Users are an intelligence source: Are you leveraging them in your detection strategy?

Abstract

Users are a built-in army of cyber defenders — if they are properly educated and conditioned to do the right things. From entry-level clerks to C-level executives, employees whose jobs have little to do with IT or security nonetheless perform critical tasks, making them a target for phishing attacks. While over the years organisations have done a commendable job of making users ‘aware’ of phishing, too often security professionals blame people for security failures. In this paper, learn the many reasons why the blame game is not fair. Discover how phishing has evolved faster than most organisations have adapted. Learn the most common forms of phishing today and why it is imperative to train employees not only to recognise phish but to report, quickly and easily. See the importance of reiteration and developing ‘muscle memory’ in training, along with the value of communicating back to employees who flag e-mails that seem suspicious. Frequency matters in phishing awareness — the stats bear this out. Organisations that run phishing simulations at least monthly are twice as resilient to phishing attacks than those simulating less often. Further, grasp the value of user-generated phishing intelligence to security operations. This paper examines how prompt notification by vigilant users enables security operations centre (SOC) teams to respond to phishing threats faster, reducing dwell time and protecting networks. Gain an understanding of how a human-centric phishing defence fills the gaps left by secure e-mail gateways, which cannot catch every phish and security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) solutions as well. Threat actors are patient, methodical and smart. They use the most powerful machine ever — the human brain. Discover how honing users’ intuition flips the script, turning phishing targets into active defenders, whose success is easily measured, maintained and improved.