An urgent voicemail message from the tax department. A text message from Microsoft tech support warning you about a problem with your computer. A caller asking you to confirm your mailing address and credit card number so you can collect your free prize. A text message requesting your confirmation of an Amazon shipment. These are all examples of smishing and vishing cyber attacks. They have one...

Users often just assume that the software tools they're using are in top working condition, and that's generally true. However, every change and every piece of new code introduces new potential for gaps, problems, and bugs. Sometimes cyber security is a race against time. What happens when a cyber attacker finds a hole before a security team does? What is a Zero-Day Attack? As soon as a malicious...

Information systems are not equally safe or vulnerable to cyber attacks. Cyber criminals look for entry points that make it easier to break in, steal data, or do damage to systems. To illustrate, think of a burglary attempt. If an intruder has several houses to choose from, the one with an unlocked door and no security cameras is the easiest and most likely target. The process is similar to cyber...

It’s a simple fact: electric vehicles (EVs) are rapidly becoming a prominent fixture of everyday life. Global warming and climate issues are accelerating the adoption of this transportation method running on renewable energy. EVs also feature many technological innovations that make them attractive to buyers. So popular, in fact, that Gartner estimates there will be 2 million global public EV...

Your employees are your first line of defense against cyber security attacks. The success or failure of your security awareness program depends on the knowledge of every employee in your organization. As part of your organizational goals and plans for 2023, you must prioritize building a cyber secure and aware culture. This requires an ongoing commitment not just among the average employees, but...

Cyber security is a constant battle against evolving threats. While most of the themes are the same, it is crucial to remain informed and up to date on the latest forms of every cyber threat. After all, 31% of executives said in a recent survey their main cyber security challenge was improper identification of key risks. Most companies around the globe have a cyber security awareness plan in place...

Let’s be honest: cyber security employee training has a reputation for being dull. Most employees dread it. They expect dry training talks, lackluster presentations, and examples they can’t relate to. In any training, people must come first. You should create a model that focuses on the people you’re trying to reach: your own employees. A people-centric approach lets you focus your cyber security...

A lot of ink over the years has gone into comparing the most common generations within the workplace—and for a good reason. Generations are a great way to compare and study variations in broad subjects like the importance of job security, working habits, and technology usage. These generalizations have been crucial data for many important workplace improvements, including cyber security awareness...

There’s no way to measure your security awareness program’s success unless you identify the behaviors you want to address and develop a clear, actionable strategy. However, many cyber security leaders struggle to create a framework to quantify the success of their security awareness training . As a result, their organizations rely on intuition rather than clearly defined objectives and supporting...

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...

Phishing attacks work because people don’t know what phishing looks like. These examples of phishing emails emphasize how easy it is to be tricked.

The education sector experienced a "record-breaking" year of cyber attacks in 2020. In case you'd been sleeping under a rock, there was a global pandemic that drove up the need for virtual setups. According to Microsoft , education is globally the sector most vulnerable to threats like malware, accounting for more than 6.8 million (over 63%) of total reported encounters in early 2022. It's not one...

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 completed...

As much as we can say that cyber security measures are advancing, we can say the same about cyber criminals and their strategies. In 2022, ransomware attacks occurred every 11 seconds on average, at a global annual cost to businesses and governments of $20 billion US. Costs are rising in part due to the growing ransoms demanded from victims. While estimates of the average ransomware payout in 2020...

This financial sector’s reliance on computer systems and network has made it an attractive target for cyber attacks, now the biggest risk to the UK financial system. In its latest Financial Stability Report , the Bank of England (BoE) agrees that cyber threats may be prevalent in 2023. The BoE said that it is working to strengthen defenses against cyber attacks. The report identified three...

There is a sharp rise in cyber attacks targeting businesses and organizations across Australia. The nature of these attacks ranges from ransomware and phishing scams to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, with some estimates suggesting that the number of cyber incidents could be as high as one million per year. The financial cost of these cyber attacks is immense, with businesses and...