Ways a Cybersecurity Service Provider Can Help Protect Against Phishing

A survey found that 81% of organizations worldwide have experienced an increase in email phishing attacks since March 2020. Meanwhile, 65% of cybercriminals use spear phishing emails as their primary attack method. In fact, phishing was the second most expensive data breach attack vector in 2021, costing corporations $4.91 million per incident.

However, protecting your organization against phishing, especially increasingly sophisticated phishing cyber threats, can be complex. Most in-house IT teams simply don’t have the expertise and resources to cover all the bases.

That’s why more and more organizations work with a cybersecurity service provider to help them mitigate cybersecurity threats and protect against phishing scams.

Download the eBook, How to Spot and Thwart Phishing Scams: A Guide for Businesses.

Why Work with a Cybersecurity Service Provider in the First Place?

If you’re like most companies, your internal IT team is already stretched thin trying to keep up with the latest shifts in the technological landscape. It’s challenging to have the right expertise and sufficient resources to stay current with fast-changing security updates and increasingly stringent data privacy laws.

Here are the advantages of partnering with a reputable cybersecurity service provider for savvy companies:

Specialized expertise and phishing consultation services

Your cybersecurity service provider can help you fill critical skill gaps to stay ahead of evolving threats and new phishing techniques with the latest cybersecurity technologies and best practices.

Customized security configurations

Your cybersecurity service provider can help you set up access control to limit business data exposure, even if a hacker manages to steal an employee’s credentials and log into your network.

Implementation of a comprehensive backup and recovery plan

If a phishing attack infects your system with ransomware, you can minimize the impact of data loss and costly downtime.

Access to a security operations center

If someone clicks on a phishing link that installs malware and ransomware to your system, a cybersecurity service provider can quickly identify and isolate the issue to minimize damage.

Ability to meet regulatory requirements

Your cybersecurity service provider will help you gather data and compile reports to stay compliant. Meanwhile, the documentation can help you fend off would-be lawsuits if your company is attacked by demonstrating that you have followed the necessary security measures.

Employee training

A cybersecurity service provider will implement a comprehensive employee security awareness and education program to ensure that all staff members adhere to your security policy and understand how to prevent email phishing scams from stealing their credentials or infecting your network.

What Will a Cybersecurity Service Provider Do to Protect Against Phishing?

A reputable cybersecurity service provider often starts an engagement by assessing your company’s current security posture and vulnerabilities. The insights can help prioritize remediation actions and focus resources on the weakest links in your security chain.

Here are two common techniques cybersecurity service providers use to help protect against phishing:

Penetration testing (pen test)

During a penetration test, your cybersecurity service provider will perform an authorized simulated attack on your organization’s IT infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and evaluate its security measures.

The insights will show you how far a threat actor could penetrate your current security measures and what data they can access. While most penetration tests focus on technology and infrastructure, an experienced cybersecurity service provider will also conduct pen tests through social engineering to evaluate your staff’s response to phishing emails.

You can see how much information is at risk if a hacker manages to steal an employee’s credentials or install malware.

Third-party due diligence

Any external parties in your ecosystem and supply chain with access to your systems, processes and customer data can introduce security risks.

A cybersecurity service provider can conduct third-party due diligence to help you make informed decisions when selecting vendors, suppliers, partners and contractors.

Since email is a common way for companies to work with partners and vendors, you must evaluate how they handle these communications to prevent phishing attacks. A cybersecurity service provider can examine the processes to ensure that your partners have the appropriate employee training and security protocols to protect your information.

Learn More About How a Cybersecurity Service Provider Can Help Protect Against Phishing

Partnering with an experienced cybersecurity service provider is the most comprehensive path to protect against phishing cyber threats.

When we work with our clients, we start with a series of evaluations, including vulnerability tests, penetration testing, web app security testing and more. The insights allow us to identify their needs, provide phishing consultation and implement strategies and technologies to protect against phishing.

Schedule a consultation with our experts to evaluate your security posture.