Ways to Increase Cyber Security Awareness in your workplace

May 14, 2022

For an information technology practitioner, keeping systems up to date is a given. Patching and upgrading are essential components of any effective system maintenance strategy. Having a robust cyber security training and awareness program in place helps keep personnel on top of their game, which, in turn, helps keep your company secure.

There are a variety of approaches you can use to educate and train your employees on cyber security best practices. Here are some ideas to help you strengthen the security posture of your firm. Let’s start with workers and the tools that they are most likely to encounter.

Create a culture of cyber security – The most effective way to instill cyber security behaviors is for management to take the lead. Setting a positive example from the top down encourages staff to keep cyber security at the forefront of their minds. It also reinforces the notion that everyone has a role to play in security while reducing the likelihood of human mistakes.

Make cyber security knowledge a requirement for new hires – Set the tone for cyber security from the beginning of the project. Create an environment where cyber security is seen as a top concern, and demonstrate to workers that they play an important role in keeping the firm secure.

Underline the significance of cyber security in business and in one’s personal life – C-level executives must assist workers in understanding the necessity of good cyber hygiene in the office and at home. Placing the issue from a personal perspective has significant relevance in many situations. This provides workers with a “what’s in it for me” mentality that they may use at any moment, not just at work.

Make a visual representation of what excellent cyber hygiene looks like – Make it a point to engage people and assist them in understanding what they’re doing, then reward them for doing the correct thing.

Get rid of passwords that are too easy to guess – In an OpenVPN study of full-time workers situated in the United States, employees said that they used passwords that were simple to remember and that 25% of them used the same password for all of their accounts. As a result, the whole network becomes far more exposed to cyber assaults, and the company’s data is placed at danger as a result.

Don’t use public WiFi – Because WiFi is so widely available these days, many organizations have rules allowing employees to work from home. WiFi in a public place, such as a coffee shop, airport, or hotel, is nearly never secure and should only be used at the user’s own risk. Malware may be readily spread across devices connected to the same network, whether wireless or not.

When employees are not in the office, company policy should contain wording that compels them to connect over a virtual private network (VPN) in order to access work-related documents. You may also demand apps on mobile devices that can alert the IT and security teams as to who is in compliance with security requirements and who is not complying with them.

Make the learning process enjoyable by being imaginative. Designate a cyber security day or week to commemorate this occasion. Involve all of your departments in the competition, including your facilities management and cafeteria staff, to see who can come up with the most innovative cyber security theme or ideas to keep workers informed and secure.

Reward excellent conduct – Rewards do not have to be large, expensive, or showy. A prize might be anything as simple as the CEO’s parking place for the day, a little plaque, or a mention in the company’s quarterly newsletter.

Security Awareness Assessment-

Benchmarking is a practice used to enhance an organization’s management by creating a benchmark. This establishes an organization’s level by comparing comparisons with best practices and making amends for the inadequacies discovered. This sets a baseline from which security officials may monitor the efficacy of their security initiatives over time.

Metrics for training frequency, engagement, completion rate, and, most crucially, human risk should be developed and analyzed periodically. A mature and competent security awareness program fosters more responsible conduct by the workforce. The measuring of employees’ engagement in security initiatives should be supplemented with monitoring behavior improvement.

It’s crucial to objectively analyze the efficacy and impact of an awareness campaign utilizing data and metric-based monitoring. At the outset of the program or during baseline review, define comprehensive and relevant objectives. The metrics used to quantify program success will match program goals with company strategy and efforts.

By dedicating time and effort to measuring the performance of security awareness activities, as well as sharing this information, you can guarantee that your organization’s security function is better understood and appreciated. Great projects will only work because of analysis, insights, and actionable data.

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Sam Fareed

Lead Instructor qualified in CISSP, CCIE, and MCT with 25 years of training experience in Toronto.