How often do you conduct cyber security training for employees? In school, teachers typically give students a quick refresher of what they have previously learned. Similarly, employees should undergo periodic training on the organization’s cyber security practices.
If your team has gone through a refresher on cyber security practices in the past year, you need to schedule one soon to get them up to speed. After all, they can’t defend themselves from online threats if they don’t know (or have forgotten) how. This is why it's essential to create a cyber-secure work culture and strenghten emplyee awareness of potential threats that could impact your organization.
Cyber threats come in all shapes and forms. However, the majority of successful cyber-attacks are attributed to human error. For this main reason, every employee needs a refresher training on cyber security at least once a year. Without it, your business or organization becomes more vulnerable to cyber attacks by way of weak passwords, unsafe browsing, phishing e-mails, and more. Additionally, insurance may not cover cybersecurity-related claims if employees have not undergone regular training. Ultimately, customers would not want to do business with a firm that has no means to protect client information. Regardless of size, all organizations must ensure that their employees have basic know-how and understanding of the best cyber security practices.
Not sure which topics to cover? Here are the four most important cybersecurity topics to discuss. This applies to refresher sessions or if you’ve never trained your team on cybersecurity before.
1. Password Best Practices
Almost every employee has their own login to access the organization’s systems, data, or Internet. Selecting the passwords for individual login is at the employee's discretion. Remind them to use strong and unique passwords with letters, numbers, punctuation, and other special characters. Similar passwords must not be shared between accounts. Ensure that your employees periodically change their passwords. As an added layer of security, multifactor authentication (MFAs) helps prevent unauthorized logins.
2. E-mail Security
Employees must be cautious of any e-mails coming from addresses outside the company. When going through e-mails, they should refrain from opening e-mails from unfamiliar senders. Be wary of messages from those they have not communicated with in the past. Unless they know precisely where the e-mail came from, they should not open any links or attachments.
3. Social Media
Personal accounts of employees should never be set up using a company e-mail address. Employees should be careful about what they post on social media regarding work. Private information about the organization or clients should not be shared on social media. This could negatively impact the company’s reputation and cybersecurity posture.
4. Protecting Company Data
Cyber security procedures and practices are in place to safeguard the company and its client data. All employees have a legal and regulatory obligation to protect sensitive information. A careless disregard for data protection can quickly bring down a company and open it up to potential lawsuits.
Implementing strong cybersecurity practices is the best way to protect your business from cyber threats. To be effective, the entire team must be aware of these practices through training. Conducting regular training on these four topics is a big step toward developing a cyber-secure culture.
As the most trusted IT Consulting and Cybersecurity firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, PC Professional can help develop a cyber-resilient security plan and training program for your employees.
