It\u2019s the silly season, and while most go shopping, cyber criminals go phishing.<\/p>\n
With the larger volumes of promotional emails hitting inboxes over the festive and back-to-school period, now is the time for companies to step up email management.<\/p>
\u201cCompanies can help protect their users and businesses from becoming phishing victims by putting a good email phishing and business email compromise strategy in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially over the festive season, there is a dramatic rise in spam, promotional emails and phishing emails,\u201d said Charl Ueckermann, CEO of AVeS Cyber Security.<\/p>
\u201cFor organisations who have a holiday break coming up over December, it is a good time to get a phishing and business email compromise (BEC) strategy in place, test the technology properly and get everything up-and-running while there are fewer people in the office, before the New Year starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that phishing is the fraudulent process of getting information like passwords, usernames, credit card numbers, banking details, business information and other sensitive information by posing as a company or person that the receiver recognises or trusts.<\/p>\n
Phishing emails are always made to look like the real thing from banks, popular social networking websites, retailers, internet service providers and sometimes even as a company\u2019s email administrator.<\/p>\n
As phishing emails are so well disguised, conventional email security solutions can fail to detect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emails often contain a link to draw the recipient to a fake website where they erroneously give away sensitive or personal information.<\/p>\n
\u201cCyber criminals use this information to steal money, steal identities, steal business information and conduct all manner of fraudulent activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can impact users individually or the business as a whole,\u201d said Ueckermann.<\/p>\n
Companies can consider installing technology that is capable of blocking certain components of emails, corrupted emails and even label emails in the subject line.<\/p>\n
Ueckermann noted that there are a few technology solutions that offer next-generation email protection.<\/p>\n
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ALSO READ:<\/span><\/p>\n Heed these ATM safety tips<\/a><\/p>\n SAPS urge community to follow these safety tips<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The solutions detect and stop spam and malicious email before it becomes a problem and without slowing down productivity.<\/p>\n Companies can also rest assured that legitimate emails won\u2019t be deleted by mistake.<\/p>\n Leading email security software includes features such as advanced heuristics, sandboxing and machine learning to protect email from spam, phishing, business email compromise (BEC) and other advanced threats.<\/p>\n It gives companies complete control over what happens to suspicious emails and includes the latest spam, phishing, malware (including ransomware) protection and advanced attachment filtering.<\/p>\n Ueckermann said there are some important things to consider when implementing a strategy and technologies to address phishing and business email compromise (BEC).<\/p>\n \u201cIn today\u2019s digital-driven business environment, a great user experience is vital for improving productivity, employee morale and technology adoption in the organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t stop people from receiving business emails; rather put mechanisms into place to ensure that only legitimate emails arrive in their inboxes.<\/p>\n \u201cThese mechanisms must not hamper productivity in any way or stop legitimate emails from getting through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe technology should detect and stop dubious emails; it should ideally not be left up to users or administrators.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we know, phishing emails are well disguised, and it is difficult for a non-technical person to know what is legit and what is not.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a business owner or IT executive, look at a number of emails people are getting and compare it to the industry norm to determine what you can cut out.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, look at the type of content employees receive and cut out what might be of danger to the organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe same email security software described above can give you statistics on how many emails coming into your organisation have malware in attachments, spam or are potential phishing attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will also help you understand how big the problem is within your organisation compared to industry norms.<\/p>\n \u201cIf your email risks are high, you can use these statistics to plan appropriate user awareness among business email users.<\/p>\n \u201cCost and the manageability of these solutions are obviously key considerations.<\/p>\n \u201cCompanies should aim to deploy the most effective and easiest to manage solutions that they can afford.<\/p>\n \u201cFree or open source solutions will not offer the level of protection needed to stop the latest threats, as they\u2019re often the source of these security backdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n If people are more aware, they will tend to protect the company on their own.<\/p>\n He points out that deploying technology is only half of the solution.<\/p>\n User education is the other half.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a phishing email manages to get in, it is pretty harmless until the recipient opens it, clicks on links and ventures onto an unsafe website to disclose information they should not be disclosing.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why it is important to educate employees about the dangers of phishing and how they put themselves \u2013 and the business \u2013 at risk,\u201d said Ueckermann.<\/p>\n He offers these tips for employers to guide employees on keeping their business email inboxes clean:<\/p>\n \u2022 Don\u2019t use company emails for social media profiles.<\/p>\n \u2022 Don\u2019t buy stuff online using company emails.<\/p>\n \u2022 Don\u2019t wait for someone to teach you safe email practices, self-educate and ask experts in the organisation; there are many free resources made available by industry experts via social media, such as how-to videos and quick-tips articles.<\/p>\n \u2022 Understand the dangers of opening or clicking on links in emails.<\/p>\n \u2022 Treat unsolicited emails requesting sensitive information with suspicion.<\/p>\n \u2022 When subscribing to websites, use other email accounts, such as a separate Gmail account.<\/p>\n \u2022 Don\u2019t sign-up for newsletters using their business email addresses.<\/p>\n Ueckermann added by saying that companies can enforce their rights to protect networks and data with formal policies on social media usage, password changes, IT security, browsing the internet and email usage.<\/p>\n \u201cThese policies formalise an organisation\u2019s standpoint on the usage of their internet and email resources without complicating it.<\/p>\n \u201cAccompanying technologies to address each problem will help to enforce the policies.<\/p>\n \u201cEmployees should be made aware of these policies, as well as the consequences of non-compliance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Have a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor)\u00a0<\/span>germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za<\/a><\/strong> or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor)\u00a0<\/span>leighh@caxton.co.za<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0Kgotsofalang Mashilo (journalist)\u00a0kgotsofalangm@caxton.co.za<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Remember to visit the Germiston City News on the following social media platforms:<\/p>\n Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n YouTube\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Or add the GCN on\u00a0<\/b><\/span>WhatsApp 079 406 1181<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0BBM (BBM Pin: 7F102137)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/span>today, to get all the latest news.<\/p>\n Catch-up on more local news with our sister newspapers\u00a0<\/span>Bedfordview Edenvale News<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>Alberton Record<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Kempton Express<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n