Overview
We are heading into the heart of shopping season with Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner. A recent survey found 50 per cent of Canadians said they plan to shop on Black Friday, and 31 per cent note a good portion of this shopping will be online.
This season can be a risky time for online consumers. Today’s cyber criminals are creating fake mobile apps or online properties to fool consumers into divulging personal and financial data. They are using phishing scams disguised as Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.
This is also a risky time for organizations – which can be exposed to cyber threats via their employees. During this season, organizations should take a holistic approach that ensures they have the right safeguards, including policies, technologies and processes, in place to protect employees – and therefore the organization – from security threats.
The below security statistics show that many employees feel no responsibility for security, and shop the web using company devices. If employees use personal devices for work, or shop online using corporate devices, this can put personal and work data at risk.
- 40 per cent employees believe that “as an employee” they bear zero responsibility for securing information
- Half (49%) per cent have been a victim of a phishing email or an online virus.
- 4-in-10 (38%) workers email work data home to their personal email;
- 63 per cent have shopped or surfed the web on a company device; and
- 6-in-10 (58%) employees have accessed personal or work data using public WIFI networks
SOURCE: The Citrix Security and Cloud Survey, a Leger survey of 1,505 Canadians
Tips for Organizations
- Foster a corporate culture around security. This includes updating policies and procedures, a strategy to secure mobile devices and remote access, and a process for managing and securing employee-owned devices. Emphasize policies when new personal devices enter the workplace after holiday seasons.
- Equip employees with security training and education. Focus on the human factor to avoid threats such as phishing or malware, in advance of high-risk seasons such as the holidays.
- Implement work technology and services that limit opportunities for breaches from the outset and allow for quick patches and updates.
SOURCE: Citrix Canada