A phishing scam is a type of cybersecurity attack where unsuspecting individuals unknowingly divulge sensitive information such as bank and credit card details, Personal Identification Numbers codes, and passwords to fraudsters. Fraudsters are able to obtain said information by convincing their victims that they are legitimate entities through social engineering. In a recent article, our cybersecurity solutions expert discussed the signs of a phishing attack so that your employees can easily recognize one and not fall for it. In this article, our cybersecurity company resident expert will discuss what to do if you or one of your employees falls for a phishing scam.

Falling Victim to a Phishing Scam 

Terrible grammar, sloppy graphics, and suspiciously named links are markers of a phishing scam. However, scammers are innovating and improving on the believability of their phishing scams by using better syntax, logos, and email addresses (sometimes just adding a dot to a legitimate address, which is quite hard to distinguish from a legitimate one). This in conjunction with tested social engineering techniques can dupe an employee that is temporarily distracted, under stress, or tired. The first and most crucial step in minimizing the damage is to acknowledge your mistake and inform your superiors and the head of IT immediately.

Cybersecurity Solutions First Aid

Your company IT solutions head’s advice will vary depending on the sensitive data obtained or the type of breach. If the employee unknowingly downloaded a rogue program then the computer must be disconnected from the internet and the office’s network and scanned for viruses and unverified programs. If the scammers acquired email credentials then the employee will be advised to recover the email (if it was accessed) and change the password. It would also be sensible to change the password of other accounts that share login details and/or passwords with the compromised account. If the breach involves banking details then the employee must immediately contact his bank and have his account temporarily frozen.

Monitoring the Situation and Preventing Phishing Scams

Employees should be vigilant for suspicious activities involving their computers and/or bank accounts following the breach as these may not present immediately. The IT solutions our company offered above are just initial remedies your employees can undertake should they fall for a phishing scam. However, these remedies would not suffice for security breaches that were discovered late or rogue programs that have infected multiple computers. As is true with most cases, prevention is better than cure.

Our IT Company Can Help You Protect Your Business

Does your human resource training involve recognition of phishing scams? Do you have a protocol in place to secure your systems in case of a breach? Our cybersecurity company, BHT solutions is a Houston-based IT company with satisfied clients all over the country. Call us now to schedule an appointment. Leave your cybersecurity worries to us so you can focus on your business. 

Cybersecurity is the protection of systems connected to the internet such as hardware, software, and its users from cyberattacks. Cyberattacks include DOS or DDOS (denial of service or distributed denial of service) that aims to bring down a system by overloading its resources with a high number of bogus requests, which prevents the system from processing the legitimate requests. Another type of cyberattack is phishing: gaining sensitive data from users by posing as legitimate entities using social engineering techniques. These attacks can be prevented by a sound cybersecurity strategy that is put into place by an experienced cybersecurity company with multiple satisfied clients across the country, such as BHT solutions. In this article, our IT company experts will discuss how a Cybersecurity Assessment helps in ensuring that your systems are fully protected.

Is Cybersecurity Assessment Necessary?

When it comes to cybersecurity solutions, one size does not fit all. A cybersecurity assessment conducted by a competent cybersecurity company ensures that the strategy created is appropriate. The cybersecurity strategy in place for an IT company would vary extremely from that of a retail company. It would be reasonable to infer that an IT company’s cybersecurity solutions would focus more on its hardware and software—ensuring their assets are not vulnerable to attack, while a retail company’s strategy would focus more on its users (employees)—more in the vein of recognizing phishing attacks and adherence to password management best practices.

Is Cybersecurity Assessment Worth It?

As discussed above, it is only prudent that a Cybersecurity Assessment be conducted first not just to evaluate the effectiveness of the current security setup but also to discuss with the owners their specific needs based on their operations. This arrangement, while guaranteeing that the client ends up with a personalized IT solution, also allows for flexibility and ensures that the cybersecurity solutions implemented are within the client’s budget.

Do You Have the Appropriate Cybersecurity Solutions Infrastructure in Place?

Is your cybersecurity system up to date? Are there aspects of it that you want to improve on? Need help in assessing which parts of your current security setup are performing and which are not? Our company, BHT Solutions is an IT solutions company operating out of Houston that can work with any company all over the country to maintain their cybersecurity strategy. Call us now and schedule your Cybersecurity Assessment so that we can integrate cybersecurity solutions into your business strategy that are responsive to your needs.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 singlehandedly transformed how businesses conduct their operations. Remote work and telecommuting became the norm while on-site work became the exception and reserved only for processes that cannot be migrated online. This shift was facilitated by the existing IT solutions but the pandemic forced the adoption. However, this digital transformation did not come without its associated risks. During this ‘new normal’, cybersecurity solutions companies have also observed an uncharacteristic increase in cyberattacks. One of the most common types of cyberattacks is phishing. In this article, our IT solutions expert will discuss the makings of a phishing attack and how to recognize one.

What is Phishing

There are many types of phishing attacks such as credit card phishing, bank phishing, and email phishing, but at its core, phishing aims to obtain sensitive information from unsuspecting individuals by posing as a legitimate institution through social engineering. The aforementioned sensitive information includes login credentials, credit card and banking details, PIN numbers, and OTP numbers.

What is Social Engineering  

Social engineering is a collective term for the techniques employed by fraudsters to persuade, manipulate, and deceive their victims. In phishing attacks, fraudsters would often employ urgency to pressure their victims to act quickly. For example, they would send emails or texts threatening a negative consequence (such as closure or blocking of an account) or a loss of opportunity (such as a prize that has to be claimed within a short period). In the target’s haste, they fail to realize that bank employees would never request sensitive details, especially over email. He also does not find it odd that he won something from a contest he did not join.

Cybersecurity Solutions for Preventing Phishing

In order to protect ourselves from phishing attacks, it would be wise to be wary of the following:

• Emails or calls demanding urgent action. If it was really urgent, your service provider would call you but would never ask for personal information such as passwords over the phone.
• Emails with bad grammar and spelling mistakes. If you have been receiving regular emails from a specific company, you would find that they tend to have a certain tone and choice of words. If there is a change in tone and words used then that is a sign. You can always confirm with the company the contents of the email by calling their office.
• Emails with links that send you to a site that requests your login credentials. If possible, bookmark all the critical sites that you regularly use such as your working email and online banking. Setting up two-factor authentication would also provide additional security.
• Emails that are too good to be true. Emails claiming you won a big prize are probably phishing scams.

Our IT Company Can Help Your Business Protect Its Employees

The tips our IT solutions experts mentioned above are just some of the ways your employees can detect and prevent phishing attempts. However, cybersecurity encompasses a broader area beyond its users, specifically hardware and software. Our company, BHT Solutions is a Houston-based IT company that can work with any company all over the country to ensure that their cybersecurity is in tiptop shape. Call us now and we can help you tailor-fit cybersecurity solutions that are responsive to your needs. 

In today’s business landscape, businesses across all industries must have cybersecurity measures in place because you never know when your business may fall victim to an attack. As a business owner, you likely already know this, but aren’t entirely sure where to start. BHT Solutions, an IT solutions company that serves businesses nationwide, will break down some of the basic measures you could take. We can always further refine your cybersecurity strategy–what matters is having something in place as soon as possible to provide your company with a layer of protection. 

Standard Cybersecurity Measures Your Business Should Implement

There are countless ways to improve your company’s cybersecurity, but we will outline the most basic/standard practices we recommend:

Install Virus Protection

Virus protection is one of the most effective lines of defense against cyberattacks. You can easily download and install virus protection software on your devices; just make sure you purchase protection from a trustworthy company.

In addition to sourcing a reliable virus protection program, it’s important to keep your program regularly updated once you’ve installed it. This way, you can rest assured that your program is performing at its best to keep your business safe online. 

Regularly Change Your WiFi Password

WiFi is easily the one thing businesses cannot go without these days. You might think that, just because you use a private network, no one could hack into it. Unfortunately, sophisticated methods are used these days to hack a business’s WiFi network. To avoid this, our IT and cybersecurity company, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, recommends you regularly switch out your WiFi password, which will ensure that only your employees and those who have your permission utilize your network, as opposed to anyone who may have snuck into it. Changing your password will also protect you and your employees from potential identity theft.

Provide Your Employees With A VPN

Another cybersecurity tactic is VPN, otherwise known as a Virtual Private Network. VPN is presumed to be most appropriate for high-tech companies and workers. However, the truth is that anyone can benefit from using VPN–including your remote work employees. This is because, over public WiFi, sensitive information is easily accessible. A VPN, on the other hand, effectively works as an encrypted server that masks your IP address, so your personal data and that of your employees are better protected while working remotely.

Avoid Clicking Unknown Links When You Recieve Strange Emails

Emails are yet another threat to your company’s cybersecurity, and one of the easiest methods as well. This is a common practice known as phishing in which hackers pose as a reputable company and implant links that, when clicked, will result in the recipient giving up their personal information. Many phishing emails are obvious scams, but others are more sophisticated, making it harder to tell. Use your best judgment and do not open or click links in any emails that come unexpectedly. Be sure you check the email domain as well.

Our Houston-Based IT Company Can Help Your Business Protect Its Employees

With cyberattacks and threats becoming more sophisticated, now more than ever it is imperative that you implement cybersecurity measures. While these standard practices are a great starting point, your business will better benefit from a custom IT cybersecurity solution. If you’d like to learn more about how our cybersecurity services can help you, please contact us! We take great pride in delivering custom IT solutions that are designed to fit in with your workflow.