The saying “you are only as strong as your weakest link” applies to any team effort and cybersecurity for your organization is no exception. The best defense against a cybersecurity attack starts from the inside. Therefore, if you don’t already have a cybersecurity training program in place, you should. A recent itnews.com article provides some important topics that should be covered in your organization’s cybersecurity training program.
The first thing you need to establish is what is and is not acceptable to do while using company technology. Employees should know not to use the technology for anything other than work-related tasks and should not expect anything they use a company device for to remain private. If this is not established and people treat their devices as personal ones you can run into a lot of trouble.
Once acceptable use is established, it is important to cover data protection, security updates, and safe password practices. Employees should understand the importance of constantly backing up all data, staying on top of updates, and locking their computer screen when they leave their office. They should also frequently change their password using a complex system of letters, numbers and symbols. While these practices may be tedious or inconvenient, this protocol is critical in preventing malware from infiltrating your organization’s system.
After laying down the protocol for updates and data protection, employees should be educated on social engineering scams such as phishing emails. Employees should be suspicious of any unexpected emails, especially ones that demand immediate action, and check the spelling of URLs in emails to be sure they will be directed to a safe website and not to one that will expose them to malware. It is important your employees understand how legitimate these false emails can look so they don’t fall for their tricks. To test how employees will respond to a phishing attempt it is best to conduct internal phishing tests.
Finally, it is imperative your employees know who to call and immediately report incidents when they occur instead of waiting for them to be found by a security check or external virus scan. The average amount of time it takes for an organization to discover a system hack is 8 months. By that time, it could be too late, especially for smaller organizations.
If you have any questions or concerns about the cybersecurity protocol for your organization, OptfinITy is here to help. Give us a call at 703-790-0400, visit us on our website at www.optfinity.com, or send us an email at info@optfinity.com if you have any questions about establishing a sound cybersecurity protocol for your organization.
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