Collaborative post:
All businesses need to protect themselves against cyberattacks, but it’s equally important that you protect your customers. Phishing attacks are one of the biggest dangers that businesses and their customers face. Hackers will create a fake site that looks exactly like yours and then send fake emails out to customers, encouraging them to click the link. As soon as the customer clicks the link and goes through to the fake site, their information is stolen and they are at risk of fraud.
Image Source – Pixabay
You are responsible for protecting customers because hackers are using your brand to lure people in. These are the best ways you can protect your customers from phishing attacks.
Monitor For Fake Websites
You can monitor Google to see if customers are searching for your brand and ending up on a fake site. If there is a change, you should make it a priority to find out what’s going on. You can also embed tracking code when designing your website and this will alert you if anybody tries to copy the site. It can take weeks for businesses to notice a fake site and after it has been up for that long, it’s already too late. So, make sure that you are constantly monitoring for fake sites.
Improve Your Own Cybersecurity
Improving your own cybersecurity makes it much harder for anybody to copy your site or gain access to customer email addresses. This may mean hiring an IT security expert or upgrading your security software. You will also need to make sure that all of your devices are up-to-date and use the correct operating systems. Software updates are often released for a reason, so make sure you are not running out-of-date versions with lots of weaknesses.
Educate Your Customers
You should also provide tools and information for your customers to help them protect themselves from phishing attacks. You can send out an email that provides tips on how they can spot a fake site and then encourage them to follow the link in the footer of your emails. This will tell you if anybody has been tricked by a fake email. By educating customers, you improve their overall online security and ensure that they do not get caught out by phishing attacks.
Inform Them About Security Breaches Straight Away
You should also let your customers know straight away if there is a security breach. This will keep them updated on the situation and they can take any necessary measures to protect themselves, like contacting their bank, for example. When your business or website has been hacked, it’s important that you inform customers as soon as possible so that they do not click any suspicious links and hand over their data to hackers. Having this conversation with customers can be difficult, but it will limit the damage. If you don’t take action right away, you only increase the chances of customer data becoming compromised, which makes the whole situation worse.
As a business, it’s up to you to protect your customers from online phishing attacks by taking these measures.
Sarah x
