Strengthening Your Office's Cyber Security Strategies

Published: 2019-10-25 20:26:43

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Millions of cyber attacks target businesses around the world every day. Many look to steal customer data. Some seek proprietary information for corporate espionage or sensitive data that could be leaked to harm a target. Still others try only to disrupt or shut down sites for malicious purposes. The risk is enormous. The average data breach can cost large enterprises more than $4 million and a disruption to a high volume e-commerce site may cost thousands of dollars per minute in lost revenue. Experts estimate all cyber crime will total $6 trillion annually by 2021 and the scope of danger is growing.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hacking has evolved from amateurs exploiting simple vulnerabilities to complex attacks by criminal organizations. The days of generic threats are over as businesses now face highly sophisticated attacks targeted at their specific environment.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><strong>Protect Sensitive Data</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The two primary weapons of cyber criminals are web application attacks and </span><a href="https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">DDoS attacks</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In web app attacks, hackers insert code into online forms that instructs company servers to release sensitive data or execute damaging files. Hackers can use web app attacks for many reasons, the most damaging among them being getting customer user names, passwords, and even credit card numbers to either sell on the black market or to blackmail the company. News about stolen data from web app attacks can cost huge sums in repairs and erode customer trust.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Increase Efficiency</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;In both DDOS and web app attacks, slow servers mean delayed interactions with customers. A 100 millisecond delay in load time, a fast blink of the eye, hurt sales by up to 7%. Bad actors aim complex threats of businesses every day, turning away customers, harming revenues and tarnishing hard won reputations.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Shop From Trustworthy Websites</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Criminals send emails and place ads hoping that you'll be enticed by the promise of saving money or obtaining the must-have item of the year. Your office isn&rsquo;t the place to experiment with new shopping websites and apps. Don't let an impulsive decision become the gift that keeps on taking.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Avoid Clicking on Suspicious Links</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Minimize opening links, even if an email or advertisement looks like it's coming from a site you trust. Hackers love to impersonate your favorite shopping sites by </span><a href="https://askleo.com/from_spoofing_how_spammers_send_email_that_looks_like_it_came_from_you/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">sending you fake emails</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that can look exactly like the real thing. Don't fall for it. Criminals are hoping that their fake emails will trick you into clicking the link that can allow them to download viruses to your office network or may direct you to a fake page that will try to collect your login information or payment details.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><strong>Watch Out for Fake Notifications</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Criminals are banking on the fact that you're going to be expecting more package deliveries to </span><a href="https://breather.com/office-space/san-francisco"><span style="font-weight: 400;">your San Francisco Office Space</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> during certain times of the year. If you've ordered something, use the tracking information on your order history page from the website you purchased the items from. If you receive a delivery notification but are not expecting a delivery, navigate to the parcel services website directly and enter the tracking number from the suspect email into their online package tracking form.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Avoid Apps With Negative Reviews</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mobile app stores like the Google Play Store are known to house less than trustworthy apps on the best of days. Investigate before downloading that holiday themed game Wallpaper or other novelty app from suspicious sources. And if you do download a mobile app, pay close attention to the permissions that is requesting and ask yourself if the app really needs those permissions to do what it says it does.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><strong>Monitor Your Bank and Card Activity Diligently</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sometimes even the most careful people could become victims. Early detection of suspicious account activity will allow you to work with your financial service providers to shut down additional fraud.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hackers and scammers depend on the active pace and distractions of the modern office to achieve their goals: stealing money, pilfering data and compromising computer systems. Follow these practices to make your business a hard target.</span></p>