SECURITY Awareness and the HUMAN Firewall

Five ways to protect your organization from disaster

By Jim Kandrac, President UCG Technologies, for IBM Systems Magazine

A midsize retailer's recent email phishing test revealed how susceptible companies can be to hackers. Employees received an email disguised as a threat of termination from their human resources department for accessing prohibited sites on the job. It included instructions to click a link in the message to see a list of sites they allegedly visited.

Over 48 percent of employees clicked on the link, despite the fact that the sender's email address was from an unknown source and the link clearly led to a destination outside the firewall. This may be an extreme example of how companies can fall prey to phishing, but it's not unusual. 

In my experience, between 20 and 45 percent of employees are deceived by email ploys. A single click to a malicious site can infect a user's computer with malware that compromises the entire corporate network. 


Many experts believe breaches are so common that the issue is no longer whether organizations will be attacked but when.

The average consolidated 

total cost of a data breach, 

according to a Ponemon Institute study.

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Read full article in IBM Systems Magazine online or click the image to the right to download a PDF.

 

Then give us a call at 800.211.8798 to learn more about what UCG can do to protect YOUR organization from disaster.

Power Systems Tech Showcase: The Rising Cost of Security Breaches

by Margarette Burnette 

"If your company faced a cyber attack this year, it could cost $3.8 million. That's according to a new study from the Ponemon Institute, a cybersecurity company based in Traverse City, Michigan. 

The recently released “Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis,” sponsored by IBM, found that cyber attacks are also increasing in frequency."

Read article online here or download PDF. 





What can you do to help protect your company from cybercrime?

The recent Ponemon Institute report states that "Malicious or criminal attacks continue to be the primary cause of data breach. Forty-nine percent of incidents involved a malicious or criminal attack, 19 percent concerned negligent employees, and 32 percent involved system glitches that includes both IT and business process failures."

The importance of a security-minded culture across your business cannot be overstated.

As the result of our recent partnership with KnowBe4, UCG’s VAULT400 BaaS will now include a turnkey managed solution version of their cybersecurity solution suite via remote implementation in less than 90 minutes. The KB4 team has built, deployed, and supported market leading e-learning applications and has deep roots in IT Security.

Scheduled simulated phishing attacks and monthly reports will provide executives the insight they need to maximize training ROI and track security compliance. As an added value, a base number of KB4 users will be included at no additional charge to current and new VAULT400 subscribers.

Free Phishing Security Test

It's important to remember that it's not a matter of IF you'll be hacked, but WHEN.

Sign up for our complimentary Phishing Security Test to find out the level of risk to your business, and how security awareness training can lessen the chances that you'll be the victim of ransomware.

Visit ucgrp.com, call 800.211.8798, or email info@ucgrp.com to learn more.