It is a fact in technology, and specifically in security, that the human factor forms part of the weakest link in the network. The problem, therefore, facing many organizations in terms of cybersecurity has something to do with their employees.
Human error is where a security breach often comes from in the daily reports we read about a hacking here and there. It is called social engineering, where attackers take advantage of human weaknesses in order to perpetrate their malicious plans toward a network or data.
But it’s never too late for many corporations to respond to the increasing sophistication of attacks, and protect their critical information assets from the bad guys.
The most common forms of social engineering are phishing campaigns that aim to lure unsuspecting users into giving up their online credentials, sensitive data that could be used to compromise their online accounts, social networking profiles, banking data, or Social Security info.
These phishing campaigns come in the form of email messages that put on a seemingly legitimate style and appearance in order to convince recipients – or the target users – to believe in all it says and grant their trust to the sender. I never lacked such messages in my email, mostly coming from people who purport that they come from this nation or that, or this organization or that, and want to ask for my banking info in order to send large amounts of money in donation for whatever purposes they may serve best.
These legitimate-looking emails are actually designed to trick Internet users, especially those who lack the knowledge and the discretion of what is believe and what is not. Some attackers even use the social media platforms such Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to launch their malicious activities and spread the dilemma to a more diverse set of targets – employees, professionals, even students.
With the growing sophistication of these attacks, organizations badly need to keep their personnel informed of the latest trends in digital security and look out for potential attempts at their network. This is not only to protect their employees and their assets from a possible attack, but also to safeguard their reputation as an organization.
Present security scenarios and situations prove that the current practice of implementing firewalls and antivirus software as information security tools are no match to the level of sophistication of present day attack methods. They is coping with the demands of time. The human factor plays a greater role in this respect, because no matter how robust a security system is, when the weakest link fails, all else follows.
