The Biggest Threat to Your Cyber Security

According to historical claim data analyzed by Willis Towers Watson, 90% of all cyber claims stemmed from some type of employee error or behavior. If you think your organization couldn't possibly fall victim to a cyber attack, you're wrong. Cyber attacks can happen to any business. Consider the following examples.

Example #1: Equifax Data Breach

The 2017 Equifax data breach, which exposed the sensitive personal information of nearly 146 million Americans, happened because of a mistake by a single employee, according to the company's former chief executive, Richard F. Smith. Smith told members of Congress than an individual in the technology department failed to heed security warnings and did not ensure the implementation of software fixes that would have prevented the breach. While the total cost of the breach has yet to be totaled, the sheer number of individuals affected demonstrates the need for employee cyber awareness and training.

Example #2: Snapchat Data Breach 

In February 2016, Snapchat fell victim to a type of phishing scam known as a whaling attack. In the attack, a social engineer with criminal intent posed as CEO Evan Spiegel and sent an email to someone in the social network's payroll department. As a result, the personal protected info of some 700 employees was released.

Example #3: Chipotle Data Breach

In 2017, a group of cyber criminals in Eastern Europe sent out emails with malware to Chipotle staff. Untrained staff members clicked on the fake emails and inadvertently enabled the hackers to compromise the point-of-sale systems at a majority of Chipotle locations. The hackers were then able to obtain the credit card data of millions of people.

Summary:

As you can see, employee error or behavior was to blame in these three high-profile cyber attacks. The only way to prevent your organization from falling to the same fate is to take the proper steps to educate your employees on cyber security. Contact Lovitt & Touché today to get started.

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