ABC+
Articles on security awareness, behaviour and culture.
We thought we needed to secure remote workers. We were wrong.
Post-COVID, we need to do a great deal more It’s CybSafe’s monthly virtual All Hands meeting. We’re 15 minutes in. And CEO Oz Alashe has just announced some significant news: Following COVID, no CybSafe employee will be bound to a physical office. Instead, CybSafe...
Zero-trust is up post-COVID-19, but you’d be wrong for thinking it will keep networks safe
“Now a good chunk of your critical assets are behind the firewall, but all your employees are not.” That’s what NetMotion CEO Christopher Kenessey said recently. He was summarising the problem we’re all facing: All of a sudden, the working world has changed. How can...
Security awareness is dead. Long live borderless behavior analytics.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all known it for a long time. Posters. Compulsory e-learning. Seminars and desk-drops. They’re security awareness staples. And they’re now all, without question, ineffective. They’re designed to teach people about security. Just...
Does isolation restrict remote worker security? – Part 1
Research shows how “social learning” impacts security skills – and it says a lot about securing remote workers. Remote working is here to stay. And there are benefits. But when it comes to security, remote working poses a problem. Remote workers know less about...
How to secure Zoom, Houseparty and other video conferencing apps
We can all take steps to increase the security of video conferencing apps. This guide explains how. General tips Some general actions enhance the security of all video conferencing apps, such as: 1. Updating software Software updates patch known vulnerabilities and...
Why some people may take more security risks when working remotely
And a free resource to ensure they don’t... It’s 9:30am on a Wednesday and CybSafe’s Sam Oliver looks a little odd. He’s just joined a regular CybSafe meeting. It’s a meeting to which Sam usually wears business dress. But today Sam is dressed casually. And he isn’t...
Six security essentials for those working from home
The COVID-19 outbreak is promoting remote working. Here’s how to minimise cyber risk when working from home 1. Use company-approved devices Mental blueprints dictate how we behave in any given situation. Our blueprints might prompt us to use personal laptops...
Cyber criminals are using COVID-19 cover stories in new phishing attacks
Here’s how to spot and stop the attacks Criminals are using COVID-19 stories to convince people to do things they’d never normally do. In one deplorable scam, cyber criminals email elderly targets. The criminals claim they represent medical organisations. They ask for...
Why we need new and better human cyber risk metrics
To make a difference as a security professional today, you need board support. You need resources. You need directors to trust and back you. You need organisational leaders to promote security. So whenever you have the board’s attention – or the attention of those who...
Why do some organizations use two lms security awareness training solutions at once?
Why do some organizations often use two or more security awareness training solutions at once? That’s a question that grabbed our attention when it popped up on social recently. The comment highlighted the following cyber security oddity… Increasing numbers of...
Let’s punish phishing victims… er, you want to do what?!
There is a big, hairy elephant in the room when it comes to phishing: Many organisations believe that it’s okay, or right, or that they have no choice other than to punish people who repeatedly fail phishing simulations. Are they right? Before we answer that, let’s...
In the absence of a secure culture, reducing cyber risk could be impossible
To understand why it might be impossible to reduce human cyber risk without a secure culture, it’s worth considering a series of experiments from the world of behavioural science. The experiments weren’t designed to uncover security insights. Rather,...
You are almost certainly miscalculating your cyber risk
Unconvinced? Here’s a demonstration. Although it might not seem like it, people’s actions following 9/11 demonstrate just how likely it is you’re miscalculating your cyber risk. Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, people began to change their travel...
Some people love to take a risk. So shouldn’t we be tailoring security awareness training?
As you may already be aware, most people prefer to avoid taking risks. In fact, most people prefer to avoid taking risks so much that they fail to do so even when taking the risk makes complete and total sense. This isn’t just CybSafe opinion. The...
Some simulated attacks help reduce cyber risk. Others are redundant. What’s the difference?
Here’s an interesting conundrum for cyber security professionals. Some simulated attacks reduce human cyber risk. Others, however, have no effect on risk – and may even have a negative impact. Even more perplexing: an identical course of simulated...
The two most common phishing scams that affect UK businesses
Phishing scams evolve constantly. Don’t they? On the one hand, yes. Sophisticated cyber criminals are very much aware that, once a phishing scam becomes well known, its potency falls. So, over time, phishing scams adapt and...
How to identify a phishing email
You’ve received an email. As no phishing filter can keep out 100% of all phishing attacks, there’s a chance the email could be a phishing scam – no matter what it looks like. How do you check whether or not the email is a phishing attack? How to identify phishing...
5 ways to get more from cyber security awareness campaigns
Incredibly, traditional cyber security awareness training may actually decrease security awareness. Here’s how to ensure your security awareness campaigns increase resilience. Last year, researchers looking into the security of mobile devices inadvertently uncovered...
Why are phishing attacks successful?
Phishing attacks often seem rudimentary. With their spelling and grammar errors, blurry replicas of company logos and conspicuous twists on sender names, they should be easy to spot, shouldn’t they? So why is it, instead of dying down, phishing attacks are on the...
How are phishing attacks used in identity theft?
People are more likely to be a victim of identity theft than any other type of cybercrime… and phishing can be a precursor In order to steal your identity, criminals need to get hold of your personal information. That’s all it really takes to begin opening bank...
Are phishing attacks on the rise?
In 2018, some reports suggest the number of phishing attacks are falling. Is that really the case? Phishing attacks have been on the rise for a long time now. According to the UK government’s most recent cyber security breaches survey, they cause more data breaches...