Employee Training Seminars

Every year billions of dollars are lost due to cybersecurity breaches and identity theft. This potential loss of resources highlights the growing importance of cybersecurity in today’s increasingly online society. Unfortunately, one of the weakest links is often employees, who cannot reliably differentiate social engineering attacks from legitimate businesses. Due to this, M&A offers Employee Training Seminars to help keep employees updated on the latest threats they may face.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. One day of training could be the difference between dozens of hours of work and thousands of dollars retroactively repairing the damage caused by a data breach.

The Facts

  • 98% of cyber attacks rely on social engineering.
  • 43% of the IT professionals said they had been targeted by social engineering schemes in the last year.
  • Social engineering attempts spiked more than 500% from the first to second quarter of 2018.
  • The number of breach incidents by type:
    • Identity theft – 65%
    • Account access – 17%
    • Financial access – 13%
    • Nuisance – 4%
    • Existential data – 1%
  • 56% of IT decision makers say targeted phishing attacks are their top security threat.
  • 83% of global infosec respondents experienced phishing attacks in 2018, an increase from 76% in 2017.
  • Only 3% of targeted users report malicious emails to management.
  • 30% of phishing messages get opened by targeted users and 12% of those users click on the malicious attachment or link.
  • The volume of email fraud that organizations receive has increased 8% year-over-year.
  • By the end of 2017, the average user was receiving 16 phishing emails per month.
  • 66% of malware is installed via malicious email attachments.
  • 21% of ransomware involved social actions, such as phishing.
  • Negligent employees or contractors are the root cause of 48% of all data breaches for small-businesses.
  • 81% of healthcare cyber security incidents are rooted in employee negligence.
  • New employees are the most susceptible to socially engineered attacks, with 60% of IT professionals citing recent hires as being at high risk.
  • 21% of current or former employees use social engineering to gain a financial advantage, for revenge, out of curiosity or for fun.

Staying safe from Phishing

Phishing is one of the most common forms of social engineering. As part of our training, we will provide materials that will educate employees to differentiate between legitimate and malicious communication.

Secure Practices

We will teach your employees the best way to stay secure.

  • How to keep strong passwords.
  • Using password managers
  • Two Factor Authentication
  • Physical security tips

Bringing to light the importance of cybersecurity

Research shows that most Americans do not worry about cybersecurity and think of it more as a job for someone else. As part of our program, we will demonstrate the importance of security and explain how everyone can do their part to keep company and client information safe.

How can we help you?

Dear Jonathan:

It occurs to me that it is long overdue that I thank you formally for everything you do for the Kent Good Times Dispatch, The Lions Club, Kent Affordable Housing and the myriad other ways in which you serve our community of Kent, Connecticut. For the KGTD, your brilliant creation of the interactive website and social media presence has put this venture on the map. Your contributions are unique and essential to the success of resurrecting the newspaper.

It is not just your tech skills and insights that distinguish you though, Jonathan, but also your commitment, verve and alacrity. You are always unfailingly eager to step into the breach and apply your talents and make a difference for all involved. Thank you.

Now you and I must make time for me to engage you in refreshing my professional website and social media accounts as you have done for so many of your clearly gratified commercial clients.

Wishing continued good fortune.

Charles Goldberg
Principal, The Pentucket Company, LLC