In 2017, cyberattacks on businesses cost the UK economy £10 billion, and 7 in 10 businesses have been the victim of a cyberattack or data breach. When a CEO faces a cyberattack or data breach, they worry about the vulnerabilities in the technology they use, forgetting to take care of the people who use those technologies every day – their employees. The best way for business leaders, CEOs and managers to combat this threat is to create a culture of risk in the workplace, and that starts with cybersecurity awareness. Many organizations offer training programs to increase cybersecurity awareness. However, training may not be enough for organizations to deal with cyber threats and attacks.
Even if the latest network security software is deployed to protect the corporate network, it is useless if the physical systems are not protected from unauthorized access. If the company inadequately secures an important system, third parties can easily gain access to the system to steal sensitive information. Therefore, physical security provides an additional layer of protection against cybercrime. For example, an SMS message is a well-known form of multifactor authentication that requires a one-way number to log into a service immediately after the user enters his or her password. However, SMS-based 2FA is becoming increasingly insecure and can lead to SMS phishing attacks, also known as “smishing” attacks. Therefore, more advanced methods of multi-factor authentication are available, such as token generators, biometric scanners and geolocation trackers.
Using AI and ML technologies, you can create customizable cybersecurity awareness campaigns and review metrics to measure the program’s effectiveness. When you consider the cost of cybersecurity education and response, compare the cost of preventing cyber threats from entering your organization to the financial impact of a successful cyber attack. This one-time investment in the security of your company’s future will pay off and save you from losing untold profits to criminals who may already be targeting your brand and customers. Although spear phishing seems rudimentary, it has evolved in recent years and is extremely difficult to detect, especially without prior knowledge or the use of spear phishing protection software. For example, a hacker may find an employee’s email address, interests, role, geographic location, and posts about new products they just purchased on their social media profiles. With all this information, the hacker poses as a friend or a known person and sends a convincing but fraudulent and malicious message to his target.
Continuously incorporate cybersecurity awareness directly into their employees’ workflows. By providing regular cybersecurity training in bite-sized chunks, your employees will make cybersecurity a priority, keeping them and your company safe online and better prepared to defend against attacks. Your employees are your first and most important line of defense against online crime. That’s where cybersecurity training comes in, equipping your employees with the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves from criminal elements. Conducting training ensures that employees are using approved software and have strong passwords.
Because most cybersecurity awareness programs focus on theory, they cannot create a process for cybersecurity awareness and incident response. That is, in addition to a training program, it is important for employees and management to experience cyber incidents similar to a fire drill and referred to as cyber drills. A cyber drill is a training procedure that simulates a cyber attack for employees or individuals whose jobs involve cyber incident response. In addition, cyber drills can determine if an employee is at high risk of becoming a victim of a cyber threat. Responding quickly to an incident puts the organization in a state of cyber resilience that can withstand the impact of attacks.
Every year, new threats emerge, new malware is coded and new phishing scams are developed. If your team isn’t aware of these changes and prepared for them, the risk of a successful attack increases until it becomes virtually unavoidable. Emphasizing the importance of a security training program is the most important step against existing cyber threats.
A very simple, but often overlooked, element that can contribute to your organization’s security is password security. Common passwords are often guessed by malicious actors looking to gain access to your accounts. Using simple passwords or password patterns that are recognizable to employees can make it easy for cybercriminals to gain access to a variety of accounts. Once stolen, this information can be published or sold for profit on the Deep Web. Given that human error plays a key role in 95% of cybersecurity breaches, employee management of cyber risk is critical for your organization to avoid a data breach and demonstrate compliance. It’s important that those in leadership roles in your organization set an example of the behavior you expect from your own employees.
In the case of Alternative 3, the simulated attack is sent to users and the result is reported to their supervisor. Finally, Alternative 4 is similar to Alternative 2, except that there is no certificate. In order to select the most acceptable alternative, two evaluations were performed.
This helps reduce losses due to cyber attacks by hackers, which include monetary, reputational, data and other losses. This can be easily avoided if effective security measures are taken in the companies. cybersecurity awareness training Since the security of company data depends on employees, it is essential to conduct a cybersecurity awareness program to educate employees on best practices to prevent remote cyberattacks.
A good cybersecurity awareness and training program will help keep employees up to date and ultimately keep your organization protected. In our last blog, we talked about how to promote cybersecurity awareness and the importance of having a cybersecurity education and awareness program for your employees. In this blog, we will discuss eight specific ways to promote cybersecurity awareness.