Leading Provider in Managed Technology Services Teaches Cyber Security Prevention Measures
Cascade Tel, a leading managed technology services provider (MTSP), is helping small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) thwart cyberattacks and protect their organizations from unnecessary downtime by addressing the most common tactic that cybercriminals use to attack modern workplaces; phishing.
Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. According to PhishMe research, “91 percent of the time, phishing emails are behind successful cyber attacks.” Cascade Tel is helping businesses identify the three tell-tale signs behind the majority of successful phishing attacks and how mere employee awareness can eliminate the vast majority of this threat from entering an organization.
“The overwhelming majority of security breaches caused by phishing are completely avoidable,” stated Allan Clack, President of Cascade Tel. “While cybercriminals have grown more sophisticated in their approach, the average attack consists of the same key ingredients: an undereducated employee, effective bait and a temporary lapse in judgment. While we are in the business of securing an organization’s entire network and protecting them from any threats whatsoever, there are some initial steps that will safeguard a company without costing much time, energy or capital expenditure. These measures we’d like to share are extremely easy to implement and are excellent first steps in protecting a company from cybercrime.”
The first sign to look for is the sender’s name in the “From” field of the email. Cybercriminals often use misspelled email addresses, such as JohnnyStealyastuff@gmaail.com, for example, in order to deceive the receiver into thinking that the email is coming from a reputable company. At a quick glance, many recipients won’t recognize the typo in the address field and they’ll open the email which opens them up to the bait.
The next step for employees is to hover their mouse over links, instead of clicking them without thinking about it. Lots of hackers use very long links or they hope that the recipient will just click on the link right away instead of previewing the destination by hovering above and making sure that the domains match where they expect to be directed. If the preview link looks suspicious, that’s probably because it isn’t a legitimate offer. We recommend deleting these types of emails.
The final step for employees is to look in the footer. One of the current laws around email marketing requires senders to leave a physical address within the footer of the email. This is often left-out by cybercriminals and is a very easy way to tell if the email is a phishing attempt. Furthermore, there should also be an “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email, which is another step that most hackers ignore.
By simply addressing these three initial steps, SMBs can avoid the vast majority of cyberattacks coming at their business. They are some of the simplest, yet most effective ways at minimizing risk within an organization. “If all organizations were even this educated about cyberattacks, we would see a dramatic drop in incidients,” concluded Clack.
ABOUT CASCADE TEL
Cascade Tel is locally owned and operated and is Central Oregon’s business owner’s first choice for over 23 years. Cascade Tel’s goal is to provide each client a custom designed telecommunications solution that not only enhances their customer’s experience, but also provides increased profitability and a competitive advantage. Cascade Tel is a single source contact for all voice, data, and video needs.
Cascade Tel provides industry-leading products with Factory Certified Technicians, Sales and Customer Service Staff, to ensure customer satisfaction by maximizing system performance.
Cascade Tel provides around the clock service to ensure system reliability with the mission critical nature of the telecommunications. Cascade Tel offers comprehensive service 24 hours a day, seven days a week and emergency service guaranteed within one hour.
For more information on Cascade Tel, call 541-388-5158 or visit www.cascadetel.com.
