Despite the fact that Sunday (November 11th) was in fact National Fraud Day, one thing remains clear. Scammers and cyber thieves continue to convince and deceive users into divulging information and handing over hard earned money.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Nearly half of users—49 percent—admittedly believe their cyber habits leave them and their employers vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. Let me repeat that. 49 % of workers actually are aware that they are not taking the right steps to protect their personal data—or your sensitive business data and network at large—from cyberattacks.
How can that be?
Nearly every person that understands where their vulnerabilities lie think of password reuse, lack of password complexity and never changing passwords as being main reasons why they are putting their and your data at risk.
Over half of users actually admit to reusing passwords and pins across multiple accounts. Think their corporate email, computer log in, phone passcode, bank accounts, social media, etc. Many users have never gotten used to having so many accounts (and such an expansive digital footprint) and they simply retain the same handful of passwords reused and never changed for basically everything.
Most of those passwords include names, places or words that are meaningful to them—making it easier for them to remember the passwords, but also making it extremely easy for a hacker to crack passwords with common word association algorithms.
And even those that have seen first-hand the repercussions of having weak credentials on accounts—either by having bank accounts cracked or identities stolen—keep behaviors that leave your organization at risk for major security risks.
Of the breaches that were discovered, nearly a quarter of them were found by pure accident. What I mean here is that simply by accident, hackers had been discovered slowly leaking data off network. Hackers and cybercriminals slowly glean other credential information by keylogging key users (think accountants and CFOs) with intent to later steal additional assets or data.
And 27 percent of users—including those in IT administrative roles—don’t actually know how to find out whether their network has been compromised. The likelihood that your network is attacked and no one is the wiser? Over 50 percent of organizations risk being attacked and no one recognizes that they’re victims of a breach until it’s too late.
And what’s even scarier? Most users—including IT workers—aren’t familiar with or have no processes to remediate a breach or cyberattack because this isn’t their area of expertise.
What can you do to help shore up your security?
Figure out where your vulnerabilities lie—go through your network with a fine-tooth comb looking for vulnerabilities on your network. Identify any that could lead to sensitive data being leaked or your network compromised.
Prioritize your security issues—figure out a schedule—keeping high priority security issues at the top of your list—and get commitments to resolve issues by your timeline dates.
Get a second opinion—most network administrators are too far in the weeds to be able to see where all of their vulnerabilities lie. And businesses relying on third party vendors to do their security fail to realize that IT support is not analogous with cybersecurity. If you don’t have a cybersecurity team exclusively focused on cyber issues, you’re likely not adequately keeping your network secure.
Concerned about data breaches and cyberattacks on your network? Contact us today for a FREE network assessment.
