In summer, cyber-attacks on companies usually increase. In 2023 increased by 30% compared to the winter and spring months, putting corporate security at risk. compared to the winter and spring months, putting corporate security at risk. But what is the reason for this? In this article we will explain the factors that most influence cybercriminals to increase their activity in these months and how to maintain the security of your company in summer.
Factors contributing to the increase in cyber-attacks in summer
In summer, workers are more dispersed and cybercriminals know this and take advantage of this vulnerability to gain access to certain company information, either through phishing or other social engineering techniques.
Summer vacations mean that companies have fewer staff, leading to employees having to cover tasks for which they are less skilled and human factor errors being made. If security technicians take vacation, it is important to have the capacity to cover that position effectively, as cybercriminals often take advantage of the situation to carry out cyberattacks.
In addition, it is a period where employees, when going on vacation or teleworking, often connect to unsecured external networks and if they have company data on their mobile device, cybercriminals could access it.
Tips to protect your company's security in the summertime
Develop a Cybersecurity Plan.
The first step would be to develop a specific cybersecurity plan for the summer and vacation season, taking into account possible vulnerabilities.
Continuous vulnerability monitoring.
You can and should monitor threats in real time using a SOC. This service can be outsourced to another company specialized in cybersecurity, so that it can monitor threats 24/7. At SSH Team we offer this service through a self-developed product called totalsoc.iowhich includes threat detection, decoys, alerts and notifications.
Increases security audits.
During the summer months it is essential to perform periodic checks to ensure that there are no vulnerabilities. In the summer months these audits should be performed on a more regular basis.
Employee training.
It is essential to raise awareness of the risks that employees' devices may run when they go on vacation. Both the employees who are going to be absent and those who will have to cover the different positions must be trained, in this way we will secure the company internally and externally.
Provides VPN to employees.
Cybercriminals take advantage of unsecured public networks to get information from companies, so it is essential to give specific tools to employees so that they do not put the company at risk. Make sure that employees who are teleworking use VPNs to access the company network.
Warns about possible Phishing scams.
Cybercriminals can impersonate colleagues who are on vacation, so it is essential to warn of this practice and other common ones like the ones we will see now so that they do not fall so easily into the trap.
The most common summer scams
Travel offers or even free vacations, who is not seduced by promotions during the summer? It is a period when we all want to enjoy ourselves to the fullest without spending the savings accumulated over a whole year. Cybercriminals know this and take advantage of this vulnerability to send phishing emails offering irresistible deals that could result in the loss of a real vacation.
Vacation rental scams. Scammers are also present on vacation rental websites, so be careful and always make payments through official websites so that in case there are any problems, they can take care of the damages.
Cloned websites. We have already said it a couple of times, but we emphasize it again, it is very important that we check 3, 4 or 5 times, that the URLs to the sites that we access do not have any error in the name, that makes us suspect that it is not the official site.
Smishing scams. Cybercriminals impersonate banking entities and can send us SMS of a supposed blocking of our card, for example. The biggest fear in summer could be running out of funds, so cybercriminals take advantage of this fear to send this type of text messages.
Fake QR codes. Since the pandemic, it is common to find many QR codes in terraces or stores to access specific information. Cybercriminals can generate malicious codes that redirect to fraudulent pages by passing them off as the establishment's own. It is essential to avoid them whenever possible or to verify that they lead to the correct page.
Cloned public networks. Public networks are a juicy target for cybercriminals, who can clone them to access the information of anyone who connects. It is best to avoid them while we are on vacation and especially if we are going to connect through a company phone that may contain sensitive information.
For all these reasons, it is essential to have a good cybersecurity action plan that also takes into account the seasonal dangers that businesses may face. It's hard enough to keep up during the summer vacations without taking risks that could have serious consequences.
Don't have a cybersecurity plan yet? The Activa Cybersecurity grant includes everything from an audit to the development of a cybersecurity plan for SMEs.
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