At this Tech & Cyber Focus we looked at ‘Keeping Cyber Safe‘ People, Process and Technology with experts in their field Cyber Security Associates. We explored some popular scams that are circulating now from GOV.UK and WhatsApp and how easy it is to have your details stolen, WITHOUT YOU EVEN KNOWING!
We had a live demo on WhatsApp and Dave Woodfine and Jamie Griffiths demonstrating how easy it is to get caught out on WhatsApp. If you accept a random numbers you don’t know you run the risk of allowing a hacker into your life – how easy is that!
Today was a sharp reminder of our vulnerability and what we need to do.
Horrifying recent figures reported from the USA.
- According to Atlas VPN estimations, damages caused by cybecrime are expected to reach more than $27 billion by 2025.
- Atlas VPN projects that in 2020, there will be a 45% increase in cybercrime damages in comparison to 2019. This means the monetary loss will be in excess of $5billion.
- Due to COVID-19, lockdown and home working this could be the catalyst for the biggest hacker attack outbreak to date. People are stuck at home, surfing the web and working remotely. Meaning, the pool for potential cybercrime victims has never been larger. They expect that from 2019 – 2015, the damages caused by hacker attacks could sky-rocket by 696% – That’s terrifying!
So, what were the outcomes from today!
- This style of remote working will be more the norm in moving forward.
- We need to change our mind-set and attitude to cyber risks and threats otherwise the cyber attacker will exploit these vulnerabilities.
- We need to focus of our people, process and technology
- People – Are you remote workers trained and tested? Stop thinking that they are the weakest link and turn them into the first line of defence.
- Processes – Need to have updated and accurate policies in place that our remote workers can read and understand. It is important to know how to work within a home environment where routers, wi-fi and access are all shared.
- Technology – Make sure if home IT is being used it is protected in some way.
- Speak to the experts – if this is not your skill set then speak to someone who knows! You wouldn’t operate on yourself if not a surgeon, so why not treat your personal and business security and well-being with the same respect!
- Create or update you remote working policy and resilience strategy
FACT: More people insure their pets than their businesses!
Don’t be one of those people/organisations that gets hacked! Dave and the team at Cyber Security Associate
are happy to talk to you and help. They can offer sound advice and help you better understand what you need and how to protect yourselves.
They also have online easy use, educational/fun 30 min courses to help educate those working from home and stay safe AND you can monitor and see how they do. Please see below and ask Dave for more info:
- SA eLearning courses are 30 mins of interactive learning aimed at improving cyber health and hygiene.
- CSA phishing campaigns can test your workforce to see if they are interacting with phishing emails and see how they respond and report.
David Woodfine – Director
Cyber Security Associates Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1452 886982 – Mob: +44 (0)7869 334643
Web: www.csa.limited <http://www.csa.limited/>
CSA Slides for Tech & Cyber 28th April 2020
