Cybersecurity in finance is not just about defense but proactive adaptation. Banks face continuous threats despite advanced security infrastructures. The escalation in phishing success rates, as seen in Terranova Security's 2023 Gone Phishing Tournament found a 10.4% click-through statistic, highlighting the need for evolving security strategies.  While the finance sector performed better than...

Cyber security training is crucial, yet traditional methods often fail to inspire engagement, leading to subpar knowledge retention and application of critical security practices. As security threats constantly evolve, you need training that not only informs but also captivates and motivates. Enter gamification. By weaving elements of game design into training programs, you can turn mundane...

Social media platforms have become non-negotiables in our daily lives. We always find ourselves online at our favorite social media sites to connect with loved ones, share our thoughts, and discover interesting content. While social media has become central to our routines, its vast reach and anonymity provide certain risks—they’ve become a breeding...

The first challenge security professionals who want to implement security awareness training face is that this training is usually perceived as a punishment or a chore. This perception varies based on how the training is contextualized, its delivery method, and the organizational culture in which it is introduced. As the renowned psychologist and...

Cyber criminals are constantly evolving their methods, but their biggest leverage for growth will always be exploiting the human factor. Software and physical measures against cyber attacks have become so advanced that tricking workers is the only remaining attack vector criminals can reliably use. According to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Report, 74% of...

QR codes have come a long way since being invented in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota. Initially introduced to address some limitations of barcodes during the car manufacturing process, QR codes have since become staples in people’s day-to-day lives. The introduction of high-powered cameras to most modern smartphones is what allowed these codes to gain new uses. QR codes, easily generated and cost...

More than half of the world population (54%) spends an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes on social media daily. Users’ likes, opinions, geotags, photo uploads, and friend connections are considered personal data. What social media companies do with that information is vitally important. However, users often give those platforms enormous control over their data when they sign user agreements. ...

This year is seeing more phishing attacks in more places, having more detrimental impacts. One security messaging provider noted a 61% increase in phishing attacks between April and October 2022 compared to the same period the previous year. Another report observed that when phishing attacks were successful in 2022, financial losses from those incidents increased by 76%. In another trend,...

Detectives look for footprints and fingerprints because they’re instant proof of where someone’s been, what they touched, and where they’re headed. The concept holds online, too. Your digital footprint is a map of where you (and your devices) have been, what you do online, how you behave, and where you’re probably headed next in the cyber sphere. In this article, we explain what digital...

Social media has completely redefined our lives. From how we communicate to the type of information we broadcast, people worldwide have used these platforms to make new friends, share information, start and promote businesses, and so much more. These platforms have become amazingly convenient and powerful to the point where they have become a centerpiece of most people’s lives. The ubiquity of...

It’s upsetting when bad actors turn the good things in life against us. We use social media daily to celebrate, learn, keep in touch, fall in love, and buy things that satisfy our needs and wants. Unfortunately, hackers exploit that information to execute phishing attacks. Social media platforms did not only experience more attacks in 2022, but it’s also become the fastest-growing attack surface....

Everyone wants to look good in front of their boss. Which is exactly why an urgent email from the CEO of your company is guaranteed to catch your attention. You’re more likely to act on the request immediately without questioning the details. But what if that email didn’t come from your boss? All it takes is one savvy email that encourages an employee to act on behalf of their team leader. For...

Everyone wants to impress their boss, which is exactly what scammers rely on nowadays to carry out sophisticated phishing attacks called CEO fraud. Examples of CEO fraud are becoming increasingly common, with attackers regularly sending out phishing emails to an organization's employees and impersonating the top executive. This often comes with a demand at the end of the day that must be...

Phishing threats are everywhere, and if your employees don’t know how to spot them, you’re putting your information at risk. Knowing how to build a successful phishing simulation is vital for identifying how well employees can spot the latest threats and ensuring they know how to spot them independently. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to offer adequate security awareness training, with...

During the last week of January 2021, cyber security provider TrendMicro shared a blog post highlighting an Office-365 phishing campaign that criminals have targeted executives within manufacturing, tech, real estate, government, and finance since May 2020. As part of the scam, fraudsters sent the victims fake emails with links to a phishing site, where they harvested their credentials to sell...

(7 min read) Using online security awareness training to lower your click rate Recognizing a potential phishing email is the first step in avoiding falling victim to a cyber attack. The next and most important step is knowing what to do with this email. Ideally, you want your employees to report the phishing email to you and then delete the message. However, curiosity is extremely powerful....

Leveraging a spirit of competition to drive engagement and create a security culture Gamification is a popular concept these days, and for good reason. With gamification, you can develop a game for learning more about a serious topic while also getting the learner to approach winning that game with the same fervor they would when playing for entertainment. So what happens when you integrate...

Social networking overlaps corporate and personal lives, and so should the mission to create a culture of security awareness. It’s true. There was little – if nothing – any Facebook user could have done to prevent their passwords from getting exposed earlier this spring. Just look at the facts of the case, said Theo Zafirakos, Chief Information Security Officer and Security Awareness Coach at...