Even the most sophisticated of tech companies have fallen victims to massive data breaches. Credit card leaks, advance fee fraud and huge financial losses have been traced to such unfortunate breaches. As online security experts come up with safety measures, more countermeasures are constantly being injected by those with maliciousness intents.
So far, it appears the bad guys have had better luck, but it’s not completely hopeless. If you are concerned about your company’s online security, you are not alone. In the first half of 2017, there were attacks on over 2 billion data records with millions of personal and financial data critically compromised. Online security is no longer a topic to be ignored. If your company is online, it’s certainly at risk.
A security breach could come from any source and could target any of your resources. It could be from a staff unknowingly downloading malicious file with the company’s computer or sharing sensitive information on social media. Security breaches could target your customer’s data or critical infrastructures in your organization. If you are part of a company with a large customer base, your company is even more likely to be targeted.
If your company ever falls victim to any malicious attack, you could lose the trust of your customers or even lots of money. The key to protecting your company from online security threats is an effective awareness campaign. From upper management to the least ranked staff, everyone needs to be aware of the risk as well as make conscious efforts to guard against them.
Whether you are a staff or a company owner, we have put together some important tips to improve your company’s online security awareness.
Develop a risk awareness plan
Online security is serious business, developing a custom risk awareness plan for your company is not entirely out of place. On the contrary, it’s perhaps the single most important step a company can take towards improved online security. Security awareness should be fused into the company’s corporate culture. Online security should be considered when formulating any new policy and older policies should be reviewed to give room for online security.
Get training support from security experts
Employees should be educated on the best practices for online security. This training should trickle down throughout the entire company. Your company may not necessarily have the technical know-how for such training. Get the support of professional security companies to help improve your online security awareness training.
These pieces of training are a little more than preaching about using strong passwords and two-step authentication. Your company staffs may not be aware of the latest viruses or ransom wares, hiring online security experts to help improve your online security awareness training is your company’s best chance at staying safe.
Conduct Frequent simulations
It’s one thing to train your staffs but an entirely different ballgame for them to stick to recommended security measures and protocols. One of the best ways to keep all your staff on their toes is to stage random unscheduled simulations. You could send phishing links to their emails to see if the still input passwords without verifying the authenticity of the site.
You could also send click baits leading to malicious software to see if the fall victim or follow safety protocols. Repeating such simulations and announcing their results will put involved staffs on constant alert and on the look out.
Know your audience
Your company’s audience plays a huge role in determining the level of security threat you are faced with. It is very important to get all the company staff acquainted with your end users. It helps if they know when their end users know enough to be a threat and when the know too little.
The become unconsciously wired to be more cautious and security-minded when dealing with people who know enough to pose a serious threat. A company directly interacting with hackers and security experts definitely have more to worry about than a company dealing with kindergarten kids.
Make security awareness an everyday thing
For the best chances of warding off threats, training frequency is key. Scheduling awareness training for your staff twice a year isn’t going to be enough. You need to make security training everyday exercise. A frequent but shorter burst of training linked with everyday office events is more effective.
That way you can deliver training at the most effective frequency while staffs are not distracted from their primary objectives. Alongside other staffs, you can also sign up for seminars and webinars on how to improve your online security awareness training.
Making your staff aware of security risks is one the best way to protect company assets from online security threats. If you are going to dedicate your company’s time and resources to online security awareness, then you’ll need to do it right. Most times, good IT security experts are just a few Google searches away. Make the best use of their expertise; use them to improve your online security awareness training.
Keep your company’s staff updated and on alert. All it takes for malicious individuals to stage a major data breach is a very simple slip from your staffs.