Leading Managed Technology Services Provider Helps To Secure Organizations
THUNDER BAY, ON – September 29, 2023 – TELECO, a leading Managed Technology Services Provider (MTSP), announced today that the company is protecting small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from the latest style of cyberattack. While phishing has long been a method used by cybercriminals, new developments in AI have made it easier for cybercriminals to disguise their phishing attempts, which is making it much more challenging for businesses to stay protected through conventional means. While most organizations offer cybersecurity training to employees or utilize “post-delivery” email filtration tools, human error is still the leading cause of breach. TELECO is leveraging AI inbox filtration software to help business owners eliminate phishing attacks from ever reaching employee inboxes in the first place, so this risk is completely eliminated.
Cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated in their methods of attack and business owners need to understand which tools are necessary to protect their organizations. While business owners typically engage employees in cybersecurity training modules, unfortunately those trainings have deteriorating benefits over time, where even after only a few months, retention drops off. According to the 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), “85% of breaches involve ‘the human element’” and it’s no secret that “Bob from shipping” will never be as capable of detecting phishing attempts when compared to an AI email filtration system. With human error accounting for 85% of phishing attacks, it’s vital that companies learn how to leverage AI for their benefit, in order to compete with the technology of cybercriminals. Penny Belluz, Director of Operations of TELECO, stated, “You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Nor should you try to fight AI hackers without AI tools on your side.”
Phishing has been around for decades, however, content generating AI, like ChatGPT, have made it much more difficult for the average user to detect phishing emails in the modern age. In the past, it was relatively easy for an end user/employee to read a fraudulent email and to detect it because there was often awkward, non-native phrasing or slight misspellings in the email which would indicate that it was not credible. However, now that cybercriminals can ask AI to proofread and edit their messages so there are no grammatical errors, misspelled words, and the tone sounds just like a native-speaker, it will become much more challenging for employees to accurately discern fraudulent emails from real emails in the near future.
TELECO is combatting AI phishing by using AI-based detection methodologies which can automatically detect whether or not an email is coming from a credible source or not. More importantly, it also removes fraudulent emails “pre delivery” instead of “post-delivery,” as is standard amongst most newer types of commonly used phishing prevention systems. When the IT department can eliminate the human element from making any errors whatsoever, needless to say, this improves the cybersecurity of any organization. This is particularly crucial because if an organization utilizes a “post-delivery” email filtration software, there’s still a small window of opportunity for a fast-responding employee to unknowingly expose the company network to vulnerabilities, before the software can remove the email from their inbox.
TELECO‘s software also does double duty, by constantly surveying the company network to track if company data is being improperly secured. For example, “Bob from Shipping” might be storing company files on a personal Dropbox/Google Drive account, which will need to be secured at the same level as other data storage centers TELECO’s software can immediately detect if employees are storing company data on unsecured servers/locations and notify network administrators so they can address the issue before the company is exposed to a completely unnecessary breach.
“AI is both a blessing and curse for business owners,” added Ms. Belluz. “Our job is to sift through all of the emerging technologies and to deliver simple IT solutions to businesses that need to scale safely, efficiently and securely.”
ABOUT TELECO
TELECO is a locally owned Managed Technology Service Provider, committed to delivering innovative and cutting-edge solutions and products in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario since 1985. A lot has changed in 38 years and we are proud of how we have evolved to understand our clients’ needs and assist them to implement and maintain technology to benefit their business.
As an outsourced Managed Technical Service Provider, we give businesses a lower cost alternative and a higher level of service. We are here to offer scalable solutions to help simplify and alleviate the IT issues that come with running a business. We strive to make your business our business and help clients with a proactive approach to all their IT spending by creating a reachable technology roadmap that is affordable. Our goal is to help business owners take control of their IT budget instead of being reactive. Working with you we create a strategic plan for all your technology for immediate improvements and sustainable growth over time.
