NetSafe I.T.

Scammers know what you’re thinking…

UK personal tax returns are due! If you miss the deadline, you will get a fine. You may be well organized, submit well in advance and get a message to check your return. Are you sure the message is genuine? There is plenty of information to help you, but you need to spend some time reading it.

How do you spot a scam message?
Scammers try to gain your trust and pressure you to act without thinking. If you’re suspicious – stop, break the process and consider the language used. Scams feature one or more of these tell-tale signs:

- Authority
- Urgency
- Emotion
- Scarcity
- Current Events

If you have any doubts check the authenticity of the message by contacting the organization directly – but DON’T use the contact details within the suspect message!

Absolute Essentials series part 4 - Email threat protection
The majority of cyber-attacks start with an email - containing something bad. That could be a lie (to get the recipient to do something), a web link (to somewhere bad) or an email attachment containing something bad (malware), or all or any of the above.

These are known as phishing emails and they are something you MUST defend yourself against. What can you do? There are two main defences:

1. Cyber-awareness training for your staff. Train them to spot a phish and report it - flag it in their email program and/or call your IT helpdesk. Almost as important is to train people to report when they fall for a phish accidentally so your IT provider can quickly investigate and block off the possible consequences.
2. Email threats protection (within your email service) - automatically check for various threats - bad web link in emails + impersonation protection + sender authenticity checks. There are several options, including Darktrace, Barracuda Microsoft 365 Defender and Mimecast.

Ideally - you really should do both options - train your staff and add automated email threat protection.

If you are a small business (or individual) in the Yorkshire region you can call us for direct no-nonsense IT help.

Hello, World! Netsafe IT is a new IT services business, based near York, UK. We are excited to be able to help small businesses in the Yorkshire area with IT concerns and projects. Consider if you're ready and prepared to defend your business against rampant cyber threats? Contact us - we can help!