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Close the email backdoor to cyber crime

Who is the weakest link in the fight against cyber crime? It is us the user. Click here to listen to how we leak data ever day through careless use of email. Without thinking we have either opened or sent an email which opens the door to cyber crime be it hacking, stealing our identity (phishing) and giving away confidential data.

There are many ways we can manage our email behaviour to reduce the risk to ourselves and our organisation of a breach of confidentiality and improve email related security. Here are our top five tips.

Email cyber crime

1. Be alert to unusual emails even from well know colleagues, eg – updates, especially for you, my CV, money for XYZ crisis. Sadly, emails scams often pick up on recent natural disasters such as the Ebola crisis.
2. Make sure when you go to a website that it really is genuine, ie BBC.co.uk really is BBC.co.uk. Before clicking on the link, hover over it and check what the url is showing in the bottom left-hand corner of your browser. If it looks suspicious stop and access the website directly from the browser address bar.
3. Use Bcc when sending an email to many people – it limits the risk of spammers getting a list of email addresses.
4. Set strong passwords for your email and other accounts. Click here for tips.
5. When setting up a new social media account, selectively add only those contacts that you really need. Don’t use the default option of uploading you entire address book.

Education is the key to reducing the risk of an email predicated cyber attack. For a free five minute review of your email security behaviour and how you can improve it either call Mesmo Consultancy on 01202 434340 or email us now to book an appointment.

Tags: bcc, cyber crime, email cyber crime, email security, Mesmo Consultancy

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