Various forms of cyberattacks are becoming rampant these days. Because of this, businesses are turning to managed service providers (MSPs) offering IT support in Southern California for data security. If you own a small to medium-sized business, you should consider protecting your vital company information because cyber criminals don’t just target large corporations anymore.
Here are four common cyberattacks and how you can avoid them:
Vishing
With vishing, cyber criminals will try their best to get access to your financial information and, ultimately, steal your money. Some will call or send text messages to you and then pretend to be bank officials seeking to verify some information about your account. They will require you to provide them with your bank details so that they can make the necessary “corrections.” If you fall into their trap and give them any details about your bank account, they will be able to infiltrate the system and get all your money in no time.
This is how you can avoid falling victim to vishing:
- Never give your financial details to anyone
- Upon receiving a suspicious call or text, contact your bank to confirm if the call came from them.
Smishing
Cyber criminals have another way of tricking people by sending them text messages that contain malicious links or attachments. If such a message is sent to you and you decide to click on the link, you will be redirected to a website that requires you to fill in a form. By doing so, you assist the criminals in robbing you. This form of cybercrime is called smishing.
What should you do if such a text message finds its way into your smartphone?
- Do not click on the links given in the text message
- Delete any text message received from a source that you don’t trust
Phishing
Phishing is done through email messages. Fraudsters will send you an email, posing like one of your service providers, such as your bank or power company. Then, they will require you to click on certain links that are attached to their email. Those links often lead to a website that tricks you to believe in its legitimacy. Once there, you are told to provide some details— failure to do so will suspend your account. To avoid phishers, do the following:
- Don’t follow instructions outlined in an email message which authenticity you can’t verify
- Always check for the sender’s digital signature before opening any links; this can help you verify if the email came from a trusted source or not.
Pharming
Pharming is a cybercrime in which criminals attack your DNS and infects it with some corrupt data. Through that data, they can redirect your Internet commands and lead them to malicious websites. A malicious website will appear identical to the site you wanted to visit. If it was your bank’s website, for example, the fraudsters can access your passwords and other account details. To avoid pharming, you should source for IT support in Southern California and have them equip your computers with antivirus software.
At ecasys, we offer top-notch IT services and IT support to Southern California businesses. Contact us today to learn more about our company and how we can safeguard your business against cyberattacks.
