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Companies must equip their employees appropriately, even if they have a robust defense against malicious attacks. This is because they can gain the basic knowledge to protect their data through security awareness. Cybersecurity awareness is essential to keep your business and employees safe online.
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and National Cybersecurity Alliance support this initiative to educate individuals and organizations about their role in improving cybersecurity and what they can do to become more secure in the digital age. Learn why cybersecurity awareness in the ever-changing threat landscape is important, what training programs should include, and how to better protect your data and business.
What Is Cybersecurity Awareness?
Cybersecurity awareness involves educating and preparing employees to deal with cyber threats, including how to prevent them and what actions they should take in the event of an incident. This helps instill in employees that they are responsible for the safety and security of their company's assets. Cybersecurity awareness can be defined as knowing about security threats and taking responsible actions to prevent potential risks.
Cybersecurity awareness is about being aware of current security threats and cybersecurity best practices. It also includes the dangers associated with clicking a malicious link, downloading an infected file, interacting on the Internet, disclosing sensitive data, etc. Security awareness programs can help your business improve its security posture, tighten up processes and build a more resilient organization. Cyber security awareness must be an organizational-wide initiative for it to be effective and beneficial.
Why Is Cybersecurity Awareness So Important?
Many organizations experience security breaches despite having the best defense systems and protection measures in place. Human error is often the main cause of data breaches. More than 80% of data breaches involve human factors, such as social engineering attacks, mistakes, and misuse of stolen credentials. This weakness is exploited by threat actors to gain access to an organization's systems and networks. Here's where cybersecurity awareness comes into play.
Cybersecurity awareness is a way to educate your employees on the malicious methods of cyber criminals. It teaches them how to be a target, identify potential threats, and avoid being harmed by these threats. Your workforce will have the knowledge and resources necessary to recognize and flag any potential threats.
Neglecting or failing to conduct cybersecurity awareness training regularly can have serious implications on your business, such as financial losses, intellectual property loss, damage to the company's reputation, customer distrust, and more. Your company's cyber strategy is only as good as its weakest link - your employees.
What Is Cyber Awareness Training?
Cybercrime is on the rise, and cybersecurity has become a priority for all businesses. A cybersecurity strategy is incomplete without security awareness training. This includes a variety of tools and techniques that are used to educate and train employees on security risks and how to avoid these. It helps employees understand the daily cyber-risks that your business faces, their impact on your business, and their role and responsibility in regard to the safety and protection of digital assets.
What Is The Purpose Of Cybersecurity Awareness Training?
Cybercriminals are always evolving, and they have come up with new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in order to steal valuable information from businesses. They also look for ways to exploit human emotions and behavior. Social engineering attacks such as phishing and spear phishing are very successful.
Employees who are well-educated can identify threats quickly, which will reduce the likelihood of cyber incidents and prevent data breaches. Security awareness training is not only a way to stop threats in their tracks but also promotes heightened security within the organization. Cybersecurity training is essential for your organization's survival.
To minimize risk and guarantee company-wide security, your organization must invest in cybersecurity training, tools, and talent. An organization that has a well-defined cybersecurity training program can reduce costs and the number of security incidents.
What Should Cybersecurity Awareness Training Include?
In recent years, cyber awareness training has evolved from being reserved primarily for security professionals. It is now available to IT administrators and all employees. The scope of cybersecurity programs can vary depending on a number of factors, including the budget, awareness level, and how many employees are involved. No matter what the scope, every cybersecurity training program should include these courses.
Email Security: Email has become one of the most popular communication tools in business today. Email is a common entry point for cybercrime, including phishing and ransomware. It can also be used to spread malware, BEC, and other types of malware. Email is the main entry point for 94% of dangerous malware and ransomware. Email security training is therefore crucial in protecting your employees and company from malicious emails. Email security training helps employees to be aware of dangerous links and attachments.
Social Engineering And Phishing: Humans are the main attack surface for threats. Social engineering attackers know how people think and behave. This knowledge is used to manipulate human emotions and behavior to get their target to do what they want. This could include revealing sensitive information, sharing credentials, transferring money, etc. Social engineering and phishing attacks are highly effective because they are convincing and targeted. With the right training, your employees will be able to spot the warning signs and reduce the likelihood of being scammed.
Malware And Ransomware: Malware such as ransomware enters an organization via phishing email. About 300,000 pieces of malware are estimated to be created every day. Ransomware training helps employees to understand the execution of these attacks, the tactics used by threat actors and what they can do against the rising number of ransomware attacks.
Browser Security: Since they serve as entry points to the Internet and hold a lot of sensitive data, including personal data, web browsers are a top target for hackers. Some websites are not safe to visit. Browser/internet training can help maintain confidentiality and ensure safe web browsing.
Information Security: Your company's data is its most valuable asset. Everyone should take responsibility for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your organization's information. You must incorporate courses in your training program that stress the importance of data security and the responsibilities towards protecting data. Your employees should be trained on how to safely handle, store, and share sensitive information. Understanding the legal and regulatory obligations in the event of a data breach is crucial. To minimize risks and resolve issues as quickly as possible, employees should be trained in incident reporting.
Remote Work Protocol: Working remotely is now the norm. This is apparent with many organizations implementing hybrid work models. It is a greater challenge for companies to ensure security and safety in the workplace and at home. Added security risks are also a result. These risks can be reduced significantly with the proper knowledge and tools. You must make sure that your training program includes the risks of connecting to unsecure public wifi networks. It should also include the use of personal gadgets and unauthorized software.
Physical Security: Physical Security includes everything from protecting company-provided mobile devices and laptops from security risks to being aware of shoulders surfers. Locking devices when you step away, keeping your workstation clean, not tailgating and storing confidential documents and printed material in a safe place are all examples of physical security.
Security Of Removable Media: Removable media offer handy ways to copy, store, and transfer data. Examples include USB drives, CDs, portable hard drives, smartphones, SD cards, and more. There are still risks associated with data exposure, malware or virus infection, and data loss. Educate your employees about your organization's removable media policy, the risks involved with using removable media, especially untrusted/unsanctioned removable media, the importance of the policy and the repercussions of not following procedure.
Password Security: Password management and best practices are essential to security awareness programs. This includes what makes a strong password and how it is generated. Multi Factor authentication (MFA), whenever possible, must be used by your employees to protect their accounts.
Incident Response: Having a plan for incident response and an IR team is not enough. It is important to educate your staff about their roles and responsibilities if a security incident occurs. Security incidents are a harsh reality. The preparedness of your organization to handle such incidents could mean the difference between legal and regulatory issues and a quick recovery solution from crises.
Tips And Recommendations To Stay Safe
We have compiled this list of simple tips to help you and your organization stay safe from hackers. We've considered both the technical best practices and your everyday habits for Cybersecurity awareness.
Update Your Software Regularly
Updates are released by software companies every few months. It seems like an update is released every two months if you own an iPhone. Software updates have three main benefits.
- Add new features.
- Fix bugs.
- Upgrade your security.
Upgrade to the latest version, and you will be protected from malicious actors. Click "install update" and protect yourself against new or existing vulnerabilities. You can set your operating system to automatically update updates if you don't want to constantly check for updates.
Avoid Opening Suspicious Emails
According to research, phishing scams are the third most commonly reported type of scam. In 2023, phishing scams will account for 68% of digital vulnerabilities. Hackers go to great lengths to convince someone within your organization to open a link contained in an email. It is important to stay vigilant whenever you are in your email inbox. Your organization probably has some form of phishing awareness training. You should consider implementing phishing training if you do not already.
There are five common signs that a phishing attack is underway:
- The subject line has no content.
- There is an urgency.
- Fear is generated by the call to action.
- The message contains errors.
- There is a redirection domain.
Do not click on an email that looks suspicious. Report the email to the IT department if you suspect that other employees may have received the same questionable email.
Click On Links Only After You Have Checked Them
Beware of links that look suspicious. Links can be easily misrepresented as something that they aren't. It's important to double-check the link before clicking on it. You can view the complete URL on many browsers by hovering your mouse over the link. This should become a habit to avoid clicking on anything you shouldn't.
Check For HTTPS On All Websites
Double-check that the website is HTTPS by checking suspicious links. Why? You cannot guarantee your data's security if you are using a website without HTTPS. When you visit a website, you share information with the server. HTTPS makes this information sharing safe and secure. Be sure to check that your website has these letters before the URL. You can be sure that you are not giving out any private or personal information.
Slow Down
All of us are busy at work. We all have a lot to do. We need to slow down in the midst of all the chaos that employees experience. It is even more important when you consider scientific research, which shows that hurrying through your work leads to more mistakes. Slow down while going through your inbox. Consider twice before you click on a link. You can avoid a data breach by spending a few seconds extra to verify the validity of an email or message.
Email Encryption: Add End-to-End Encryption
Add end-to-end email encryption while we're on the topic. Unencrypted data is more vulnerable to compromise. It ensures that your data is safe from the time you begin a draft until you delete it. You only need to keep it up-to-date once you've got this encryption. Hackers won't be in a position to intercept emails and use them to their benefit if they are encrypted. Your email address will not be stolen to impersonate your identity. The recipient's email will not be stolen to fool you.
Update Your Hardware
Updating hardware is as important as updating software. It is easy to overlook outdated hardware when compared with software. However, maintaining legacy systems costs around $337,000,000 per year. It is possible that outdated hardware will not support the latest software updates to keep your system secure. This problem can be avoided by updating your hardware.
It is also a problem that old hardware slows down the incident response plan time to cyber attacks and cybersecurity incidents. Be prepared to handle a breach of data. It's not "if" but "when" that a data breach will occur.
Encrypt Your Data Using A File-Sharing Application That Is Secure
Do you have a job that requires you to share confidential information on a regular basis? This section is for you if you are working with Protected Health Information or Personally Identifiable Information. Start using a safe file-sharing system. Email is not intended for the exchange of sensitive documents. It's because if the email is intercepted, the data can be accessed by unauthorized users.
Use a solution that automatically encrypts sensitive documents. It is easier to deal with a security breach if the encryption is automatic. Keep in mind that your files will only be as safe as the tools used to protect them.
How Do You Share Your Customer Data?
Most companies have some form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. This tool is used by organizations to manage and maintain client data. Data stored in a CRM is classified as PII. This means it's protected data. The same is true of all credit card and billing information stored in the CRM.
It is important to ensure that the data moving through your CRM system remains secure. This can be achieved by using layered encryption. However, this is not the only solution. Evaluate the security of your customer's data.
Read More: Cybersecurity as Competitive Advantage in a World of Uncertainty
Use Antivirus And Antimalware
It is not possible to protect yourself 100% from all malware attacks, even when connected to the Internet. It doesn't mean you'll never have internet access. You need to upgrade your software arsenal. According to studies, antivirus software detects malicious activity or code with a level of confidence between 90% and 98%. Antivirus and antimalware software must be actively used. You can reduce your vulnerability to bad actors by doing this. Install antimalware and antivirus on all computers in your company. To that end, you should only install these programs if they come from a trusted and known source. You could end up downloading malware.
Don't Reuse Passwords
Don't use the same password again and again for all of your accounts. Use different passwords for each account. Use 123 instead of numbers and characters if you must. Use [year] instead of 123! Since these can be easily cracked.
Why do you need to exert effort? In many cases, passwords and other credentials of users are leaked in data breaches. If you use the same passwords on multiple accounts, it can be disastrous for someone. Imagine, for example, that your email has been hacked. You now have a compromised account password. You use the same account password for your Vanguard, fidelity, and bank accounts.
Hackers now have access to your entire financial information, and they can steal your money. It is also important to note that poor password management was responsible for one of the biggest breaches in the past few years. Use a password manager for creating complex and unique passwords. Diversifying your passwords is well worth the time it takes to implement.
Multi-Factor Authentication
Multifactor, or two-factor, authentication, can be a tedious step in the login process. Even though it may be annoying, adding additional security to your login process can prevent hackers from breaking into your account. Five seconds is all it takes! Multi-Factor authentication ensures that even if an intruder gets your password, they can't access your account without your phone number or another verification method. It is a way to further protect your data.
Never Leave Devices Unattended
Hackers do not only use the Internet to attempt to hack into your devices. The bad actors can physically spy on you while in the bathroom or during your lunch break. It is vital to ensure the physical security of all your devices.
Here are some tips for ensuring your physical security:
- Lock your device if you are going to be away for a long time. This will prevent anyone else from using it.
- Install encryption on your flash drive and external hard drive. Lock it.
- When you're not using your desktop computer, you can lock the screen or turn it off.
Check External Storage Devices For Virus
USB flash drives are external storage devices. CDs and even floppy discs can be used. You don't need to worry about old technology because many people use external hard drives to store data. External hard drives can also be infected with malware. When you connect a device infected to your computer, malware will take control.
In 2023, for example, a number of fake Microsoft Office USB flash drives were sent through the mail. The USB drive was engraved with the Office logo, and it came in packaging that looked like real Microsoft. The USB drive looked real until the recipient plugged it in. It encouraged users to contact a fake helpline instead of installing Office. The hackers would then install a remote control program on the victim's PC. Always scan external devices before using them for malware to avoid such situations.
Use Public Networks At Your Own Risk
You might think it's a great idea to go to a local café, connect to the public wifi and work as you enjoy your drink. This is not recommended in terms of cybersecurity. You share your connection with other devices that are connected to the network. All information that you send to or retrieve from the network can be vulnerable. Included are passwords for financial accounts, emails sent to clients and confidential information, as well as documents downloaded from the cloud. Stay away from public networks. Use a VPN if that's not possible to protect your data.
Don't Fall Prey Into The "Secure Enough" Mentality
You're not isolated and alone from the rest of the world. Since you're reading this blog, it is likely that you have a smartphone or laptop. There is no such thing as "secure enough" if you are a technology user. Even the biggest companies like Meta, Apple and Microsoft, which have invested millions in their cybersecurity framework, still face data breaches. You must abandon the mentality of being "secure enough" for smaller companies. Hackers will target your company, and you'll be in trouble.
Back-Up Important Data
After a breach of security, it's possible that important data is lost. Hackers may be holding your data as ransom while demanding payment. Perhaps malware has messed with your computer's system. In either case, the only way to fix a computer for sure is to reinstall and erase the entire system. You should regularly back up your files to ensure that you can restore them. This could be done using a local storage system like an external drive or cloud. Backups are important to ensure that you can restore data even if your computer is compromised.
Hacker Employee Wearing a "White Hat"
Many hackers are out there trying to steal from others and get rich. They steal money and information from people using sneaky methods. Not all hackers are evil. White-hat hackers are those who reveal cybersecurity risks to help others. They do it to show companies how they can improve cybersecurity. They are responsible for letting others know about security flaws and showing them where patches can be installed. You can improve your cybersecurity by hiring a professional.
Train Employees
Knowledge is the key to cyber security. Employees who are well-trained practice cybersecurity constantly and in harmony. You are less likely to suffer cybersecurity breaches if you regularly train your employees.
The following topics are examples of possible training topics:
- Malware.
- Virus.
- Ransomware.
- Insider Threats.
Consider Cyber Security When Working At Home
We must also discuss the security of working at home. Although the pandemic hasn't caused too many restrictions, some companies have a policy that allows employees to work from home. It creates new cybersecurity threats and challenges that companies must address. Many cybersecurity publications warn organizations about the risks of remote employees. Employees using a VPN is one of the easiest and most effective ways to guarantee safety when working remotely. The computer will remain secure, no matter where an employee works from.
Construct A Safety Net To Protect Against Human Error
You should train your employees thoroughly. We are all humans. We all make cybersecurity mistakes. We need to ask, "How can we reduce the risk?" What can we do to minimize damages? Encrypting some types of data can help ensure that hackers will not be able to use your data if they get it. Implement a "revoke feature". You can revoke access to data shared at any time. These two tools can be used to take immediate action in order to reduce risk.
Revisit Your Breach Prevention Plan
Data breaches and ransomware attacks are on the increase. It is more important than ever to review your breach prevention and reaction plan. Ensure that it is current. Check that everyone knows their role in preventing an incident and responding to it. If there are any outdated policies, fill in any gaps.
Ask yourself the following questions when evaluating your plan:
- Do we only protect our networks or systems?
- Do we protect the data themselves?
- Does the data travel safely?
Cyber Awareness Challenges
Businesses today recognize that cybersecurity awareness is important in reducing potential risks. Most companies offer some form of security awareness training for their employees. Statistics of data breaches that have occurred in the past few years show there is room for improvement. In the digital age, cyber security awareness is essential. Developing Cyber awareness programs is a laborious and difficult task.
Cybercriminals are continuously coming up with new methods of attack. It's harder than you think to keep up with the latest trends and update training programs. The training materials for cybersecurity are also quickly outdated because the skills and knowledge that work today may not be enough to combat tomorrow's threats.
It is not uncommon for cybersecurity awareness programs to be developed manually (unless you have a company that has a fully-managed cyber awareness program). Selecting security content, creating training materials, and testing tools and resources can be time-consuming. The challenge is to engage and generate interest in employees. Employee participation can be discouraged by a repetitive curriculum, too much data, the length of the course, and its complexity.
Conclusion
You've probably guessed from this post that cybersecurity is constantly changing and evolving. Awareness is the first step in cybersecurity. The cybersecurity training and awareness tips in this blog have hopefully helped you to understand where to start when it comes time to improve your personal or organizational cyber hygiene.
