We’re keeping it simple today. We’d like to offer a checklist that covers simple tasks or things to keep in mind that will prevent fraud at work and your home.

1. Use strong, unique passwords; we recommend a minimum of 8 characters. If the account has any kind of administrative, remote access, or access to secure or critical data—we recommend a minimum of 12 characters.
2. Use Two-factor authentication whenever possible. It’s one more step for you, but it is one of the better barriers against your account getting hacked.
3. Make sure your account information and profiles are up to date. This is critical as you’ll be notified at your active email or phone number when someone is attempting to reset your password.
4. Keep an eye on your credit reports, look for suspicious activities that weren’t initiated by you.
5. Be wary of clicking links from unknown sources. This includes email, all messaging apps, or even someone trying to help you (always verify the sources identity).

​Have you or a colleague become the victim of a scam email? This tactic commonly employs fishing (in IT-speak, phishing) where the end user is enticed by some reward such as the “you have an e-card from a friend,” or someone posing as your boss or CEO, even a user from another company. Often, we think that will never happen to us—but what if you are the source?

In the same manner that hackers pose as someone you know, they can also pretend to be you. Sometimes they’re able to hack into someone’s email account and wait for the right moment, such as when a transaction is about to take place. Next, they will “spoof” your email address and change the payment method. Before you know it, another user fell for a fake email from someone pretending to be you, and instead of you receiving payment—the user was directed to pay via some other method and the money ended up in the hacker’s pocket.

There are two scenarios which require multiple solutions:

You are a scam/phishing victim.
Someone is pretending to be you.

We first recommend awareness training, whereby IT Protectorate is able to simulate such emails and send them to your users. This identifies those who need training, and sometimes we are able to identify what types of tricks your users are falling for. It may be as simple as recognizing a change in the way someone speaks/types; instead of making that questionable payment, they call you or their superior first to confirm—thereby identifying the attempted attack and hopefully avoiding a loss to the business.

We are also able to check and add configuration to your email environment that reduce hacker’s ability to pretend to be you or one of your users. This prevents embarrassment and a ding to your reputation.

Finally, we want to make sure your email service provides good spam protection. Not only does this reduce the risk of your business from being a victim of phishing scams, most spam filters also prevent viruses and other malware from entering your system. Another benefit that is often are the reduced junk emails that users receive and open; with a quality spam filter, these emails never make it to the inbox, never get read, and keep you from wasting time opening or deleting it—increasing user productivity.