Video conferencing like online meetings and webinars has become a commonly used tool in business nowadays. Cyber-crimes have increased significantly since the pandemic began as more people are connected online.
The adaptation of video conferencing technology has presented cyber criminal’s new opportunities to exploit. A common method used by hackers is to disguise malicious software through these video meeting invitations (also known as phishing). Viruses and malwares are embedded in the invitation, and when the victim clicks on the phishing link (the link that they think is supposedly for a meeting invitation), it will give the hacker access to their computer system.
We have collected several tools and tips in this article to raise your awareness and protect you and your business against cyber-crimes.
Increase Staff Awareness by Doing Cyber Security Awareness Training Program
Cyber security awareness training coupled with realistic simulations of phishing attacks are the best ways to educate your employees and raise their awareness of cyber security risks. Your employees or end-users are your largest soft target for hackers. Raising their cyber-risk awareness level by educating them is an important and integral part of any cybersecurity strategy.
As a part of the organisation’s cyber security measure, enforcing education as a key mitigation strategy is important to protect and empower all staff to be human firewall in stopping phishing attacks. After all, a company’s cyber security posture is only as strong as its weakest link.
If your company has not done the Cyber Security Training Program, click here to register for this one-time opportunity for a FREE Cyber Security Awareness Training (CSAT) Program.
To Scan Links Before Clicking & Use Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic
If you receive an email which appears to be legitimate, but you would like to make sure the links or buttons in the email are safe, you can use this Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic tool.
Click here to access Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic to give you more detailed information about the domain and link that you’re about to click. You could also use it to check any links that you think is suspicious.
Here’s a preview of what you will see from checking a link or a website in Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic.
Protect Your Network and Device
Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated in their ways to execute their attacks. The techniques that they use will also become more and more advanced. It is important that you protect your business’s network, system, and devices by using trusted anti-virus and anti-spam software.
For business network, there are also solutions to protect your staff at the network level.
It is important to choose right anti-virus solution that protect all your devices. This includes your laptop, PC, smart phones, and tablets.
Once you have created another layer of protection in your network, you’ll be much safer when you are browsing the web, clicking on links, or accepting meeting invites as there will be warning and notifications when malicious links are picked up by the anti-virus software.
Don’t Fall as a Victim into Social Engineering
The information that you have posted in Social Engineering platforms is a common place for hackers to obtain personal information about you or your staff.
Data breaching is not always easy to detect, and this is where cyber security awareness training is important.
Hackers use a manipulation technique based on “human errors” to access personal information and valuable data in a company or organisation. Again, hackers will try to get their victims to click on links that they have sent through as emails by using similar name to their colleagues or name of organisation.
It is surprisingly common that victims will blindly fall into their traps by clicking on the links thinking that they have received the email from someone that they know or trust..
Never Install Software Linked in an Email
With video conferencing that’s done online, sometimes it will require you to download a software that will be used for a meeting or a webinar. You should never download software that’s linked or attached to an email.
If you do need to download any file, make sure you check first with your IT Department or IT Administrator.
If you have downloaded a software from an untrusted source, run a virus scanner on your device and report it to your IT straight away too so they could help quarantine or remove the file if needed.