You can sleep soundly at night knowing that a dependable IT managed services team in Darwin provides ample security and protection for your business but is best to be aware of what threats are lurking online so you can educate your staff on how to avoid becoming victims of cyber criminals and exposing your business to vulnerabilities that could lead to thousands of dollars in business damages.
Proofpoint, a security services vendor made predictions last December that cybercriminality will increase and these criminals will bank on users’ willingness to click on and install applications and we have already seen that it has come true in the recent months.
Many Australians get robbed of thousands of dollars. In fact, the ACCC reported an $82 million loss to scams in 2014 and it has risen to about $1 billion last year. You may have an IT managed services team ensuring your Darwin business systems security and protection but they cannot avoid human error on the part of your employees. Fraudsters are using internet scams and sophisticated new phone applications to steal from Australian businesses. You or your staff may get contacted by a fake bank officer to verify a suspicious activity on your account and would of course ask you for information to verify that you are the right person that is permitted to access the account and they would use that information to gain online access to your bank and facilitate fund transfers to steal from you. Tell your staff not to give out any information over the phone and to notify you immediately. Inquire with your IT managed services team in Darwin on how unified communications systems can help you with instant messaging and recordings of all incoming and outgoing calls so it would be easier for you to report and track down the culprit. As for vulnerability when it comes to applications and programs, you can task your IT managed services provider in Darwin to set protocols and permissions to prevent installation of programs without your authorization to prevent such problems
Cyber criminals have also been spoofing emails of late. They send communication from seemingly legit establishments to get people to click on the links in the email that leads to a valid looking website and get users to type in their personal or business information to verify account access. The Australian communications and Media Authority recently warned the public of such scammers that create websites that look almost exactly like legitimate banking webpages. To avoid such online banking theft from happening to you and your employees, you can ask your IT managed services team in Darwin to block access to banking websites except for the ones where you have business accounts with.
Some digital delinquents are even faking communications from the Australian post sending phony emails regarding undelivered parcels. MailGuard, an anti-virus company, recently discovered the “Locky” malware where hackers get user to click and open an attachment that automatically scans their social media profile and uses that information to contact other people and fool them into thinking that they are communicating with the right person. Having a dependable IT managed services team in Darwin could help you avoid these cyber criminals with their email and spam mail filtering.
Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Reports released just last April says that Australians are on the top 10 target for ransomware worldwide. Daily attacks have risen to more than 140% in 2015 as compared to 2014. You may have the best IT managed services team in Darwin that keeps your network safe from online intrusions but one of your employees could innocently plug in a usb drive without knowing that it contains ransomware. This would grant access to cyber criminals to your business systems where they will encrypt your business data and lock you out of your own system and hold the information as hostage. There are also cases wherein ransomware was combined with banking a Trojan so that the victim who would login to their banking accounts to pay the ransom would also get their banking details stolen.
By educating your staff of the latest threats on the worldwide web and with the help of a dependable IT managed systems provider in Darnwin, you can avoid being victimised by cyber criminals. Remind your employees to keep strong passwords, to minimise personal information shared on social networking websites, and to carefully read emails before clicking and opening web links.
