Will your employees be tricked by email scams and viruses?

Despite an ever increasing number of online attacks being reported in the media and harrowing new cyber threats like Ransomware being created, many companies are still failing to take effective action to improve their online security. As well as failing to keep their anti-virus software and firewalls up to date, they also fail to educate their workforce on the latest threats - a key part of securing their operations.

Phishing scams are one of the most common forms of fraud committed online today. They involve tricking an email recipient into handing over sensitive data and trusted information. A hacker may send an email which looks as if it has been sent by a supplier, a company that you work with on a regular basis, a service provider or even another employee in your own business. So they aren’t always obvious. They hacker may then try and encourage the recipient to download a piece of software, visit an unsafe website or supply them directly with sensitive information that they can exploit.

Whaling – a dangerous new cyber threat

One of the most recent cyber security threats to come to our attention is the ‘whaling’ scam. This is a highly personalised form of phishing used to trick victims into giving away sensitive information and access to networks.

What is it?

Most phishing scams target a wide range of people and hackers will send their scam emails to a large number of recipients. However ‘whaling’ is different in that cyber criminals approach one ‘high value’ target with a highly personalised message instead.

Ubiquiti Networks, a provider of high-end wireless networking products, recently fell victim to a whaling attack which resulted in losses of $47m (£30m) for the company.