Did you know? Recently, a student’s negligence allowed Ryuk ransomware to get a free run into a biomolecular facility in Europe! Even the infamous Equifax data breach in 2017 was the result of employee negligence!

These are not the only two instances of human error resulting in disastrous security incidents. Employees can prove to be the weakest links in an organization’s security chain. However, they are also the first point of contact for the majority of cyber attacks. Consequently, it is imperative for organizations to focus on transforming this weakest link into a strong first line of defense against cyber threats.

No matter how big or small your organization is, it is vital to educate your employees about the emerging and prevalent cyber threats. Lack of cyber security awareness can cause the employees to make unintentional errors, resulting in data breaches and leaving your company at risk. Moreover, with the transformation to remote work culture due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber risks have increased drastically.

But providing your employees with the right cyber security awareness training can significantly reduce human error and mitigate the majority of cyber risks. Currently, cyber attack simulation is counted among the most effective ways to train your employees in the basics of cyber security and assessing your organization’s threat posture. 

Instead of just hoping that your defenses are strong enough to prevent the worst from happening, cyber attack simulation offers you the means to test your defenses under real-world conditions. This helps you achieve deep insights into any vulnerabilities originating due to human errors.

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Numbers Don’t Lie

Even though reactive security has been widely practiced for years, only scanning for vulnerabilities and patching them is not enough to survive in the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. It is about time to take a proactive approach.

Cyber attack simulation provides the most effective means of achieving this. Here are some recent statistics showing just how much organizations need to adopt cyber attack simulation software as soon as possible.

Why simulation is important to defend against cyber attacks

  • A report by IBM Security revealed that the average total cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86 million.

  • According to another report by IBM Security, human error is the main cause of 24% of all data breaches.

  • Research by FAU revealed that 78% of employees are aware of the risks of suspicious links in emails…but the majority click on them anyway.

  • As per a report by Business Wire, 97% of internet users globally are unable to recognize a sophisticated phishing email.

  • According to a report by Osterman Research, 43% of employees are unaware that opening an unknown attachment or clicking on an unknown link in an email can lead to a malware infection.

How Does Cyber Attack Simulation Work?

As the statistics mentioned above clearly indicate, protecting your organization against cyber threats is now more important than ever. Implementing a cyber attack simulation tool like ThreatCop can go a long way in helping you meet these challenges head-on. Cyber attack simulation can prove to be a game-changer when it comes to shielding your organization from ruthless cyber criminals. 

You may be wondering why even bother with simulation. Why not just warn your employees or give them a general idea of what kinds of threats they might face?

Well, just think about it. Would you be more confident of winning a game that you have just heard about or the one that you have already played before? 

Cyber attack simulation is the best way of providing your employees with hands-on experience in facing these cyber threats in the real world. When you launch realistic dummy cyber attacks on your employees, it not only helps them understand the ways to avoid such attacks in the future but also helps you identify the vulnerabilities in your security chain. 

Watch this video to further understand the significance of ThreatCop and cyber attack simulation:

Real-world Scenarios Where Organizations Adopted Cyber Attack Simulation

As the rise in cyber crimes is showing no signs of slowing down, organizations are beginning to understand the significance of a proactive approach when it comes to cyber security. Even though the practice of generating cyber security awareness is still not as popular as it should be, several institutions worldwide have started taking it seriously. As a fact, after understanding the value of cyber attack simulation, a number of well-known organizations have started adopting it already! 

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) launched a cyber attack simulation on the UAE’s banking sector with the aim of testing its resilience against cyber threats. The UAE Bank Federation (UBF) also took part in this exercise. This exercise was a part of the mandate issued by CBUAE to ensure the safety and stability of the country’s financial system.

As per the CBUAE, carrying out this cyber attack simulation was essential to protect the UAE’s economy from the cyber threats plaguing the world. The financial institutions were hit by the dummy cyber attack to help them assess their threat posture and enforce the necessary defense mechanisms.

On similar lines, one of the world’s largest web-hosting companies and domain registrars named GoDaddy simulated a phishing attack on its employees in order to increase their level of alertness against the growing threat of phishing. The fake phishing emails were sent to hundreds of GoDaddy employees in the pretense of offering a $650-holiday bonus. 

The emails prompted the employees to fill in the personal details for receiving the bonus. However, instead of receiving their much-awaited holiday bonus, the employees received an email from the company’s CSO revealing that they had failed their phishing test and needed to retake it.

GoDaddy Cyber Attack Simulation
Screenshot of the email received by GoDaddy employees (Source: The Copper Courier)

The newspaper giant Tribune Publishing also ran a phishing simulation campaign on its staff. Employees received phishing emails claiming to offer a bonus between $5,000 and $10,000. The emails then prompted employees to log in for viewing their end-of-year bonuses. Once the employees logged in, they received a notification informing them of their failure in the phishing test and asking them to enroll in a computer security training program. 

Conclusion

Regardless of its size or vertical, no organization is safe against prevalent and emerging cyber threats. So, it is high time to make sure that when the time comes, your employees can save your business from losses due to cyber attacks. Cyber attack simulation has already proved to be quite helpful for numerous organizations around the globe. Maybe it’s time to give it a try, isn’t it?

Turn Your Employees Into A Cyber Threat Shield

Make your employees proactive against prevailing cyber attacks with ThreatCop!

About The Author

By Pavan Kushwaha

Founder and CEO at Kratikal

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