The biggest risk to your business could be you, a report has warned.
A new study by the Federation of Small Businesses found that 66 per cent of its members had fallen victim to some kind of cyber-attack in the last two years. Of these attacks, a large proportion had happened via personal social media accounts.
Around 49 per cent of these attacks were phishing scams – where emails pretend to be from a trustworthy source – and 37 per cent via spear phishing – a specialised attack targeted on a specific person.
The average cost to each business was £3,000, resulting in a total annual cost to small businesses of more than £5.26 billion.
Social engineering consultant, Jenny Radcliffe, warns that no matter how good your company’s security systems are, people will always make mistakes.
“Warn staff about sharing too much information on social media and let them know the importance of privacy online.
“The biggest thing of all is to teach people that being suspicious is OK.”
She adds that social engineering attacks can come via email, social media, phone, text and through planted hardware.
“It’s often easier to get someone to talk or act irresponsibly than crack sophisticated defensive systems,” she said.
