The start of a new year is often seen to be a time for reflection and setting goals. It’s also a time when social media is flooded with posts about new year’s resolutions and the iconic saying of ‘new year, new me’. Unfortunately, while there seems to be no harm in this, it can be easy to forget how effortlessly cyber criminals can take advantage of people’s eagerness to share their personal information online.

We now live in a world where everything is posted to social media. Social engineering is a type of cybercrime that involves psychological manipulation, getting you to hand over confidential information online. And what do these cyber criminals use as their prime source to ‘get to know you’? Social media. So remind yourself and your colleagues when they’re writing up their next LinkedIn caption or post their next job promotion, to think carefully about the information displayed and how it could be used against them.

For businesses, social engineering attacks can be particularly devastating. A single successful attack can result in the loss of sensitive data, financial loss, and damage to the company’s reputation, resulting in customer mistrust.

So how can businesses protect themselves from social engineering attacks?

1. Educate your employees. 

Make sure your employees are aware of the risks of social engineering attacks and how to identify them. Provide regular training sessions to keep them up to date on the latest threats. More often than not, interactive training software retains information far better than a 20-minute presentation.

2. Monitor your accounts. 

Regularly monitor your social media accounts for suspicious activity. If you notice anything unusual, investigate it immediately.

3. Limit access to sensitive information. 

Be careful about what information you share on social media. Do not post sensitive information such as financial data, trade secrets, or customer information.

4. Switch to private.

Whichever social media platform you are on, most will have settings to privatise certain parts of your account. This acts as a barrier to cyber attackers gaining huge amounts of information.

5. Use strong passwords.

Many employees sign into their social media accounts such as LinkedIn on a work device. Make sure your employees use strong, unique passwords here to decrease the chances of their account becoming hacked. Using a password manager helps to keep track of all the complex passwords they (now don’t) need to remember!

As a business owner or IT manager, it’s crucial to remind your colleagues and employees of the dangers of social engineering. With the start of a new year, it’s an ideal time to make positive changes and step up your online security. While anti-virus and anti-phishing software are essential, your employees are pretty much your first line of defence. Unfortunately, according to email security provider Mimecast, more than 90% of security breaches involve an error by an employee, making it vital to keep them aware of the increasing cyber threats.

Our interactive training software, KnowBe4, provides non-intrusive, regular training to change behaviour and help employees retain information, keeping them up-to-date on the latest threats. Let’s face it, hour-long presentations aren’t going to keep your employees’ attention for long! Reach out to us today to see how we can help your business’s first line of defence – your people.