Out of all the possible cybersecurity protections you could possibly implement in your company, cybersecurity awareness training is one of the most fundamental. You could have the most expensive, top-of-the-line firewalls and advanced threat detection, and one human error can allow a threat actor full access to your entire network, bypassing all of your security measures.
Does your business prioritize cybersecurity awareness training? Whether you already have a program in place or you’re starting from scratch, here’s why this is essential for your business.
Social engineering has gotten sophisticated
Back in the day, email phishing schemes were easy to spot: the email was written poorly, addressed as “dear sir or madame,” and used broken English. They never really made sense and the people who fell for them tended to be older people who rarely used the computer.
Today’s phishing emails still include these sloppy elements, but not always. Some attacks have become sophisticated enough to fool even the most intelligent employees. Only cybersecurity awareness training can prevent these attacks from being successful.
If you don’t know how to create a solid training program, talk to your managed service provider and ask for their help. This is one of the biggest benefits of having managed cybersecurity services. IT security pros have the expertise required to help you craft a strong training program that will cover everything from basic threats to new, emerging threats.
Trained employees are less likely to fall for scams
Trained employees are less likely to fall victim to a scam email. Most employees don’t naturally think they’re getting scammed, so when they get an email saying their credentials are incorrect or there’s a problem with an account they rely on for work, their instinct is to fix it immediately.
Cybersecurity awareness training ensures that security threats stay in a person’s awareness and make them pause anytime they receive an email asking them to log into an account that they didn’t initiate.
Ready to create your cybersecurity awareness training program?
Whether you hire a managed IT security provider or implement your own training, here are some of the essential elements to include.
- Education regarding Redline Stealer
Redline Stealer has been around for a while, but it wasn’t well-known until a bunch of YouTubers got their channels hacked through fake sponsorship opportunities. This attack uses fake files (including .mp4 and .exe) that installs malicious software that gives hackers access to passwords saved in browsers, and allows them to bypass multi-factor authentication to access accounts.
Make sure your employees know about this threat and advise them to never download cracked software or open any file they receive unsolicited. The only executable files they should be opening are ones that come directly from a software developer. If anyone needs them to download a video file, they should request it to be hosted on a platform for easy viewing instead.
- Make sharing credentials grounds for termination
Login credentials should never be shared unless you don’t have the ability to create individual logins for all the people required to use a given application. It’s not ideal, but this isn’t generally a problem. The kind of sharing you want to prohibit is when someone has their own credentials, but asks to borrow another employee’s credentials.
Sometimes it’s an innocent request caused by a technical glitch and the person just wants to get their work done, but other times it’s manipulation. For example, an employee who was just fired might ask others to borrow their login credentials in order to sabotage the company on their way out.
Train employees to never share their credentials under any circumstances and make sure they know they can be fired for doing so.
- Reinforce hierarchy of authority
In every business, only certain individuals should be able to make key decisions that can impact security. Some people might not like this, but you need to enforce the hierarchy of authority, even for the small stuff. For example, if any employee is allowed to sign up for a new software account and connect it to another company account through an integration, you can’t vet the security of that new application.
In this case, if the developers don’t encrypt data on their hard drive, for example, all your sensitive client data can end up on an unencrypted server, putting you in a position of violating data privacy laws. If there’s a data breach, you can be held financially responsible for devastating fines.
Make cybersecurity awareness your priority
Now you know why awareness training is central to the strength of your company’s cybersecurity posture. If you haven’t implemented this necessary training, don’t try to do it yourself – connect with an IT pro and start creating a program that will protect your business from preventable cybercrime.
