The Importance of Cybersecurity User Education

The constantly evolving landscape of telecommunications poses a rigorous security challenge for businesses to overcome. Cloud VoIP private branch exchange (PBX) exhibits vulnerabilities which can be taken advantage of, leading to businesses seeking a high-end, robust, security system. These vulnerabilities will also highlight the importance of cybersecurity user education.

Cloud PBX is the true successor to on-premise PBX. With the widespread realization that cloud VoIP is superior, support for legacy phone systems have begun to deteriorate, and updates containing security patches continue to dwindle. Less identifiable issues for the on-premise phone systems have been fixed, which leads to more vulnerabilities and a higher chance of intrusion. Therefore, if you haven’t already, now more than ever, it is in your best interest to transition away from old legacy phone systems and instead towards cloud VoIP.

To clarify, just because cloud PBX is the successor to on-premise PBX doesn’t mean it’s a foolproof system. There are a variety of vulnerabilities unique to cloud PBX which can be taken advantage of, for which businesses need to implement preventative measures. The nature of impending security threats entail that both device firewall and user education should be equally prioritized. For if a business develops one and neglects the other their effort is futile. Firewall, and default security programs, are not the sole requirement to ensure fortified infrastructure.

The resilience of your business’ security is largely determined by how educated your users are to identify threats and respond accordingly. Considering brute force attacks may be less effective due to existing firewall, criminals have resorted to more creative, and personalized, ways to gain access to data. There are a variety of methods criminals employ in order to trick users into manually authorizing the imposter access. 

It is a common misperception that only large companies are targeted by cyber criminals. Low-profile companies often fall victim to cyber criminals who are looking for the least protected targets. Many people underestimate the actual impact of cyber crimes on ordinary businesses. In today’s day and age, disregarding potential intrusions puts your business in jeopardy. The following are just some common practices criminals conduct:

Eavesdropping: This is when an unauthorized individual listens to conversations and records data through gaining access via an unsecured access point, and consequently, the rest of the communication system.

Phishing: This comes in a variety of forms. Regardless, it is a malicious attempt to steal personal credentials such as passwords, banking, and other valuable information. A criminal will send fraudulent messages in an attempt to trick users that disclosure of such information is warranted, when in reality the sender is an imposter.

Toll Fraud: A form of direct internal system access and is a type of brute force attack. This is where a hacker takes control of your telephone and uses the number to make long-distance international calls. They are able to redirect their customers using your number and profit off of your business. Many businesses are often unaware this is occurring until they are billed for their phone line usage.

Denial of Service (DoS): In this case an individual organizes an army of computers, often through criminal means, and sends an unrealistic amount of requests towards a phone network which overwhelms the server forcing it to shut down. 

Malware: Harmful software designed to steal information and damage computer systems, often disguised as something beneficial. Takes the form of viruses, ransomware, spyware, worms and more. Typically installed accidentally by the actions of an unsuspecting user.

Through examining the nature of these criminal practices, the importance of establishing both device firewall and cybersecurity user education should be conveyed. Brute force attacks need to be identified, controlled, and prevented by device and network firewall. Phishing and malware attacks are largely mitigated through educating users of appropriate system usage practices. Employing a team with a security-conscious mind, capable of identifying suspect features or behaviour, is crucial to minimizing human error and, subsequently, successful cyber attacks. Thus, educating users on cyber criminal practices is equally as important as implementing high quality device firewall to ensure overall business security.

At Telecom Metric, we specialize in providing best-of-class user education on all aspects of cyber criminal practices in order to establish your team as competent security professionals. We provide live training sessions, literature, and a collection of pre-recorded modules to educate cloud VoIP users first-hand. Alongside user education we provide our clients with high quality network security via active monitoring, end-to-end security, regular assessments, strict policies, and 24/7 support. We understand what it takes to truly fortify your business with the best cyber security, and we also understand the repercussions of neglecting such a task. Don’t leave your business vulnerable to criminal impediment, reach out to our specialists today!