Source: Government Technology US
(TNS) — The first step in protecting a business from cybersecurity attacks is educating employees because nearly all breaches result from a worker clicking on a phishing email or an inappropriate website, Information Technology experts said Thursday.
“How are bad guys trying to get to your information? Ninety to 95 percent of it is through employees,” said David DeArmond, owner of Strix Louisiana, a business productivity and IT services firm. “If the employee is educated, if the employee knows what a phishing scheme looks like … then you can avoid most of those attacks.”
DeArmond was one of two panelists at Louisiana Technology Park’s Tech Park Academy. Brandon Reeves, CEO of EtherMon LLC, an IT cybersecurity services firm, was the other.
DeArmond noted that the Democratic National Committee was hacked after a staffer responded to an email requesting the credentials for a Gmail account. Businesses can protect themselves by securing their networks with some sort of firewall, monitoring information flowing into and out of the network; installing anti-virus software on computers and smartphones; and backing up data.
DeArmond said the typical system backs up data every 30 minutes, so if there is a ransomware attack — malicious software that blocks a user’s access to data until a payment is made…
Click here to read more
