Boosting Awareness with SMS Phishing Simulator
Discover how an international hotel chain overcame a severe smishing attack, transforming from vulnerable to vigilant.
Introduction
An international hotel chain operating in 85 locations and employing over 8,000 individuals worldwide faced a severe and coordinated SMS phishing attack.
The attackers exploited localized content and personal information, posing a significant threat to the business. Employees were bombarded with 5 to 6 smishing messages each week. The widespread nature of the hotel chain added complexity to managing human risk, considering the diversity of languages, cultural contexts, and cyber awareness levels across different regions.
Traditional training methods proved inadequate to handle the scale and sophistication of the SMS Phishing attacks. An automated human risk detection and response platform became imperative to address these challenges. Such a system would empower employees to identify, comprehend, and promptly report any suspicious SMS activity, effectively mitigating the risks associated with these persistent smishing campaigns.
Successful Outcomes
Saved $239,940 from incident analysis and response.
Prevented $1.285M potential loss annually.
Boosted employee's ability to identify and respond to SMS phishing by up to 87% in three months
Understanding the Risks of Smishing Attacks
Data Breach Risk: Employees could unintentionally give attackers access to sensitive hotel and guest data.
Financial Loss: Smishing could trick employees into sharing financial information, potentially leading to significant unauthorized transactions and theft.
Reputation Damage: Public knowledge of successful smishing attacks could harm the hotel's reputation, potentially losing clientele.
Operational Disruption: Attackers gaining access to hotel systems like room bookings could result in substantial disruptions and customer dissatisfaction.
Legal Risks: Failure to protect guest data could result in breaches of regulations like GDPR or CCPA, resulting in legal action and heavy fines.
Internal Trust Issues and Panic: Sophisticated smishing attacks could foster employee mistrust, confusion and panic.
Location-based Risk: The challenge to protect and manage human issues across various locations presented a significant risk.
Potential Loss Prevented
The average loss per individual | $502 |
Employees recognize and report Phishing | from 55% to 87% in 3 months |
The total potential loss prevented: $1.285M annually | |
Cost Saved From Incident Handling
Avg. time to respond to a Phishing incident | from 8 hours to 2 minutes |
The average cost of one staff | $60 per hour |
The cost of a single Smishing incident reduced | from $480 to $2 |
The average number of Smishing incidents reported per year | 500 |
The total estimated cost savings are $239,000 annually (reducing the cost from $240,000 to 1000). | |
Keepnet's Role in Tackling Smishing Threats:
Amplified Threat Awareness: Keepnet's Smishing Simulator used real-world scenarios, training employees across all locations to detect smishing threats.
Streamlined Reporting: Security training educated staff about smishing threats and streamlined the reporting mechanism across the hotel chain.
Minimized Human Error: By exposing employees to simulated attacks, Keepnet helped reduce human error across all locations.
Fostering Security Culture: Regular training created a proactive security culture throughout the hotel chain, involving employees in the cybersecurity strategy.
Regulatory Compliance: Frequent simulations ensured adherence to various cybersecurity regulations across all hotel locations.
Efficient Risk Management: The platform provided a centralized system for managing human risk across different locations, offering real-time monitoring and feedback to ensure continuous improvement automatically.
Real-time Monitoring: The Smishing Simulator tracked employee behavior during simulations, identifying weaknesses and determining training needs in all locations.
Operational Results
Trained over 8,000 employees, ensuring persistent high-level security awareness.
Improved smishing recognition success rate to 87% from 55% in three months.
Enhanced incident reporting and follow-up process with robust policies and procedures.
Decreased anxiety linked to smishing threats, creating a secure working atmosphere.
Strategic Results
Achieved $239,940 annual cost savings from incident response.
Mitigated regulatory risks, enhancing compliance strategy and confidence in adherence.
Strengthened cybersecurity defenses with rigorous security protocols and an incident response plan.
Fostered a culture of reporting and continuous improvement across all locations through constant learning and risk analysis.
"Keepnet revolutionized our cybersecurity strategy with their Smishing Simulator, boosting threat awareness across all locations. We now have streamlined reporting and comprehensive training capabilities to minimize human error. Through a proactive security culture initiative, we witnessed an outstanding 87% improvement in identifying SMS phishing attempts within three months."