Did you know that 92.4% of all malware is delivered via email? Cyber criminals have become incredibly good at “phishing.” Phishing is the act of sending emails disguised to be from familiar companies or people you may know with the goal to get recipients to reveal personal or financial information. Phishing emails are incredibly deceiving. They can use personal messages and sometimes make the recipient feel even scared if they don’t open the email. SPAM/Phishing filters help prevent many of these attacks, but your team members are your biggest line of defense. Training team members on phishing awareness and security can help significantly reduce your company’s risk of cyberattacks.

In-depth training is necessary to properly condition team members to identify phishing emails. It is not enough to just talk about it, it’s important to go through the steps using simulated phishing scenarios. By participating in ICC’s fake phishing tests, you can see just how many of your team members need to be trained on how to recognize suspicious emails and report them BEFORE opening. This is critical in protecting your network because once they are opened it is too late, and the hackers are already in. The hypothetical phishing scenarios effectively build team members understanding on how to confidently detect and avoid phishing attacks under safe conditions. It is important to conduct frequent training to help team members retain the habit of spotting the “phishy” emails and to stay updated on new solutions. Making the investment to mitigate phishing threats will strengthen and protect your data in the long run.

It is important to remember that phishing training is just a piece of the cybersecurity pie.  ICC puts a number of cybersecurity training and tactics in place to significantly reduce the likelihood of an attack and protect your data. At a minimum, a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy should include email security, network security, backups, security updates, team member education, and Quarterly Cybersecurity Reviews to boost your defenses against cybercriminals. If you are missing one piece of the pie, you may be exposed to cyber-attacks and could be faced with significant business disruption.

To learn more, check out our latest video about phishing tests.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzo8pt-zXTM

To begin team member “phishing training” give ICC a call at 970-821-8592. Our training is designed to increase awareness, build good habits and make engage everyone involved.