How to Talk to Your Employees About Basic Cybersecurity Measures

Cybersecurity is a huge issue that can affect every one of them each workday. Despite the rumblings, it’s the right thing to do. And it must be—there’s just too much at stake.

Rather than focus on the “must-dos” of your company security measures, make it about how valuable your employees’ contributions are to the overall security to their organization. The lessons learned will also help them improve their own personal security hygiene in their personal lives, lessons they can also share with their loved ones.

Why your people are your biggest vulnerability

It happens every day. People open emails from unknown senders or click on questionable links out of curiosity. They open messages containing links or images only because they received them from a fellow co-worker. They may have opened an email looking identical to a well-known organization and are encouraged to provide financial information. In other instances, there are incidents when individuals have printed out confidential documents and left them sitting on the printer.

When these events occur, it becomes a serious problem for your company’s cybersecurity. The reason bad actors continue to use these tactics is because they work. These guys are lazy. Why invest in a complicated cyberattack when they can continue to send massive amounts of mail and reach the same destination.

Simple tips to stay safe

In a time filled with cyberattacks in the news, you can educate your employees on several fronts:

1. Don’t fall for phishing attacking and scams, what to look for, and ways going forward to raise red flags and contact your IT network security department.
2. Watch for social engineering. Look out for those who claim to be a company employee who “needs help”. Attackers may have some urgent problem that requires access to additional network resources.
3. Prevent unrestricted web browsing. Employees should have some level of advanced threat protection, preventing them from accidentally accessing known malicious websites.
4. Poor password habits cause more problems than they help. Block commonly used passwords and utilize tools like MFA to increase security without frustrating users.
5. Prevent document-related habits. Accuvise has tools that auto-classify sensitive things like routing numbers, SSN customer numbers, CC numbers, and other confidential information. This way technology can help protect data without counting on everyone to do it manually.

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. You can change these habits with education, awareness, and a security policy.

Accuvise