Over 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent out daily targeting individuals and businesses of all sizes. Since the pandemic, the amount of phishing emails has increased by 220%. This means it’s critical to ensure you stay vigilant when it comes to phishing. You may receive emails from companies you’re familiar with such as financial institutions or businesses you’re in a partnership with that could be well-designed phishing emails using a spoofed address or slightly altered text.

Learning to recognize phishing is one of the best ways to protect your business from malicious software. However, most phishing attempts aren’t just malicious downloads. Most are social engineering, which with the help of AI, is becoming more difficult to detect. Some of these phishing attempts look very convincing and can fool even the most seasoned professional. This is where employee training and phishing simulations come into play. First, let’s dive into what can happen if a phishing attempt is successful.

What Happens if a Phishing Attempt is Successful?

For businesses and individuals alike, a successful phishing attempt can be devasting. If someone such as an employee clicks on a malicious link, provides credentials, or downloads an attachment from a phishing email, your company, employee, and client information could be exposed. This can mean huge financial loss, locked accounts, ransoms, and a severely damaged reputation. Protecting yourself from phishing can save you a lot more than just a headache, it can be the difference between years of recovery and thousands of dollars.

Can a Phishing Simulation Help with Cybersecurity?

The biggest cybersecurity threat is human error. If you or your employees are unable to recognize different cyber threats, the risk of a successful cyber-attack is severe. As mentioned before, with the help of AI, grammatical errors and awkward wording won’t act as a tell as it has in years previously. This means it should be a top priority to verify how secure your company is from cyber-attacks and proactively put protective measures in place.

What is a Phishing Simulation and How Does it Work?

A phishing simulation is a process in which a simulated phishing email will be deployed to precise employees or throughout the business. It will gather data on who opened the simulated email, if they clicked on anything, and if they entered credentials. This can help you determine who in your company needs cybersecurity training.

How to Implement a Phishing Simulation

To implement a phishing simulation, contact us at Computek. We offer phishing simulations to help your organization become better prepared for phishing attacks. This includes multiple phishing templates, complexity levels, and data showing weak points in employee security. Giving your employees the tools they need to best protect company data doesn’t stop there. We also offer comprehensive cybersecurity training to all our managed clients. To find out more, contact us at 512-869-1155 or book an appointment online at Computekonline.com