In the real world we’re all pretty careful. For instance, we’re likely to be cautious walking alone at night, and we’re protective when it comes to entering our PIN at a cash point. Strangely, though, many people don’t take the same level of care with their online interactions. And this can be a big issue for organisations.
The focus of cyber security is often on the technical aspects — the technology that makes the difference and keeps would-be hackers at bay. However, this overlooks the fact that the weakest aspect of an organisation can be its people — more than half of companies don’t give their employees training on online security.
This is all the more important when you consider that the spread of mobile working and BYOD has made the threat of cyber attacks even more dangerous. Yet only three in ten organisations have a specific plan in place to manage these risks. Companies have to realise it’s the human — rather than the computer — that cyber attacks target.
So what can you do to overcome the challenge posed by people-related security weaknesses? Here are some tips to help you reduce the human threat to your company:
- Work with your IT and security support to understand the employee areas that are the highest risk.
- Educate your employees and take them through the story of what could happen if they are careless.
- Help employees understand how their actions online directly affect business success or failure.
- Include employee training in whatever you do, building a campaign around your organisation’s core values.
- Give your employees an action plan that makes them aware of what they can do to be more vigilant in their online behaviour and potential pitfalls.
- Bring in elements to your campaign that encourage accountability between your employees.
- Remember to recognise and reward good practice — this will help to improve attentiveness across your entire organisation.
This is just the start of a more vigilant and robust way of protecting your organisation against people-related security risks. You can discover more ways to defend your organisation and get the conversation going among your employees with our guide to cyber security from Dr Robert Rowlingson of BT Research and Innovation.
