Employees Urged to Be on Guard Against Online Threats

Based on an increasing risk to area businesses and the customers and stakeholders whose sensitive information they’re charged with protecting, Better Business Bureau ® of Minnesota and North Dakota (BBB) encourages all businesses to have training and procedures in place to thwart online threats. Recently, scammers have turned their focus to businesses large and small – exacting heavy tolls in terms of dollars lost and an overall decrease in consumer confidence.

“For many of us with a limited understanding of technical issues and cyber threats, I think there’s a tendency to think our IT specialists have us covered on the security front,” said Susan Adams Loyd, President and CEO of BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota. “However, we are all on the front lines when it comes to online security. And just one weak link in the chain can open the door to major issues.”

It’s not just businesses at risk. In recent years, government agencies have also found themselves targets – and victims of – cyberattacks. Scammers have an online toolkit filled with technical weapons, but often employ social engineering, utilizing deceptive tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information, to identify and exploit weak spots in organizations’ defenses.

According to BBB’s recent  Scams and Your Small Business Research Report, nearly 70% of small business owners believe they are more at risk of scams than they were three years ago.