CEOs: 5 Ways You’re Compromising Your Business’s Cybersecurity

As the CEO of your company, you are probably already well aware of the ransomware epidemic and the threat that it poses to your organization — especially following the recent WannaCry infection that spread to 150 countries. As such, the last few weeks have probably been spent brushing up on ways to protect your organization from cybercrime.

Now, it’s time to take a look in the mirror and assess your own personal cybersecurity strategy —especially if you spend a large amount of time conducting business outside of the walls of your enterprise. According to a new study from iPass, CEOs are now at the greatest risk of being hacked.

Here are five ways that you could be compromising your business’s cybersecurity without even realizing it:

Using public WiFi: Public WiFi hotspots, though highly-convenient, are also incredibly risky. In fact, the most dangerous place of all to do business is in coffee shops. If you travel often, and need to access email and the Internet while you are on-the-go, consider using a virtual private network (VPN) which is a tunnel for bypassing the public Internet. A VPN can be used to establish a secure Internet connection from any location.

Wiring funds over email: You may have to wire money over email from time to time. But before you send your next money transfer, stop and take a hard look at the recipient’s email address and credentials. It could be a hacker, and not the colleague or vendor that you think it is. Many hackers are now using advanced social engineering tactics to trick executives into sending money online.

Reckless browsing: Think about all of the websites that you have visited today. Have you really stopped to analyze each and every link first? Understand that ransomware is “in the wild,” living on websites, advertisements and in email attachments. In fact, you may have already activated an infected file — you just may not know it yet! It could be lying dormant inside of your computer.

Connecting with strangers: You probably receive a large number of invites from people looking to connect on social media. But before you accept your next LinkedIn connection, do some research. Do you know this person? And if not, do you have any mutual connections? Cybercriminals are now using social media for reconnaissance purposes, as they are mining executives’ accounts searching for information they could use in their hacking campaigns. So be very careful when using social media!  

Leaving devices unprotected: We get it, passwords aren’t much fun. You are constantly forgetting them, and having to reset them. In fact, you may have little to no security safeguards on your computer or mobile devices. But think about the damage that a hacker could do if he or she were to ever steal your device. The hacker would essentially gain the keys to your kingdom. It would result in a very costly data breach, and could even cost you your job.

With this in mind, remember that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility in a company — from C-level executives to interns. Nobody is exempt.

To learn more about how Apex Technology Services can help keep you safe from cybercrime, click here.

A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.

To ensure your security, consider one of our most popular services — Auditing & Documentation — which pinpoints vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, process flow and internal security procedures.