With most companies relying on computer technology to keep valuable data, a cyberattack can do serious damage to a business. There are various kinds of cyberattacks, which is what makes them even trickier to avoid. That is why training employees and raising their awareness of online safety and cybercrime is crucial. Here are five tips that could help you efficiently train your employees on cybersecurity.
Explain the consequences the company could suffer due to a cyberattack
For the employees to take your cybersecurity training seriously, it’s essential that you explain the potential consequences a cyberattack could have on the company. You should raise their awareness of what is at stake. The main consequences to mention are:
- the financial loss,
- identity thefts,
- tainted reputation.
In the event of a cyberattack, the company can suffer a financial loss due to theft and/or the costs of having to fix the damage. In cases where the aim of the hack is to gain personal information for identity theft or some other purpose, the company’s reputation can get damaged. Customers and business associates may lose trust in the company, resulting in the loss of profit and valuable business connections. Read more: CISSP certification in Newyork
Preach about the importance of strong passwords
Passwords are comparable to locks on doors, which is why it’s essential that they are difficult to crack. You need to teach your employees how to create strong passwords, as well as how to avoid their passwords being cracked in order to keep the company accounts safe. This is not a time-consuming process, and it can prevent cybersecurity breaches. Some of the key points regarding passwords to highlight to your workers include:
- Create a password that consists of at least 8 characters.
- Use numbers, symbols, capital letters, and lowercase letters.
- Never use the same password for multiple accounts.
- Avoid incorporating personal information, such as your birthday, name, address, etc.
- Never enter the password while you’re connected to Wi-Fi in public places, such as restaurants and coffee shops.
Enroll your tech-savvy employees in courses for cybersecurity
Enrolling the employees who are IT enthusiasts in cybersecurity courses is a very efficient approach to maintaining cybersecurity in your company. Those employees will be properly trained by cybersecurity professionals on how to keep the company systems safe. What is more, they will be able to help you out with teaching the rest of the staff the basics about online safety. For example, DDLS offers courses on various cybersecurity-related topics, typically ranging from one to five days in length. Some of the courses are:
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP),
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM),
- Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP).
Therefore, rather than employing new candidates to be in charge of cybersecurity, you can have your current IT staff trained in this area.
Make the training interactive and dynamic
Focusing too much on theory without giving any examples and including your workers in the discussion is likely to produce unsatisfactory results. That’s because that way of training is difficult to follow. Giving real and interesting examples will help the employees memorize the core information better. For example, if you’re teaching them how to recognize online scams, such as phishing, you may show them real phishing emails. In order to include your workers and make it more interactive, you may incorporate the tabletop exercise. This involves your employees offering solutions to hypothetical emergency situations related to cybersecurity.
Organize regular live drills
Rather than giving out tests on paper, organizing live regular drills is a more efficient way to assess whether the employees have understood and memorized everything you taught them about cybersecurity. Having theoretical knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean that one would be able to apply it. Live drills allow you to see how your employees perform in action and help them learn from their mistakes. For example, you could send suspicious emails from an email address your workers wouldn’t recognize and see whether they report them.
Squeezing in some lessons on cybersecurity can be a handful given that the employees also need to have time to do their job and adhere to deadlines, but this isn’t a reason to skip them altogether.
Training employees on the topic of cybersecurity is instrumental, as it is the key to avoiding confidential company information getting leaked. Having your employees armed with crucial information about passwords and how to avoid phishing and other scams, the chances of data breaches will be minimized.