On May 11, 2015, Joseph Steinberg, wrote the article for Forbes, regarding hackers targeting employers. In this article, he delineates the very real threat that Hiring Managers and others responsible for hiring face when accepting resumes and other documents automatically online. As he alludes to, hackers use this form of infecting corporate networks with trojans and other malware in order to use as a botnet network or to steal information. Insidiously, as the document was accepted manually and opened, the receiver is usually unaware of any infection. The article lists several steps to undertake that will provide greater security for those in hiring that must receive documents on any automatic basis. Below are the top steps that will help you keep better security:
- Avoid receiving Word Documents, but require the documents to be in PDF form which is more secure.
- Do not click on any short links to Social Media profiles or websites, but have the candidates spell out the entire URL and then rather than click on it from the email, get into the habit of writing it out in the browser address bar.
- Do not trust emails through a 3rd party job postings aggregator, such CareerBuilder.com. Respect security protocols with any emails and documents coming from these sites.
I encourage you to read the full article as even Mr. Stenberg suggests that using a hiring service such as High End Hiring, is a better way to go to avoid these issues.