Are Your Employees Christmas Shopping At Work?
Nearly half the people on social media will admit to falling victim to a shopping scam. So the question is, are your employees Christmas shopping at work? If some of your team members decide to do some last-minute holiday shopping from work, how can you ensure your business is protected?
Consumers click on these links hoping to find a great deal, but end up providing financial and personal information to cybercriminals.
But that’s not all. Falling for one of these scams not only puts your own data and money at risk, but also exposes your devices and perhaps your network.
Online shopping is not the only aspect tricking people online. Over a third of consumers were duped into providing personal information via phishing links. Phishing is when you receive an email that appears to be from a person or company you trust, but it’s not.
The same percentage of people have fallen victim to gift card scams. That’s when hackers gain victims’ trust and convince them to purchase gift cards or online coupons.
If an employee is at work when they click a malicious link or download a harmful file, the results for the business can be disastrous. The dangers extend beyond data loss and reputation damage. The expense of downtime in those situations if enough to put many people out of business for good.
So, how can you business defend itself from this kind of scam both now and during the whole year?
First and foremost, you want to have the proper cybersecurity tools in place to help prevent such attacks. This includes firewalls, antivirus software and strong password management. But you should also focus some time on training your people, especially for the holiday season. Your team can be the best line of defense for spotting a threat when they see one.
Keep them informed on recent scam tactics and make sure they are familiar with warning signs to look out for. Encourage everyone to double-check links and websites and to be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.
Having a plan is also the best thing you can do for your business in terms of defense. This plan goes into effect the instant someone discovers a security threat. Each employee should be aware of who to contact and how soon after an event occurs to report it. By acting quickly, breaches are often less damaging and easier and less expensive to fix.
To get further help and advice for how you can better secure your business during the holiday season, feel free to reach out!
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