When they think of their IT system being compromised, most people picture a suspicious character in a dark room feverishly typing lines of code into a terminal. But this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. In reality, most IT threats to your organization come in the form of phishing. In this article, we\u2019ll take a look at three ways you can protect your organization from phishing attempts.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s certainly not the loveable afternoon sport, though both of these activities do involve luring in unsuspecting prey with bait. Simply put, phishing<\/strong> is when a scammer pretends to be an official service provider\u2014such as a bank, Microsoft, or an associate\u2014and asks for your log-in credentials. But once you click on this email item, before you can take action, you\u2019ll be asked to provide log-in details on a fake page. And often, this page can actually appear very official, with a similar URL to that of the real site and perhaps even the same logo. More sophisticated phishing scams can even replicate the backend of your service when you log in (e.g., some direct you to the real page with a \u201cTry again\u201d prompt).<\/p>\n These scammers may already have some of your details to appear more legitimate, such as your name, your business partners\u2019 names (especially if their security\u2019s been compromised), or even your credit card details\u2014and for that last one, they often just need the pin number or CCV number on the back of your card.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it\u2019s very common for Office 365 users to be targeted by phishing scams. This is because the robust Office platform is a standardized system that is highly recognizable and therefore easy to replicate.<\/p>\n Once the scammer has access to your system, they\u2019ll then be able to send information with your secure credentials, such as a ransomware virus that will encrypt your data for blackmail, or simply delete critical files. They will then also send additional phishing scam emails from your account to others within your organization, thereby multiplying the impact.<\/p>\n So what can you do to prevent your IT system from falling to these phishing scams? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n The simplest way to prevent scammers from infiltrating your IT system is by simply educating your system users and making sure they\u2019re aware of common scams and how to identify phishing emails.<\/p>\n When receiving an email that appears to be from an official source, the most common items to review are the following:<\/p>\n Sometimes, you can check if an email is a common scam by copy-pasting its contents into Google. You may find that other victims of a phishing scam may have posted the email contents on online forums.<\/p>\n Remember, an official service provider would never ask for your log-in details by email, phone, or IM. They would never need to access your files, and even if they did, they already control the servers that host your details and could simply work around your login through official channels.<\/p>\n If they call you, simply ask for a case number or their name. Then, look up the organization\u2019s number on their official website and call them back referencing this incident. Do not call the number that the suspected scammers provide you on the phone.<\/p>\n The first step in using Office 365\u2019s built-in protection is to ensure that you have the latest security updates. Office 365 offers great anti-spam and scam filtering technology, but they are only effective if you update your software.<\/p>\n If you have Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection<\/a>, then you or your admins can implement advanced rules that protect your system. By using machine learning, Office 365 can understand how your users speak; if someone receives a message from an organization email but the message doesn\u2019t match the sender\u2019s typical language patterns, the system will raise an alert that the sender is potentially being impersonated.<\/p>\n The final layer of protection is to use software like Sherweb’s Office Protect<\/a> that\u2019s designed to specifically protect Office 365 users from phishing attempts. This solution comes with (but is not limited to) the following unique services:<\/p>\n
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\nFirst, they\u2019ll grab your attention with an email or call that directs you, via a link or attachment, to take action, such as urgently renewing your subscription (fear motivation), accepting a payment invoice (reward motivation), sharing a funny old memory that includes you (social proof motivation), or one of many other motivations.<\/p>\nSherweb makes Office 365 easy so you can focus on your business<\/a><\/h3>\n
1. Educate Your System Users<\/h2>\n
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2. Use Built-in Office 365 Protection<\/h2>\n
3. Use Sherweb Office Protect<\/h2>\n
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