Worcester Business Journal

24 Worcester Business Journal | April 12, 2021 | wbjournal.com 10) Phishing is the most pervasive attack for compromising your business. Up to 90% of se- curity breaches are the result of social engineering and phishing. A Stanford study claims 88% of breaches are caused by employee mistakes. 9) While phishing attacks seem like ordinary spam, it's a mistake to view all phishing attacks as generic. Emails, texts and social media posts target anyone who clicks on the message, which then initiates the real attack. 8) With COVID vaccination rollout dominat- ing headlines and kitchen tables, scammers are exploiting on scene, using email, text and social media to phish millions. Every day, Google blocks more than 240 million COVID-related spam messages. 7) Cyber-attackers like to pose as legitimate businesses, government entities and nonprofit groups to fool people into sharing private or sensi- tive information: clicking a bogus URL will download malware, potentially steal or encrypt your data, setting a trap for ransomware. 6) Scammers toy with human psychology, knowing we are socially distanced yet hungry for social connections; they prey on our curiosity, our distractions, anxiety, and need to stay informed. Social engineering and the spread of misinforma- tion thrive in this environment. 5) Smishing, another method of phishing, involves the use of texting as a delivery mechanism to launch an exploit, knowing how text messages have higher open rates than email. 4) Vishing (phone spoofing) is another attack vector. These robo calls intend to bait people, usu- ally the elderly, into sharing personal information, send money or reset a password. 3) Sockpuppet accounts – entirely fake social media accounts serving as automated, self-prop- agating bots worsen the situation by increasing phishing attack levels, disseminating false content for financial or political manipulation, successfully dividing friends and family into warring factions. 2) Avoid oversharing personal and profession- al life details on social media: spear phishing exploits these to bait and convey their messages as legitimate. Verify requests for money transfers, invoices or payment by confirming identities. 1) Work with a local trusted partner to up your security and phishing awareness via simulated training exercises to help root out and repel cyber trickery. Simulated phishing can reduce the average phish-prone percentage by 60%. K N O W H O W A fractional service model can help scale your business S uccession planning is a practice of successful companies to replace leaders when they leave an organization or retire. Knowing who will replace key leaders is something that should not be determined only in a response to a crisis – but be part of a framework – so the company does not miss a beat. When a company has employees already recruited and trained, there are benefits from all sides. It helps companies retain institutional knowledge. Now, more employees are hired and paid for how they think rather than the actual labor they contribute, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Succession planning keeps that knowledge in house, with an orderly handing off of information and insight over time, preserving that investment. And, according to SHRM.org, more companies should be looking at succession planning as a way of preserving that institutional knowledge: "SHRM research on preparing for an aging workforce has found that less than 40% of HR professionals said their employers were analyzing the impact of workers over the age of 55 leaving their organizations in the next 10 years." It helps employees know they are valued when they and others know they are part of a succession plan, says Susan M. Heathfield at eBalanceCareers. com. "Employees who know that the next role awaits them receive a boost to self-esteem and self-respect. is enhances their efficacy and value," she writes. She adds employees have said knowing an organization's plans for their career development and future opportunities is something they want most from their employers. It saves money on recruiting. By having people with the correct skills already in house with professional development overseen by your organization for key roles, positions can be filled quickly and efficiently, writes CIO.com's Hannah Williams. Suitable leaders are already familiar with your company, ready to work. 1 0 T H I NG S I know about... ...Phishing scams BY WILLIAM TARZIA Special to the Worcester Business Journal B usiness leaders constantly strategize on ways to stretch their resources. You may be facing a shortage of qualified candidates – or time to attract these candidates – while trying to focus on growing your business. Turning to a fractional service model can benefit an organization in several ways. Advantages Especially in today's environment, leaders need to make strategic decisions on how to spend capital and position themselves for recovery and future growth. e advantages of a fractional service model depend on the needs of the business, but it oen allows management to focus on core competencies while not neglecting back- office needs. Utilizing a fractional service model can free up resources for product development or expanding your sales force. e model increases the flexibility and the ability to scale as your business grows, while at the same time reducing fraud risk and utilizing sound practices and standard processing. An efficient fractional model not only builds external credibility for lenders and investors, but can add value by providing scalable approaches to finance, accounting, reporting, audit, risk, compliance, technology, tax, human resources, and executive search. In addition, reducing the need for severance pay, health insurance, or workers' compensation insurance could lead to significant cost savings. Qualified candidates and skillsets Attracting top talent can be difficult and time-consuming, and many businesses today do not need a full- time bookkeeper or human resource manager. Leveraging a fractional service model may be more efficient and cost- effective than if your business attempted to hire these services individually, and helps pay for just the services you need as opposed to maintaining qualified full-time staff. To comply with an increasing number of complex regulations and reporting requirements, as well as maintain a level of flexibility to meet constant workload demands, specific skillsets are required. Utilizing a fractional model can significantly expand your ability to obtain necessary skillsets in an efficient manner, such as on- demand access to a chief financial officer or high- level human resources. Scalability e fractional service model is scalable and can be structured around your existing management team, or it can be a full outsource solution. For example, you may choose to have a full-time bookkeeper in place, and look to the fractional model for the chief financial officer resource in order to help obtain bank financing or help with the strategic direction of the business. As your business grows and elects to hire full-time resources, the fractional service model can be scaled back to fit your needs, allowing your business to be agile and add or modify resources as necessary. William Tarzia is a partner in the Worcester office of blumshapiro, which part of Minnesota accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP. For more information, reach him at william.tarzia@claconnect.com or 508-713-6758. BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal By Michelle Drolet Michelle Drolet is CEO of Towerwall, a woman- owned, cybersecurity services company based in Framingham. You may reach her at michelled@ towerwall.com. 101: F L E X I B L E S C H E D U L E S W W W

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