Absolutely, you should test your employees with a phishing campaign. Social engineering forms of hacking are specifically designed to prey on our human vulnerabilities, and they WORK.

Do you remember that Nigerian Prince who has been scamming people for money since the advent of the internet? If people keep falling for that sort of scam it will continue, and we have to take the precautions necessary to make sure our employees and associates are aware of the steps they can take to avoid becoming yet another victim of a phishing scam.

If employees are not properly educated and trained on their responsibility to protect the company’s information, they can pose a huge threat to security and to the overall success of the organization. It is vital to test the cyber competence of your employees and to make sure you find out where the weaknesses lie in order to provide extra education and instill a sense of caution. Fortunately, Data Revolution can provide the means to assess the situation within your own company by setting up a phishing campaign tailored specifically to your business and the sort of threats you may encounter.

Employees are your first line of defense – and hackers know it

Your personnel is truly the first line of defense when it comes to keeping your company’s digital information secure. To avoid phishing scams, they must have an understanding of how their personal social media habits and “oversharing” information can have a direct impact on the safety of their employer. With the amount of information that some people share on the multitude of social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), hackers can gather more than enough information through these phishing scams to trick the victim into trusting them or even to assume the identity of someone the victim may know.

Many times, an employee lacks the experience to identify cyber threats such as phishing emails, tailgating, and baiting. These tactics may come across as legitimate to someone who thinks they have no reason to be skeptical. Why would they question whether their boss wants them to transfer some money to them while they’re on vacation? Why would they need to double-check the source when a coworker asks them to open the door because they just happened to leave their keycard at home? These are such common scams and too many employees are unaware of the danger.

As an employer and a business owner, it is your responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of your client’s information and your own. Having a cybersecurity firm such as Data Revolution test out your defenses is just a first step, and we would be happy to accommodate you in your journey toward cyber safety.

Make employee education a priority so they can spot phishing campaigns

Seek out and employ comprehensive training services to prepare your employees for how to recognize and avoid the latest cybersecurity threats. You’ll want to find a cybersecurity training program that addresses your organization’s vulnerabilities and risks because organizations in different industries have different needs and .

For instance, law firms and others in the legal services field have very strict compliance requirements regarding both the handling of physical documents and digital security. Customizing your training program will help staff adapt to the latest technologies and reduce liabilities with best practices in data hygiene and physical security.

Another vital aspect of employee cybersecurity training is teaching your staff the importance of digital hygiene. How can they keep their online data organized, safe, and secure from outside threats? This can be established through practicing digital hygiene and utilizing data-loss prevention methods. Educate your employees on the value of information and how to properly share it at different levels – this will help protect against accidental leaks.

If your employees are aware of how the information they post can be used against them and the company they work for, they’ll be far less likely to make that information so easily accessible. As kids, we’re taught the basics as far as manners and behavior go, but social media and the like are relatively new concepts so it takes a little more work to turn digital safety into a habit.

Test employee cyber competence

Once your employees have been through training and are more aware of their responsibilities, it’s time to test their competence. Data Revolutions can help you ensure the safety of your information and test your employee’s knowledge and implementation.

The value of social engineering testing is that it will uncover security weaknesses in multiple areas:

• Physical security
• Security policies regarding proper handling and disposal of sensitive data
• Employees’ security awareness and implementation – you will discover whether the staff needs additional security training

Take a peek into your employee’s trash cans. Have they tossed sensitive documents and bits of paper with critical information on them? Are they skipping the paper shredder? This is basically what testing your employees through a phishing campaign will do – find out which employees are leaving a trail so that you are able to pinpoint where the problem lies and take steps to rectify the situation.

What have we learned?

You may think that your employees know what to look for, but it only takes one person to endanger the security of the whole company. Testing your staff through digital testing is an efficient way to identify where your employees stand when it comes to protecting your company’s data. Knowledge is power, and hackers can’t succeed when their victims know their tricks.

Phishing testing also provides valuable information on whether people are learning and utilizing what they’ve learned on a daily basis. Testing employees when they are unaware enables real insight into their knowledge of threats and in what areas they may need more training. It is a much more cost-effective way of protecting your assets than recovering after an attack has already occurred.