Simulating cyberattacks helps build your employees' cyber resilience
Cybercrime spares no one, affecting not only VSEs, SMEs and ETIs, but also local authorities and public health establishments. These are the findings of ANSSI’s Panorama de la Cybermenace 2022. Among the cyberattacks suffered, 74% of companies consider phishing to be the main vector of attack. It should also be noted that ransomware attacks are on the increase, as are intrusions.
Against this backdrop of multi-faceted cyberattacks, regulations are getting more organized, with the obligation, from 2024, to report your cybersecurity incidents to the ANSSI and adopt preventive measures.
These include raising your staff’s awareness of cyberculture, anticipating cyberthreats and ensuring their peace of mind.
With Cyber Coach, you can test your teams’ behavior in the face of increasingly sophisticated threats. Via 100% customizable campaigns of phishing simulation, spearphishing or even ransomware simulation, as well as a simulator for more recent attacks such as BitB, USB key or QR Code, you can promote the cyber resilience of your organization and your employees, in an automated way, without having to think about it.
Simulating cyber attacks in your organization
Employees, CIOs, senior management… anyone can be affected by a ransomware, phishing or spear phishing attack…
IT security awareness is now vital for your organization, and you can rely on our cyber attack simulation solution to:
Enable your teams to identify cyber risks, without suffering the consequences
Reassure your staff of their ability to deal with them.
Cyber Coach is immersive, didactic and instructive, using “learning by doing”. Each simulated ransomware, phishing, spear phishing, BitB, USB key or QR Code attack, known as a cyber attack simulation, enables you to improve your level of protection and include your employees in your cyber project.
A cyber-attack simulation in a secure environment is an exercise that rapidly increases your teams’ level of cyber maturity and cyber resilience. It is all the more effective when it is repeated regularly, adapted to the profiles and practices of your employees. At the same time, by analyzing the results of the simulations, you can assess their impact and adapt awareness-raising scenarios for even greater effectiveness.
In summary, to maximize the impact of your awareness-raising actions via cyber-attack simulation, it is key to :
- Create regular training over the long term
- Adapt simulations to your employees’ profiles
- Use models adapted to in-house tools and practices
- Raise awareness at the right time
- Assess your teams’ level of progress
Simulate a variety of cyberattacks to raise your teams' awareness of cybersecurity.
What is a simulated ransomware attack?
Ransomware is malicious software that blocks access to your digital equipment, holds your data and files hostage and demands payment of a ransom in exchange for a decryption key. Once deployed, it infects the computer, encrypts a maximum amount of data and paralyzes the targeted computer network.
As this type of virus is mostly transmitted by e-mail via a malicious attachment or link, which enables intrusion, a simulated ransomware cyberattack uses this same channel. It exploits your staff’s lack of cybersecurity knowledge and their distress at being held to ransom… to make them more adept at detecting ransomware.
What is a phishing attack simulation?
Based on identity theft, phishing is a cyberattack aimed at obtaining private and confidential data. Hackers try to trick your employees into revealing sensitive information: passwords, bank details, social security numbers…
A phishing campaign involves sending a highly credible e-mail. The sender pretends to be a well-known entity, such as a bank, telephone company or government agency, and demands confidential data. The e-mail resembles the sender’s graphic charter.
What is a spear phishing attack simulation?
Spear phishing is an advanced version of phishing that goes so far as to impersonate a key person in your company, to create a sense of urgency. The aim is to obtain private and confidential data such as passwords, bank codes, etc.
When using a spear phishing simulator, the email templates are even more targeted, personalized and contextualized. They usurp the identity of a hierarchical superior, for example, to trap a defined group of employees, and play on the proximity and relationship of trust with the sender.
What is a BitB cyber attack simulation?
A BitB cyberthreat simulation involves the creation of a fake Outlook, Google, Teams or other log-in window… Perfectly imitated, it aims to retrieve log-in IDs and passwords. It highlights the risky behaviors of your employees and makes them aware of this new form of phishing, which allows intrusion into your systems.
What is a QR Code cyber attack simulation?
The QR Code (Quick Response Code) is an image instantly read by a smartphone. It may contain a malicious script, linking to a malicious web page. One of the aims of a QR Code cyber attack is to retrieve confidential login data.
A QR Code cyber attack simulation incorporates the themes most frequently used by hackers in the corporate world: online ticketing, business travel, gift vouchers, etc. It raises awareness of the risk incurred when a QR Code is activated, leading to a false login interface, for example.
What is a USB flash drive cyber attack simulation?
USB flash drives are still widely used for data sharing and storage. The presence of malicious files, whose names arouse curiosity (Salaries2023.pdf, AccessCodes.xlsm), is a cyber weapon not to be neglected. Opening them can infest the connected device.
With Cyber Coach, you can simulate cyber threats via USB stick, to make your employees aware of the dangers that can impact your organization’s IT security. This can take the form of a simulated advertising campaign, distributed internally via a USB key.
Why run simulations of cyberattacks?
How can you tell whether a cyber attack is real or simulated?
If you opt for a cyber-attack simulation solution, such as Cyber Coach, it’s important to communicate the subject clearly to your employees beforehand, to avoid any confusion. Simulations must also be carried out securely, using controlled tools and methods to avoid any disruption to normal operations.
How does a cyber attack simulation work?
A cyber attack simulation can be carried out in a number of different ways, depending on the objectives and scenarios chosen. Typically, the simulator involves a team of IT security professionals simulating a targeted cyberattack to test the resistance of the IT system to an intrusion, but also the resilience of the company’s employees in the face of a real cyberattack. But it can be simpler with a tool like Cyber Coach, which offers hundreds of cyber attack simulation models, and one that’s 100% automated.
What is the purpose of a cyber attack simulation?
The aim of a cyber attack simulation is to test a company’s resilience in the face of a potential attack, and to identify vulnerabilities in its IT security system… or among its employees. This enables preventive and improvement measures to be taken to reinforce data and system security.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of a cyber attack simulation?
To assess the effectiveness of a simulated cyber attack, it is important to measure employee awareness and responsiveness, as well as the company’s ability to manage the situation. Indicators such as attack success rate, response time and implementation of corrective measures can be used.
How do you adapt a cyberattack simulation to an organization?
It is important to tailor the cyber attack simulation to the organization by identifying specific vulnerabilities and creating realistic scenarios. This can be done by assessing the organization’s systems, policies and procedures, and taking into account the most common threats in the industry. You can also use Cyber Coach to fully customize your models.
How much does it cost to simulate a cyber attack?
In general, the cost of a cyber attack simulation depends on many factors, such as the complexity of the scenario, the size of the organization and the level of customization. However, investing in a cyber-attack simulation solution like Cyber Coach can be inexpensive, especially when compared to the much higher costs of a real cyber-attack.