{"id":303,"date":"2017-07-05T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T16:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmgr.com\/?p=303"},"modified":"2017-07-05T12:00:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T16:00:53","slug":"think-before-you-click","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/think-before-you-click\/","title":{"rendered":"Think Before You Click"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to not opening emails that are clearly spam, most business leaders think, \u201cCome on,\u00a0of course<\/em>\u00a0my staff wouldn\u2019t dream of opening those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hang on. You may not be aware of a new kind of phishing email \u2013 This new breed looks as if it\u2019s been sent from someone you know over a system you use often! It doesn\u2019t matter who you are or how proficient you are when it comes to your business\u2019s data security, hackers can and will still target you. In fact, our very own Anna Murray, President of tmg-e*media, inc. and Owner of e*media, received one of the most recent of these phishing scam emails just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The email was sent by a client \u2013 or that\u2019s what it looked like. It was a shared Google Doc link. Of course, as the President of an IT and cybersecurity firm, the link went unclicked. We had already been made aware of the recent Google Doc phishing scam. However, that doesn\u2019t mean that everyone else has! And, even if you have heard of the scam, it\u2019s easy to be caught off guard and fall victim to an attack like this \u2013 that\u2019s what makes it so tricky.<\/p>\n

The messages hackers are sending out look like an identical replica of a Google Doc shared link. Plugins that hackers use are intended to replicate the shared link \u2013 and it leads you to a legitimate Google Doc sign-in page with all your current documents listed. However, once the link is opened, it requests you to allow \u201cGoogle Docs\u201d to have access to your account and information. Of course, Google Docs sounds like the real deal, but it is a malicious look-alike. For this phishing scam, it\u2019s important that you go into your Google account and revoke any access that was given to \u201cGoogle Docs.\u201d You can do this through your Google Drive folder and settings.<\/p>\n

The point that you must take away from this isn\u2019t that you\u2019re \u201cbad\u201d at cybersecurity or that you were foolish for clicking on the link (or, conversely, that you\u2019re somehow superior for avoiding the temptation to open a phishing email). Instead, focus on the fact that these phishing attempts and data breaches are happening every day, in small ways and large. Your business could easily be put at risk by an employee who clicked without thinking. Human error is, in fact, one of the biggest cybersecurity risks that a business faces.<\/p>\n

I want to reiterate that these attacks will continue \u2013 on small and large scales alike. We recently released a memo to our clients, and I wanted to share an excerpt here:<\/p>\n

What do you need to know going forward:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 The attacks will continue. For that matter, they will increase in frequency and sophistication.
\n\u2022 No matter how tight our cybersecurity controls may be, the fact is that the malware propagates from \u201cinside the house\u201d through user action, making it very difficult to detect and contain in time.
\n\u2022 You need to be aware of the method the attackers use, and follow the following advice always:
\n\u2022 Never click a link embedded in an email. It can be disguised to read one way, while it sends you to a totally different place. It is best to type the link yourself in the browser.
\n\u2022 Never open an attachment unless you can first verify the sender and were expecting an attachment.
\n\u2022 Always be critical of an email message. Does the language read well (grammar and syntax)? Would the sender send you such an email, or make such a request? Does it \u201csound\u201d like the person you know? If in doubt, stop. Take no action. Call the sender on the phone and confirm.
\n\u2022 Never install software from a website, even if it asks you to. Stop, and call IT.
\n\u2022 Avoid surfing to non-reputable sites. Sites with \u201cfree movies\u201d or \u201cfree music,\u201d etc., are called user honey pots. They are there to attract you, steal your data, and infect your computer, even without you taking any action, just by being there (it\u2019s called \u201cdrive by\u201d infections.)
\n\u2022 Always keep a recent backup of your data.<\/p>\n

Remember: Cybersecurity is our common responsibility. Think before you click!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to not opening emails that are clearly spam, most business leaders think, \u201cCome on,\u00a0of course\u00a0my staff wouldn\u2019t dream of opening those.\u201d Hang on. You may not be aware of a new kind of phishing email \u2013 This new breed looks as if it\u2019s been sent from someone you know over a system you use often! It doesn\u2019t …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,9,12,13,14,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2759,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/2759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmgr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}