The Biggest Security Loophole

There are few words of caution which almost always go unnoticed: don’t give out bank details on the phone to any one posing to be the bank employee or think twice before opening an email link. This at of turning a deaf ear is strengthening the hacker community. With time, hackers have become better actors and easily pass off as someone else. Proof of this: hacking of a SnapChat employee and consequent release of all payroll related information. Criminals are always one step ahead; they aren’t novices who tricked people with messages saying ‘In need of money’ or ‘Singles in your area waiting to meet you’ but ‘familiar strangers.’

The Biggest Security Loophole Is You

Sadly, even in 2017 we aren’t smart enough to refrain from opening any email attachment sent from unknown sources. Even if we are, hackers are resorting to tactics from social engineering to outline plans which make users most vulnerable to opening infected links. A study from last year concluded that almost all email scams were based on attachments and attack strategy was forged on social macros and engineering. Hackers send email between 9 to 10 am everyday as this is the time when users are most relaxed. Highest number of phising emails are sent and delivered on Tuesday. Attachments are also in either word or video format.

We Are All Human And Mostly At The Wrong Time

As mentioned above, human error is the most major factor in breaches. There are incidents reported on stolen email addresses or devices, sending out confidential information over unsecure networks and a small mistake from an all access IT personnel.

There are many security breaches planned out by an insider who holds a vendetta against the company. If not an insider or an act of unmindfulness, hackers are experts in identity theft. They send out emails as an imposter and gain unlawful entry into the main network of an organization.

Stay Safe With VPN

If there is a safe harbor, it is only through VPN. Any breach in security is stopped at the level of entry. When a hacker cannot enter the main framework, stealing information from within is a far cry. VPN’s make access to internet safe by creating a safe network to access private networks and share data remotely on a public network. VPNs are like an online firewall to a system. VPN offers different levels of security of which the most common ones are Layer 2 tunneling Protocol/IPsec, TLS, SSL, IP Security, PPTP and SSH.