In our fast-paced world, technology has been an essential part of our individual daily lives. A full time system consultant, for example, cannot imagine his day without using the internet. For tasks which include functional and technical support to system end users, the best and most practical way of correspondence is through email.

In these times where risks are abundant in both business and private sectors, it is necessary for a company to be cautious in dealing with its endeavors outside the organization. In fact, it is imperative that they have an internal policy that limits both the users’ access in sites as well as the risks attached to them. Because the IT personnel cannot monitor each employee’s day-to-day activities, the internal policy allows them to secure the organization from the penetration of malicious software attacks.  

Users today have so many credentials to take note of and it is, most of the time, appealing to use them again and again in different websites to ease one’s burden of memorizing or listing these credentials down. Although this is practical for most of us, it is also what fast attackers rely on. They are certain that once they acquire these credentials, it is possible that they may use them on other websites and be successful at logging in. So if it comes to passwords and credentials, diversity is vital. You may seek applications such as password managers which are available online. They can support you on how to best handle the credentials that you have.

You may have also encountered or seen an antivirus reminder pop up on your screen. Sometimes, if you incorrectly clicked a malicious email attachment, it might be a form of malware. These malwares are harmful software in the form of viruses or ransomware. Once it has successfully entered your device, it may create different means of destruction, from the administration of your device, even divulging into your actions and activities. It can also secretly send out some confidential information from your network to the attacker’s machine. To avoid this, it is recommended that you review links before clicking them. Downloading of files or viewing an attachment may seem harmless, but there may be instances where an destructive installer is encrypted within them. Be wary of what you download and carefully read the permissions before installing any application.

It is for certain that knowledge of cyber attacks will refrain you from opening or clicking just any attachment or link in emails that you receive every day. You most probably need a strong reason to do so. Do you know that attackers are aware of this as well? So if they want to interest you to install a virus or provide delicate personal information, they will pretend to be another person or anything you trust to make you do something which you normally would not or would hesitate to do. How do you know it’s a phishing scam? Be it business or personal accounts, we have heard of countless incidents of phishing attacks where users are being tricked to provide their logon credentials.  The attacker will most probably send an email message or attachment from a person you know. The message will, of course, seem valid and may have some importance to it. And just like malwares, these phishing attackers will lead you to open an attachment and click a link which will send you to a legal-appearing website and ask you to input your credentials. To sway from attempts such as this, it is essential to check the validity of your senders and the corresponding attachments or links.

In relation to these websites which requests users to enter personal information aside from their logon password, we need to ascertain that the website is secured. There are evident signs that a website is safe. You may see a padlock symbol on the URL or check if the web address begins with https://.  Otherwise, providing your personal information may pose a risk of having them publicly posted.

Due to the scaling incidents of users who have been deceived by the attacks above, means such as two factor authentication was developed and is being practiced by many individuals and even companies to safeguard their organization from threats. The two factor authentication is an additional security feature which will require users further action to access their accounts. Enabling the two factor authentication will either prompt the user to answer an incoming call or input a password or code which will come from an SMS message in their registered mobile number. Any of these two options or actions will automatically verify the user’s identity.

While some of us may assume that it may only take a strong and unique password to go around this issue, we should think twice. Although creating a password that is difficult to predict may solve your concerns, this can only be short term. Ensuring the frequent change of passwords may also be helpful.   But still, It is best to seek the professional advice of experts because they can always provide you with proven effective measures to defeat cyber security attacks. It is a fact that cyber criminals become innovative with each passing day. Searching for better ways to penetrate business infrastructures and capture valuable information is their best weapon. We may equip our organization with awareness  to better defend the company’s intellectual property once we take the time to learn about the current issues and the risks that may affect our company. For best results, employ a third party professional to assist you with your concerns and inquiries.