Shane Chambers No Comments

The Unseen Risks: How Stress and Distraction Undermine Cybersecurity Awareness

In the fast-paced, digitally-driven world of today, individuals who are well-versed in cybersecurity principles still find themselves vulnerable to online threats. A crucial yet often overlooked aspect is the impact of stress and distraction on one’s ability to recognise and respond to cyber threats, particularly phishing emails. Even those who have undergone comprehensive security awareness training are not immune to this phenomenon.

Today’s work can be overwhelming for even the most educated users
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Shane Chambers No Comments

How To: Creating Safe Passwords in 2020

When is the last time your organisation updated its password policy or sent out guidance to employees around creating safe and secure passwords? It’s been a year since we last updated our guidance on creating safe and secure passwords, so we thought it’s about time for our 2020 edition of “how to keep your accounts secure”. Specifcally, we’ll be looking at current best practice for creating passwords & passphrases and how to leverage multi-factor authentication.

Password guidance is constantly changing, so it’s extremely important to stay up-to-date and keep ahead of cyber criminals!
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Shane Chambers No Comments

Users Warned of Major New Phishing Campaign, Using Infected Excel Files

Microsoft has released a statement warning users to stay vigilant of phishing emails, as a malicious campaign has been detected which tricks users into downloading an Excel sheet containing harmful software. The criminals responsible are taking advantage of the confusion around Covid-19, as many others have been doing lately, to convince users that the emails are genuine and to enable macros within Excel once the file has been downloaded to their computer.

Users should be extremely wary of attachments they are not expecting, as many common file types can be injected with malware.
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Shane Chambers No Comments

Tech Guard Tips: How to Work from Home Securely

Just a few months ago, it would be unimaginable that so many of us would be working from home. While more and more companies had been allowing some users to work remotely to some degree, the situation that we now find ourselves in is that a significant chunk of the workforce is now working from their homes, on very short notice.

As the Covid19 pandemic grips the world, cyber criminals have seen this increased online activity and confusion as an opportunity for them to take advantage of, and have stepped up phishing and scam attacks. We’ve already covered some of the main threats to look out for in another article, but now we’d like to share some of our tips on making sure you protect your company and your family’s data while working from home.

Many users are working from home for the first time, without the advanced safety features of their corporate networks to protect them.

Here at Tech Guard, we’ve come up with a handy list of our top security tips for those who find themselves suddenly working from home.

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Shane Chambers No Comments

Irish Businesses Hit by Invoice Redirect Scams, Gardaí Warn

Gardaí have reported a sharp increase in the number of invoice redirect and CEO fraud-style attacks on Irish businesses in the last few months. “We are getting a couple of cases every week now”, according to Detective Superintendent Pat Lordan, who said that both small and large companies are being hit for amounts ranging from €10,000 into the millions.

Staff should be very wary of any requests to change payment details from suppliers, and are advised to pick up the phone and speak to someone they know first.
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