Welcome to Cybersecurity Awareness Month part 2, the sequel. Last week’s Security Byte we started the conversation on two of the “four easy ways” CISA recommends to keep your business safer. This Security Byte we will cover the remaining two easy ways: report phishing attacks and updates.
Report phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are one of the most, if not the most common cyberattack type. It seems everyday that our inboxes are hit with several phishing emails, with many being blocked or making their way into our spam folders. Phishing emails continuously get more sophisticated and better at looking legitimate. With the expected rise of AI chatbots, phishing awareness will be even more relevant than ever.
Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility within the workplace, everyone plays an important role. One of those important roles is alerting when a phishing email is received. It is important to to help employees feel empowered to report cybersecurity incidents, especially if they fell victim to its scam. This protects the business. The more aware everyone is, the less likely someone will fall victim to the phishing attack.
Update, update, update
Almost every device that can connect to the internet can receive an update. Updates can be for the device, the firmware of the device, or the software/apps on the device. Most of these updates are for bug fixes and security vulnerabilities, so it is important to ensure updates are being applied to the devices of a small business.
An important step with updates is testing the updates prior to deployment on all devices. This could mean updating on test devices first or by updating only a small number of devices at a time until the business feels comfortable the update won’t disable the devices. By taking this phased approach with updates, the business is protecting itself from an IT nightmare of not being able to access its devices and data.
Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter to keep your small business up-to-date on all the latest cybersecurity news! For more information on protecting your small business from cyberattacks and other cybersecurity topics check out Small Business, Big Threat!