Cybersecurity: Beware of Phishing Emails
As we all know, cybersecurity threats are on the rise and many of us have experienced them one way or another with Identity Theft or a fake email.
It is estimated that the losses due to cybercrime will cost more than $6 trillion dollars by 2023.
These are just a few of the companies that have been affected by cyber security breaches:
Most of us have at least one account with the above companies or have shared information (e.g. credit card info) with one of them, so chances are that we were affected by a breach at some point and we were not even aware.
We are ALL at risk, not just at work, but in our personal lives as well. In an effort to help everyone recognize cybersecurity dangers and phishing attacks, Gemaire and all Watsco subsidiaries are conducting security awareness campaing and deploying some new tools and technologies to help us fight against cybercriminals.
So far Gemaire has been very fortunate without any real incidents, but as we know previous success (or luck) is no guarantee of future success.
Beware of Mock Phishing Emails
Phishing emails are fraudulent messages that:
- Request personal information (ex. passwords, credit card and/or bank account details)
- Ask you to click on a link or attachment you should not (unleashing a virus or malware)
In the coming weeks, you will receive some phishing emails to assess your ability to recognize and delete phishing attempts.
An initial phishing baseline was already conducted and most of you were able to recognize those emails. As a whole, Gemaire had a 37% click rate on the phishing baseline and we are hoping these new set of tools and employee engagement will help us drive those numbers even lower.
In Outlook, there is a new “Report Phish” button in your toolbar (as shown below) after opening an email.
Please use that button to report any suspected phishing emails to IT Security. Similar functionality exist on smart phones using the Outlook app and in Outlook Web Access. Once reported, you will receive a confirmation email that looks like this:
Next, you may proceed to delete the email from your inbox. IT Security will investigate the email, determine if it is a security threat and block it permanently if it is.
Best Practices Moving Forward
If you receive a suspicious email:
- Never forward any suspicious email
- Use the Report Phish Button to report the email to IT Security
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If you are uncertain about an email, do not click on any of the links or open any of the attachments
- Please report all suspected phishing emails to the IT Help Desk
2022 will be without a doubt a security focus for IT. We are releasing a new set of tools aimed to help our users reduce the psychological acceptability in email security.
Please contact the Gemaire IT Helpdesk for any technical assistance.