Email scams are hot right now. Criminals are investing massive amounts of time into tricking unsuspecting employees into handing over sensitive information.
The reason for this is the sheer profitability. Thieves can make off with huge sums of money, or extort even more from victim firms.
Why You Need To Be Aware of Email Scams
The following are some of the reasons why you should be aware of email scams and the harm they can cause:
Data Breaches
To start, email scams can result in serious data breaches. Employees and other stakeholders can pass criminals valuable pieces of information about companies. These could include customer datasets, trade secrets, and internal documents used for blackmail purposes.
Data is also a problem when criminals use ransomware. Companies might be unable to use information until they pay a ransom.
Reputational Damage
Another reason to be aware of email scams is reputational damage. Companies falling prey to them can experience serious damaging effects on brand capital in the short term, lowering their perceived value and hampering customer trust.
Loss of Money
Emails can also cause companies to lose money for the reasons listed above. Criminals can use dangerous links to extract financial information.
New Tactics
Finally, email scams should be at the top of your list of priorities due to their sheer pervasiveness. Scammers change their tactics all the time to sidestep new defenses and extract more money.
What Companies Can Do To Improve Cybersecurity
Fortunately, companies aren’t alone. There are plenty of things they can do to improve cybersecurity, especially when it comes to email scams.
Provide Employee Training
One obvious solution is to provide employee training. Helping workers understand the tactics scammers use can prevent crime.
For example, employees should know they shouldn’t respond to emails from unrecognized addresses. These could contain malicious links.
Second, employees shouldn’t click links or provide any sensitive information if they do. Many of these hyperlinks use “skimming” or the practice of stealing information and using it for blackmail or to access accounts.
Employees should also learn about common email scam tactics, such as posing as a person in a position of authority or using slightly changed email addresses. These concepts might seem simple, but they can have a massive impact on a business if they are successful.
Verify Information
Another recommendation is to verify the sender’s legitimacy through a second channel. One option is to phone the person or get someone trusted to confirm their details.
This secondary verification is always a good idea for businesses receiving emails from unknown senders. Finding out whether the email is legitimate reduces the risk of fraud and malicious activities.
Use Strong Security
It also pays to use cybersecurity solutions for small businesses. Many services can detect whether an email is from a trusted source or requires further investigation.
Generally, the advice against opening emails from blocked sources, or opening them in a secure container outside the core network.
So, there you have it: why email scams are your company’s hidden nemesis and some of the things you can do to fight them.
