Milwaukee-based security awareness training and anti-phishing vendor PhishLine has announced a new partnership with the Tokyo-based firm Pipeline Security.
It is hoped that this new partnership will help PhishLine improve its footprint in east Asia and fortify its presence in the Japanese security market.
Pipeline Security is a well-respected security firm that serves many top-tier businesses in Japan, offering a range of security solutions to help Japanese businesses improve their information security controls. Along with technical solutions that can reduce susceptibility to cyberattacks, Pipeline Security will now be offering PhishLine’s security awareness training platform and anti-phishing solution.
Businesses can implement a range of security controls, but those solutions often fail to tackle the human element. When phishing emails are delivered to end users, or employees encounter phishing websites when browsing the Internet, it is essential that the threats are recognized. Even the best security protections can all too easily be undone by a single employee that lacks security awareness.
As Allan Watanabe, CEO of Pipeline Security explained, “The human factor will always be the major weakness in the cyber security kill chain.” Regardless of the technological solutions employed, if employees are not trained to be more security aware, businesses will continue to face a high risk of succumbing to a successful cyberattack.
The risks were clearly highlighted by the WannaCry ransomware attacks in May 2017. Many companies in Japan were infected by the ransomware, including Honda. The Honda production plant was forced to temporarily shut down when its systems were infected with the ransomware. In total, around 600 Japanese companies were affected by that single ransomware attack, which took out more than 2,000 computers according to the Japan Computer Emergency Response Team.
“Increasing employee security awareness with PhishLine’s security simulations and training in Phishing, Smishing, and Vishing enables companies to plan and mitigate potential issues when real security issues arise,” said Watanabe.
Pipeline Security will now be offering PhishLine’s security awareness and anti-phishing behavior management training to its clients, giving them access to thousands of training resources and PhishLine’s phishing and social engineering simulation tests.