5 expert tips to prevent phishing attacks

We’ve looked at the latest phishing trends and the costs involved, what can IT leaders do about it?

Here are five top tips from cyber security experts on how to keep your business safe:

1) Implement a 'two fold' approach 

 Rob Mukherjee, Director of Transformation, EveryCloud:

2) Train and upskill staff

Russell Johnson, IT Business Partner, Brother International Europe:   

Your staff are the first line of defence when it comes to phishing attempts, so providing mandatory training is critical.

This needs to be a varied and ongoing approach as everybody responds differently to phishing attempts on an emotional level and it keeps key information fresh in their minds. By focusing on the human element, it will complement your technical defences as well as adding value to your overall security awareness initiative.

3) Make security everyone's responsibility 

Dan Giannasi, Head of Innovation, Cyber Resilience Centre:

Communication is key when it comes to phishing prevention and many IT leaders foster an open team culture. It means that staff are on the lookout for red flags, and they are more willing to discuss any concerns with you. It is important that employees feel comfortable verifying the content of any suspicious emails with the sender via another route such as text.

And they are ready to alert the right people if they do click on a phishing email by accident. Once everyone understands the outcome of phishing, they will pull together to actively help prevent any attacks. 

4) Use secure products  

Joshua Ashton, Director, Symposium IT:

Office hardware, such as printers, can also be used by phishers. For example, attackers can gain access to sensitive information to create more convincing spear phishing emails. To prevent this, IT leaders often use secure network connections to ensure that all data transmitted over the network is encrypted.

You should also regularly check for, and install, security updates and patches for all office hardware. Elsewhere, establish access controls and set permissions for who can access printers and monitor usage. Another good way is to only invest in hardware from a trusted partner. For example, the Secure Print Professional Printer Range from Brother (add link) offers triple-layer security.

5) Test your business resilience regularly 

Russell Johnson, IT Business Partner, Brother International Europe   

As phishing gets more advanced it’s common to test your IT resilience against potential attacks. Many IT experts invest in a security awareness platform to ‘phish’ staff on new attack vectors which they may be susceptible to.

The software also allows IT managers to track phish-prone percentages across the whole business and use a data-led approach to improve performance and identify problem areas. There are new solutions coming to market all the time so keep an eye on the latest innovation as well as evolving any mandatory training to reflect real-life phishing examples.  

Looking for more? Find out how Brother can support with your security concerns.