“Cyber-crimes are expected to cost the world $10.5tn (£9.3tn) by 2025”, according to cyber security research firm Cyber Ventures. It sounds like a totally mad figure, but even if this estimate is a little on the high side, whatever the true cost is, it will nonetheless be significant.
It’s also suggested that 91 percent of cyber-attacks begin with a spear-phishing email with a malicious attachment or link. If a hacker shoots 100 malicious emails at an organisation, there will certainly be a few people that would take the bait. Especially if the email is tailored to the line of business targeted. User training to protect against these attacks is extremely important, but we know there will always be one…
It is widely agreed that most traditional IT security software is only partially successful in defending against hackers, but it is after all better than nothing. However, there are now real complementary technologies that can disarm the malicious content of an attachment, while also rendering hostile links inactive. They are a little more expensive than the usual cyber security products, but they do actually work (I have installed them myself). It just seems that nobody in the mainstream really knows about them. Which I find rather odd. If you are thinking of what to spend your IT security budget on in the future, you would be wise to at least take a look at ‘Content Disarm and Reconstruction’ technologies, and also ‘Ultra Secure Browsing’.
In the meantime, make sure you keep reminding staff not to open suspect emails and report them to your IT security team immediately.