Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re either a business owner, or else you are in charge of one. You have plenty on your mind and lots to do every day. You don’t want to worry about network security, so you hire a company to detect and block any threats.
There are all kinds of attacks they might identify and repel. For instance, hackers might try to breach your firewall. They might get in by penetrating software you’ve neglected to update.
There are also bot attacks. The list goes on and on. However, phishing is a particularly malicious threat, and it’s one for which you should always be on high alert.
We’ll talk about phishing right now. We’ll cover what exactly it’s all about, as well as what a security company can do to combat it.
What Precisely is Phishing?
Phishing is fraud. It’s when a hacker composes an email where they pose as an individual or entity. They try to get someone to click on that email and then reveal their data or information, such as their entire name, social security number, credit card details, home address, etc.
Hackers might use phishing attacks for simple theft, meaning they’re after money, or identity theft, where they assume a worker’s identity for nefarious purposes. They might open accounts in one of your employee’s names, or they could apply for credit cards or loans. They can destroy a worker’s credit within just a few hours.
If you get a managed phishing service, that blocks these attacks. Just keep in mind that you want to hire an experienced, competent company that can protect your network at all times.
What a Managed Phishing Service Can Give You
You might have gotten an email before, and you’re sure that it’s spam. Maybe it’s the Prince of Zimbabwe asking for your bank account routing number. You click on the “report as spam” button.
If you’ve hired a managed phishing service, they will investigate the address that sent you the email. If they determine that it’s not just spam but also a genuine phishing threat, they’ll prevent that entity from trying to contact you again.
One major thing you want to see from your managed phishing service is that the longer they’re working for you, the fewer phishing attempts you should get. They should be able to give you a report periodically to show the number of phishing emails going down.
They can show you a graph that indicates what emails you reported are genuine phishing attempts, which ones are not, and which ones are inconclusive. You’ll be able to see the real number of malicious senders and unique submitters. The report should be comprehensive enough that a layperson can understand it.
What Else Can You Get?
In addition to that, a managed phishing service can feature remediation actions in their reports. They can give you some options regarding what you can do to slow down or eliminate phishing attacks.
You might not think about phishing spam as an attack, but that’s precisely what it is. It sometimes flies under the radar, but it’s still something with which your employees must deal.
Your managed phishing service can also tell you whether any workers opened the suspect emails and whether they revealed any sensitive information. They do this not to shame the employee but to make sure nothing like that happens in the future.
Some companies even conduct in-person or digital safety training sessions. They talk about how to identify phishing attacks, so there’s less chance of one fooling your employees in the future.
You might think that phishing emails are easy to identify because they all have typos or ridiculous subject lines. However, some look very convincing. They sometimes fool even experienced internet users.
You may sometimes see well-run, complex attacks. A hacker might study your business before sending their phishing emails to make them as authentic-looking as possible. It is this sort of thing that keeps some company heads up at night.
The fewer online dangers you need to worry about, the better you’re going to feel. As someone trying to run a company and compete within your niche, an employee falling victim to a phishing attack is the last thing about which you want to think.
With the right monitored phishing service on your side, you can avoid that possibility. Make sure you do business with an experienced, well-reviewed entity that can block every phishing attack that targets your company.