Let’s face it, just about everyone relies on the internet to some extent. Since the internet serves as an endless resource for a variety of topics—work systems, search engines, e-commerce, communications, you name it—everyone is susceptible to cyber threats. Whether you’re a business owner, team member, or just an everyday internet surfer, cybersecurity is an essential responsibility to prioritize. Are you fully aware of all the possible threats and risks to your cybersecurity?
In 2024, the total volume of phishing attacks has skyrocketed by 4,151% since the advent of ChatGPT in 2022, according to SlashNext. Even more recently, the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) reported that in the first quarter of 2025, a total of 1,003,924 phishing attacks were observed. This was the largest number observed since late 2023.
Between phishing, ransomware, and data breaches, there’s a lot of information at risk for businesses, both big and small—information that can cost a pretty penny to recover after falling victim to cybercrime. These costs include the expenses of uncovering and responding to the breach, the cost of downtime and lost revenue, and the long-term damage to a business’s reputation and brand.
The bottom line? Cybercriminals want your valuable information, so you should invest your time in cybersecurity training and precautions to keep your professional and personal information safe and sound. Access Exact IT Consulting’s FREE Training Center, full of educational resources, here.
Cybersecurity 101
What exactly is the definition of cybersecurity? According to Gartner’s definition, “Cybersecurity is the practice of deploying people, policies, processes, and technologies to protect organizations, their critical systems, and sensitive information from digital attacks.” Cybersecurity measures are designed to combat threats against networked systems and applications, whether those threats stem from outside or inside an organization. It is an essential practice to safeguard users’ information—including credit card information, social security numbers, telephone numbers, home addresses, and more.
As an organization, the last thing you want to do is lose your money, data, and customers to cybersecurity threats. Unfortunately, there are endless reasons why hackers hack, and much of that motivation stems from monetary gains. Typically, hackers penetrate the system and then demand a ransom from their victims. Other motives may entail a financial loss to the target, achieving a state’s military objective, damaging the target’s reputation, or political maneuvering.
While increasing cyber threats can be intimidating, it’s essential to focus on what factors your organization can control to safeguard your systems. As reported by Gartner, the best way to manage your cybersecurity is with the “CARE” model of outcome-driven metrics. CARE stands for consistency, adequacy, reasonableness, and effectiveness. All of these aspects of cybersecurity practice are equally important and should be considered when developing a cybersecurity plan.
Along with developing a cybersecurity plan, it is important to accept guidance from those with robust experience in cybersecurity. Choosing the right IT managed services provider (MSP) for your business will help you leverage a broad set of services for a reasonable cost compared to an in-house professional. As a business owner, you should seek an MSP that can help you align technology with your business objectives and improve operational efficiency. Looking to partner with an MSP? Check out our guide for how to select the right MSP for your business to identify the key points you need to address through the vetting process.
Secure Your Digital Identity: Know the Risks
How safe is your digital identity? Cybercrime is a rampant issue as we become more and more reliant on technology for our workload, social connections, finances, and general communication with one another. Digital identity theft is quite messy to clean up. When hackers use your digital identity to pose as you, they leverage your personal information for their own personal gain. Luckily, there are several ways to prevent falling victim to cybercrime. The most common types of cyber attacks include:
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack restricts users from accessing online resources by flooding the website’s traffic, ultimately disrupting access to sought-after or critical resources. DDoS attacks are designed to overwhelm an organization’s network or online services with an excessive volume of traffic, far beyond what the infrastructure is built to accommodate. This attack can escalate quickly. The result is a degradation—or complete loss—of access to critical applications and data, disrupting normal business operations.
The actual impact lies in this downtime: when systems are unavailable, productivity stalls, customer access is blocked, and revenue opportunities are lost. Time is money, and excessive downtime will waste profits.
Email Phishing Attacks
Email phishing attacks occur when hackers send bait—usually in the form of an email—that encourages people to share their personal details. Phishing will hook the victim once they click on a maliciously disguised link or open/download an attachment. More recently, hackers have been exploiting DocuSign to bypass spam filters. Always remember, when in doubt, throw it out!
Another form of phishing is spoofing, which occurs when a hacker poses as another person or organization, tricking the victim into thinking they have sent them a genuine email. Always remember to check the sender’s email address before clicking on their content or submitting information to them. If the email address or domain looks “phishy,” do not engage, and be sure to report the messages as spam.
You can typically spot a phishing email if the sender’s email address has typos or a questionable domain (i.e., “amazon-support.co” versus “amazon.com”). If you think you’re being spoofed, it’s best to err on the side of caution. Suppose you’d like to dig a bit deeper. In that case, you can search for the organization’s official website and locate their contact information with the correct email domain (for instance, customer service email addresses or corporate contacts).
Vishing
Vishing, or voice phishing, involves fraudulent phone calls that impersonate banks, government agencies, or tech support. These callers may pressure you to change payment information, passwords, or other sensitive data. Verify any suspicious calls independently and avoid giving out information over the phone unless you initiated the contact first. Don’t fall for the false sense of urgency these bad actors try to instill in you through fear-mongering. Most of the time, the details they are asking you to change or exchange over the phone can be accessed by you at any time.
Password Attacks
Password attacks happen when someone cracks your password to access your “secure” apps and steal sensitive information. There are also instances where passwords are compromised—meaning that an individual password was previously seen in a documented data breach where hackers released the stolen data publicly or sold it on the dark web.
Malware
Malware is a malicious program or software that disrupts or damages a computer. The most common types of malware include viruses and worms (which can replicate themselves), botnets (entire networks of compromised devices), and ransomware (which locks the victims’ data through encryption, demanding payment before decrypting and returning the data). An action as simple as clicking the wrong link can lead to your network getting infected by malware.
Fortunately, with a web content filtering solution, organizations can set strict parameters for which websites a user can use on their servers. More specifically, Domain Name System (DNS) filtering is the process of using a domain name system to filter out inappropriate content and block malicious websites from your servers.
Train Your Employees: Phishing and Ransomware
Your team is only as strong as your weakest link, which is especially true regarding your cybersecurity practice. Your employees can be a very vulnerable target if you don’t train them to be prepared. They know the ins and outs of the business, maintain steady operations, and contribute to your company culture and reputation. Although it would be ideal to trust your employees completely, you may be surprised by how many organizations face security issues caused by their employees. These issues mostly stem from user error, but can lead to severe problems down the line if the hacker gains internal access to your company’s data. That is why cybersecurity training for employees is a necessary step in the onboarding process, and it should be delegated periodically.
While cybersecurity awareness is the first preventative step to take, it is only effective if your employees willingly adopt and use cyber-secure practices—both professionally and personally. A huge pro to implementing cybersecurity training is that it can be completely customized to your organization’s needs. Typical cybersecurity awareness training focuses on raising employee awareness of potential threats to the company, a need that is particularly important for those working remotely. Training may include email security, internet security, information-sharing procedures, compliance, or anti-social engineering training.
Since most phishing emails show subtle hints of their fishy nature, Exact IT has developed IT training tools to help maintain email security. The email phishing and analysis tool offers a firsthand look at the various methods cybercriminals use to reel in victims. Our phishing tool enables users to identify phishing attempts without making contact. Exact IT also offers a free email training course on ransomware attacks, so your team can get informed on how to stay protected
Overall, these training programs allow employees to gain a deeper understanding of cybersecurity while building skills required for defense. Note that training will only be effective if it is persistent and delivered regularly in short, concise sessions. The last thing you want to do is bore or overwhelm your employees, as they will quickly lose interest. Incorporate humor into your cybersecurity training and use positive reinforcement to keep your employees engaged, rather than bored or fearful.
Cybersecurity Best Practices
There are five C’s of cybersecurity to remember, meaning that there are five focus areas that are crucial to all organizations. The five C’s of cybersecurity are
- Change
- Compliance
- Cost
- Continuity
- Coverage
For a functional cybersecurity plan, every one of these focus areas should be attended to regularly.
Cybersecurity is a never-ending practice that is constantly evolving. You can never be too safe when it comes to prevention and protection. Here are some best practices you can follow:
Incorporate Cybersecurity Into Your Work Culture
Encourage your employees to follow cybersecurity initiatives and reward them for doing so.
Create a regular process for reporting successfully prevented incidents, phishing emails, and vulnerabilities. Empower your employees to learn from their mistakes; this will reassure them that with their newfound knowledge, it shouldn’t happen again.
You could even establish an incentive program for your developers, rewarding them with bonuses or extra holidays for pinpointing bugs or vulnerabilities.
Follow a Zero-Trust Security Model
As the saying goes, “better safe than sorry!” In short, a zero-trust model states that one should never trust and always verify before clicking, downloading, hitting send, etc. Under this model, all devices are seen as untrusted by default, regardless of their location or connection method, even if they had been verified previously. This model helps your organization prevent unauthorized access to any sensitive data—and is especially important if your organization relies on remote work.
Educate Your Employees Regularly
As mentioned above, it only takes one employee to make one error that can quickly snowball into a serious security issue. Schedule routine cybersecurity and compliance trainings that all company employees must complete. When things start to head south, have a plan in place to protect your company or employees in the event of an attack
Exact It Consulting offers a FREE Email Training course on ransomware. Consider this the first step in building your employee’s cybersecurity training plan. It’s our gift to you and your team.
Implement Web Content Filtering
Web content filtering is an excellent guardrail to prevent and mitigate cybersecurity risks at your organization. While it is ideal to trust your employees with their internet access, it is best to already have preventive measures in place before they are onboarded.
A content filtering solution gives your organization control over which websites and online content can be accessed across your network—whether it’s employees at their desks, remote staff on mobile devices, or even guests browsing on your Wi-Fi. By putting the right filters in place, you strengthen both security and productivity with one tool.
On the productivity front, let’s be honest: the modern workplace already has plenty of distractions—impromptu chit-chat, lunchroom debates, and exchanging memes. The last thing you need is an endless parade of online distractions competing for attention. With content filtering, you can ensure that the time employees spend online is focused on advancing your business goals.
Create Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are key to adequate security measures. If any of your systems come with pre-set passwords (such as VoIP systems), it’s paramount to change them as soon as possible. Different organizations will have different standards for passwords, but generally speaking, ensure your passwords meet the following criteria:
- At least 12 characters
- A mix of numbers, letters (capital and lowercase), and symbols
- No obvious number/letter substitutions (ex. passw0rd)
- Stays away from typical dictionary words
Require Two-Factor Authentication
Think of two-factor authentication (2FA) as an extra layer of protection for your account login credentials. According to Microsoft, implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), like 2FA, can block over 99.9% of account compromise attacks.
Instead of relying on just a password, you’ll be asked to provide a second form of verification via 2FA. This extra step helps keep your accounts more secure. Some common examples include:
- Push notifications sent to your phone
- Text messages with a one-time code
- Biometric verification such as your fingerprint, facial recognition, or retina scan
- Confirmation emails sent to a backup email address
- Software tokens generated through an authentication app
These options give you more control over your security and help protect your information from unauthorized access.
Protect Sensitive Data with End-to-End Encryption
By encrypting your data, you can prevent unauthorized users from accessing the original data, allowing you to transfer files safely. End-to-end encryption means your data stays locked up tight despite cybersecurity threats.
Exact IT Consulting is Your Premier Partner in IT Solutions
Exact IT Consulting’s comprehensive suite of proactive and innovative technology solutions can help you make strategic, long-term IT decisions that align technology with your business objectives and improve operational efficiency—positively impacting your organization. Take an inside look at our process for help setting a business up for IT success.
