10 Ways to Avoid Social Engineering - EMPIST®

Is your Business a Prime Candidate for Social Engineering?  

There are plenty of things you can do to avoid social engineering attacks; you just need to be educated. In today’s social media-centric world, social engineering has become a concern in the workplace. Information is out there are hackers are using it to their advantage to gain access to valuable and sensitive data. 

What is Social Engineering?  

Social Engineering is the use of psychological manipulation to trick a user into making security mistakes or providing a cybercriminal with sensitive information. 

Example of Social Engineering 

Your company posted on LinkedIn that you just hired a new employee in your IT Department. A hacker sees this and emails your new employee using a fake email address from Human Resources. The email asks the employee to verify sensitive information to enter the company’s HR portal. And just like that, a hacker has broken in! 

10 Ways to Avoid Social Engineering  

1. Create company policies on sharing social media content.
2. Make sure everyone in your office has up-to-date cybersecurity training.
3. Develop foundational security rules for your business.
4. Keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software updated.
5. Never shrug off a suspicion; double-check the facts with trusted sources.
6. Be wary of any urgent or time-sensitive prompts.
7. Don’t download files you didn’t verify first.
8. Set up an email filter for your employee accounts.
9. Think before you click.
10. Email spoofing is on-going. There is no harm in being cautious.

The More You Know

The more you know about social engineering methods, the easier it will be to avoid them. The best thing you can do is go through some type of phishing/cybersecurity training course. For more information on cybersecurity for your business, visit our Free Resources page. 

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