March 23, 2023
4 Min Read
With multiple in-person and interactive online events planned across the globe, Absolute’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mark Grace, flew over from Austin to open up and kick-start our awesome cyber resiliency roadshow adventure at The Brigade restaurant in London!
A host of IT professionals across multiple industries and sizes of organisations across EMEA joined us recently to hear from two cyber security experts on how ensuring you are well-armed to react efficiently and appropriately to get business back on track fast in the event of a breach.
We first heard from our guest speaker, Europe’s number one ethical hacker, Jamie Woodruff, on how exactly businesses and people in general are manipulated into sharing information through various social engineering tactics that are commonly used by hackers, including spyware embedded into everyday devices including charging cables and even vapes! This information essentially then provides malicious actors with the keys to the castle to do what they need to within an organisation for essentially financial gain. And not just the ‘big boys’ are targets…
"Cracking afternoon full of insightful sessions, thanks for the invite, even if I left feeling a little weary of my own digital footprint!" - Danny O'Connor, Sackers & Partners
Next up, Absolute Software CTO, Nicko Van Someren took to the stage to explain some of the steps organisations can take to become more cyber resilient amid increasing threats, it was mind-blowing to learn from real user data, the amount of applications that aren’t running at full health and therefore susceptible to security breaches.
"Riveting keynotes from Jamie Woodruff and Nicko van Someren at Absolute's cyber resilience lunch today. Totally eye opening." - Rachael Pugh, Panasonic
Taking it back a step, cyber resiliency refers to the ability of an organisation or system to withstand, adapt to, and quickly recover from cyber-attacks, while continuing to operate effectively. It involves developing and implementing robust cybersecurity measures, regularly testing and updating these measures, and having contingency plans in place to minimize the impact of cyber incidents.
Social engineering, on the other hand, is a tactic used by cybercriminals to manipulate individuals into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. This can include phishing emails or phone calls, pretexting (creating a fake scenario to gain access to sensitive information), or baiting (luring a victim with the promise of something desirable). Or in Jamie’s examples of exploiting intel and human trust by gaining temporary employment by the local pizza shop, knowing that every Friday is pizza day in the office of one particular organisation to gain full unescorted access to the building and devices within!
So in the context of cyber resiliency, social engineering poses a very significant threat because it can bypass technical security measures and exploit human vulnerabilities. Therefore, organisations need to educate their employees on how to identify and avoid social engineering attacks, implement access controls and authentication protocols to limit the exposure of sensitive information, and regularly test their cybersecurity measures to identify vulnerabilities and areas for improvement. By doing so, they can enhance their cyber resiliency and better protect themselves against social engineering attacks.
Make IT Work!
Businesses can help make security simply work by taking advantage of Absolute Software’s solution capabilities to:
Overall, businesses can use tools like Absolute Software to make IT security work by leveraging the software's capabilities to gain visibility and control over endpoints, enforce security policies, monitor for threats, ensure compliance, and protect sensitive data. This can help businesses to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks and other security incidents and maintain the integrity and confidentiality of their data.
To learn more about upcoming events we’re hosting and sponsoring across the globe check out our events page here and if you’d like a demo of our solutions to see if Absolute can help, check out one of our product demos here.
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