Gelisim News

The weakest link in cyber attacks is company users

Asst. Prof. Dr. Serkan Gönen, a faculty member at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), stated that company employees should be made particularly aware of cyber attacks since anonymity, inexpensive and widespread availability of attack sources, and low rates of risk and punishment encourage cyber attackers.

The virtual environment is used for a variety of transactions, from shopping to health care, from education to citizenship. All activities that go from the physical world to the virtual environment now have a higher chance of running into cyberattacks. Asst. Prof. Dr. Serkan Gönen indicated that attackers are encouraged by the relatively low risk and punishment rate, as well as the inexpensive and ubiquitous availability of attack supplies.

WARNING TO CORPORATE COMPANIES TO AWARE EMPLOYEES AGAINST CYBER ATTACKS

Dr. Serkan Gönen, a faculty member at Istanbul Gelisim University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Computer Engineering Department, stated the following:

‘’Precautions that can be taken in the field of cyber security are generally considered in three basic dimensions. The first includes technical hardware and software such as firewall, end-user security (anti-virus, anti-spam etc.) and network access control. The second dimension is standards and policies. The last dimension, and often the least valued, is cybersecurity awareness. In other words, it is the user. Based on the principle that "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link," the users, often known as the human factor, are the weakest link in the field of cyber security. Because the investments in question will be insufficient until users' understanding of the significance of cyber security is improved, regardless of whether the most expensive cyber security hardware and software are delivered as required.’’

COMPANIES SHOULD WORK WITH THE "NEVER TRUST, ALWAYS CHECK" MODEL

Asst. Prof. Dr. Serkan Gönen also emphasized that cell phones and computers, which are among the devices that face cyber attacks, can be protected with some precautions in daily use. However, the vast majority of users solely use security software on their computers. Cell phones, where personal data (family pictures, e-mails, banking, etc.) are processed and shared, are threat as well. Data protection needs to be reconsidered before sharing because of the security problems that the data we share may cause, both individually and institutionally.