“As the novel coronavirus spreads, it has brought with it a spike in phishing and other malicious attacks using fear of the virus as part of their attempts to breach networks.” – Fedscoop. Indeed, the cyberspace threat landscape is gaining complexity every day, and across all industries. The stakes have never been higher to provide business and government enterprise systems and data with the confidentiality, integrity, and availability needed to operate across this highly- contested space.
“Cyber attacks are a growing threat for small businesses and the U.S. economy. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, the cost of cybercrimes reached $2.7 billion in 2018 alone.” - U.S Small Business Administration. Not surprisingly, electronic mail (email) is a leading case of data breaches as it is an indispensable tool for conducting day-to-day, tactical business. Emails provide a broad and often non-secure surface area for hackers to steal sensitive data, and disrupt business operations, via fraud, spoofing, or ransomware (among other tactics and techniques). This, in turn, creates a vulnerability for businesses that are endeavoring to protect sensitive company and/or customer information. Fortunately, there are several “common sense” measures business users can immediately employ to augment their corporate information security practices, procedures, and technologies. These “common sense” measures include:
-
Use strong, unique passwords.
-
Practice Multi Factor authentication.
-
Be watchful for Phishing emails.
-
Be careful with email marked “External.”
-
Don’t open unexpected or unfamiliar attachments.
-
Don’t use work email addresses for personal or private messages.
-
Minimize accessing company email over unsecure, public WiFi networks.
Cybersecurity means preparing for the unexpected; that is, finding threats before they find you. At Three Wire, our approach to cybersecurity is more complex than just “defense in depth.” We understand the unique balances of operations and security. We equip organizations with point products, solutions, integration tools, and methodologies providing current and leading-edge protections against emerging internal and external threats. We focus on the customer’s attack surface, and team with our partners in industry and academia to create innovative defensive and offensive cyber solutions, thus mitigating risks to our customers.
If you have concerns about suspicious email, email attachments, and/or senders, it’s always best practice to consult with your IT department before opening or replying to the questionable message. Being vigilant against email data theft is critical to a company’s overall security posture, and by extension to maintaining business continuity.
