Educating Employees to Minimize the Risk of Cyber-Attacks

During 480 B.C., in The Battle of Thermopylae, merely three hundred Spartans held off a huge Persian army. However, in reality Spartans were not alone in the battle, alongside them fought Athenians, Thebes and other Greek forces. Until the last day Greeks had a force of around seven to eight thousand soldiers at the battle ground. The key differentiator in the battle was that, Spartans were already professional soldiers, whereas the Greeks were not professional soldiers and they fought in the army while called upon.
Cut to modern days, the world is now completely dependent on internet, and it posses a massive threat from a modern-day nuisance which is called Cyber Attacks. The worst part is, sadly the users are not Spartan warriors, instead most of them are working professionals or casual users. These professionals are not at all security geeks, most of them don’t understand what cyber security is, and for that we can’t blame them either as their jobs aren’t focused on information and cybersecurity.
So, in order to be safe in the bad world of cyber attacks and breaches, one just can not develop a single cyber security program and claim that his staff is well-trained to tackle the security breaches. In real world, not everyone is a Spartan warrior, so one needs to educate his employees and start awareness programs that will eventually help to educate users to be safe from security breaches.
Already confused? Don’t be, we are here with few steps that can eventually help to ensure safety in the risky cyber world.
An organization might interact with several vendors, which can involve various purposes. So, the first step towards safety is to determine which members would be of highest-impact to the organization in case of a breach. Additionally, it is also important to consider what type of data the vendor is handling, which can be anything from cardholder data to protected health information.
One always need to reinforce messages through policy, internal videos, in staff meetings and other sources that works in the environment. In order to create an awareness program, one must understand that awareness is a process and it always takes time. Lastly one must Set the expectation that the elements of the awareness program will be updated, and repeated on a regular basis.
Another blunder most of the internet users commit is using same password for multiple services. Same passwords always tend to leave the entire digital life at a stake and vulnerable to breaches. As if one hacker has got the hold of a single password, then he can access all the accounts of the user.
Nowadays hand-held devices like cell phones and tablets have become a necessity and many of the employees use them for official purpose. However, the user should always be extra careful while installing new apps in the phone or tablet as this is one of the most-easy ways in which malicious apps can gain access to the personal information of a user. An app can always ask for a big list of permission in order to function, but it’s important to be aware of what types of information the app is accessing for better safety.
Always be aware of phishing scams. When it comes to phishing scams, cyber criminals design a website or email-id  to steal sensitive data. Most of the time the attacker installs malicious software onto the user’s pc. The worst part is, one can barely differentiate these websites or email from the genuine ones. However, phishing scams are quite easy to spot, but for that one must know what to look out for.
Companies must also tell their employees to avoid logging into any of their important accounts from public computers or public networks. A public pc or a network is open to all the users, which eventually leaves many security holes in them. However, sometimes people might not have the access to a private pc or a network, so in that case the user must delete the browser history once done and only log into a network after making sure that it is completely safe.
Applying necessary software updates are very critical nowadays. Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. releases bug fixes, security patches in their recent updates. These fixes mostly help users to be secured in the risky world of web.
Above all these key points, one must remember that one must train his employees such a manner that it eventually increases the staff’s ability to make much more secured decisions that to consciously. Employers must remember that they are not making any cyber security experts, for that role the company already has specialized geeks. They only need employees who are good and has the enough presence of mind so that they can help to protect the organization. So, here are few points from us that can eventually help you to minimize risks of cyber-attacks which can wreak havoc in your organization.