Cybersecurity: addressing behavioural risks

Today, we very much live in an online world. Not only do we book holidays or arrange the weekly shop online, we also routinely conduct our banking and view our investments over the web too. The benefits are many but there are risks too. If you’re not careful and don’t follow internet best-practice, you’re more at risk of being targeted by a cybercriminal.

Fidelity’s cybersecurity team has investigated why individuals may be unable to operate in the most secure way possible. From this, they have identified four different mindsets that help explain why this might be and what remedial steps people can take to help change their online behaviour.

1. You’re most vulnerable when you’re in a hurry

Some of us don’t feel we have the time to take the right security measures. Alternatively, we may feel getting what needs to be done completed is more important than doing it right.

Criminals are aware of this mindset and try to exploit it. They know you are most vulnerable when you’re in a hurry and they craft expert attacks designed to take advantage of this. So, for instance, stopping for a few seconds to double check if a client query or instruction is genuine can help prevent financial fraud. In particular, it’s better to pause, reject, refuse or report requests if there is any pressure for a quick response or action.

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2. Distraction can lead to unintentional errors

Today, many of us are constantly bombarded with emails, messages and phone calls. It can be hard to cut through all the noise to spot something that’s potentially dangerous. This can lead to clicking on suspicious links, visiting dubious websites or unintentionally revealing confidential information to a fraudster.

The trouble is, with so much going on, how can you know what presents a risk or not? The key to staying cyber safe is to find your focus. A good first step is to be aware of threats and to know how to counter them.

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3. Time to challenge old habits

The threat from cybercrime is constantly evolving. If you fail to keep pace, you risk being caught out. Maybe you’ve always done things a certain way and remained safe. That doesn’t mean this will always be the case. It just means you could be next. By using weak passwords, reusing passwords across sites and accounts and not updating operating systems and security patches on devices you could be an easy target.

Now’s the time to change your mindset – don’t just read about security best-practice, make a conscious decision to actually implement the advice.

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4. Back yourself if something doesn’t seem quite right

Most of us have quite effective inbuilt detectors that can help determine when an email, message or call is genuine or not. Little things seem off or out of the ordinary – from grammatical mistakes in an email to requests for account information in an unusual format.

Where many of us go wrong is by not acting on our suspicions. This may result in suspected attacks going unreported or an instruction not being double checked. We need to learn to trust ourselves, and those instincts, and report, challenge or delete whenever we feel wary or uncertain.

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