Phish?
Most of our visitors admitted they did not feel at all confident that they would be able to spot a suspicious phishing email or text. They found our demo of some of the features of KnowBe4 fun, informative and mind-blowing (in a very good way!). Some people found it incredibly hard to ‘spot a phish’ for themselves, but even those who managed to spot a few admitted they’d still like more training to improve their confidence.
Only one person told us their employer has implemented any kind of security awareness training to help them recognise and report suspicious activity.
Financial or reputational harm can be difficult, if not impossible for SME’s to recover from. Implementing training after an attack makes no business sense at all. The time to do it is now!
Here at Cosurica we’re all about prevention, so we’re recommending KnowBe4.
Being able to Spot a Phish is just the beginning though!
Find out more about what KnowBe4 can do for you and your employees here.
Cosurica & KnowBe4 work together to support your people in becoming your strongest defence against cybercrime!
If you’re ready to transform your people into Human Firewalls, give us a call or drop us an email via our contact page
For more info on the importance of cybersecurity awareness (and this is for everybody, not just businesses) take a look at the National Cyber Security Centre
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