The Ultimate Guide Against Social Engineering
No matter how advanced your network security tools, firewalls or encryption system are, you may not be able to resist social engineering techniques if your employees are not cyber-conscious. Recent research also shows how vulnerable companies are to social engineering attacks. In the research we mentioned, social engineers were asked to discover the weak points of 15 different companies. Social engineers found that 14 out of 15 companies were vulnerable to attacks as a result. The reason for the success of the last company was that the social engineer could not reach any employee from the company. This shows that the situation is very critical. So what can you do to protect your company against social engineering attacks? Here is the ultimate guide against social engineering!
The Ultimate Guide Against Social Engineering: What to Do?
1. Keep Your Software Updated.
In social engineering attacks, hackers often target outdated software and attack weak spots. Social engineering attacks can’t really hurt you if you keep your software up to date. That’s why it should be the first step to follow the troublesome areas in your software and keep your software up-to-date.
2. Advise Your Employees to Be Careful When Posting on Social Media.
Social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter are a mine of knowledge for hackers. Trained social engineers often do social media research when planning their attacks. In this way, they can have a deep knowledge of the history of their target. That’s why your employees need to be careful when sharing on social media.
3. Raise Awareness of Your Employees with Training.
The most important protection against social engineering is to train your employees. If your employees are not aware of attack techniques, they cannot protect your company when faced with an attack. With our Cyber Security Awareness trainer, your employees can also educate themselves about social engineering attacks. They can learn to discredit people who try to deceive them, especially by pretending to be an internal employee. Check out our tool for more information.
4. Identify areas of your company that are vulnerable to attack.
The biggest problem with companies is that they often focus on protecting the wrong things. Companies often focus on protecting valuable assets, but often hackers don’t care about those assets. Hackers prefer to focus on areas where they can monetize. Companies need to consider the perspective of hackers when identifying areas of vulnerability. Oftentimes, assets that seem unimportant to the company, for which they are not worth protecting, fall into the hands of hackers and companies suffer serious losses. We advise you to work with a third party to make an independent assessment on this matter. With our tools, you can identify which assets are most likely to be targeted by criminals and invest in these areas. Click for more information.
5. Support Cyber Security Awareness Trainings with a Detailed Company Policy.
Once you’ve identified the vulnerable areas in your company, get a detailed company policy to keep your assets and sensitive data safe. Such a policy will increase the impact of your cybersecurity awareness training. Employees may need guidelines in certain situations. If their needs are not met, they can give hackers the information they need to keep. More importantly, for a detailed policy to be effective, all employees must implement it. Make sure that this policy is not just written but properly implemented.
6. When Giving Company Information, Always Request Identity Verification.
If you are dealing with someone you do not know, before giving any information, ask why the person wants this information. Ask for authentication if you don’t know the person and are unsure of the need for the information.
Hackers may question the operating system version you are using or a policy in place at your company. You should not give such information to anyone you do not know. Hackers may want to take advantage of your friendliness and helpfulness. At this point, you should choose the people you are helping. But they must temper this benevolence with restraint. In particular, salespeople are responsible for answering potential customers’ questions, but make sure that the information you provide is relevant.
7. Get defensive quickly in case of an attack.
If you detect that the other person is trying to seize information they do not need, immediately activate your defence systems. When you come across information and you are unsure of whether you should provide, consult your administrator. If the other person starts to be persistent, end the conversation.
8. Be Skeptical to People Making Urgent Requests.
If the other person requests unnecessary information and says that he/she needs this information urgently, this should immediately make you suspicious. It is essential to be aware of off-topic questions. In a sudden pressure or urgency situation, he may panic and say things we need to say. In this case, we should not make a sudden decision but remain calm and question the situation. Do not be fooled by the excuses presented to you and inform your manager.
9. Make Your Employees Feel Responsible.
Most security programs fail because they do not impose personal responsibility on employees. Ensuring the cybersecurity of the company is the duty of everyone working in the company. That’s why you should make your employees feel this. When it comes to security, it’s critical that your employees take ownership of the company. Employees need to be especially careful to protect the company even when they are at home. Customizing your cybersecurity program can solve this problem. Assign homework to your employees and try to change daily habits. In this way, you can easily develop the company culture.
The Ultimate Guide Against Social Engineering: What to Do Next?
Take advantage of our tools for even more protection. We provide protection at every step with our cybersecurity tools that we have specially prepared for you. Protect yourself using our anti-phishing solutions against phishing attacks.
