Imagine the following scenario: You log in to your desktop, and you can’t access any of your data. It turns out that your entire business has been infected by ransomware, and now hackers want thousands of dollars. Would you know what to do in this situation? What about your employees?
Unfortunately, this scenario plays out every day across the nation. Forty-three percent of cyber attacks target small businesses, and the financial damage caused by hackers totaled more than $2.7 billion in 2018 alone. The problem isn’t going away, either. As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, especially when it comes to phishing and ransomware, every single business is at risk.
Although you can’t stop cyberattacks completely, providing your staff with cybersecurity awareness training can certainly reduce the risk.
Patch All Security Weaknesses In Your Organization
Human error is the biggest contributing factor behind cyber attacks—it makes up an astonishing 95% of all online security incidents in the United States. This means that if human error was eliminated completely, 19 out of 20 cyber attacks might not have taken place at all.
This is why it’s fundamental to train your staff on information security awareness. This way, you can patch up the most significant security weakness in your organization.
- Start with a “clean desk” policy, where employees have to clean up their desks at the end of the working day. This reduces the risk of sensitive data (on forms and files) being left unattended and in plain view. Remind employees that there will be serious implications for those who breach this policy.
- Encourage good safety practices when implementing a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy in your organization. Employees who bring their own laptops and phones to work need to be aware of the dangers associated with accessing and storing sensitive company information on their devices.
- Warn your employees about the dangers of phishing and what to look out for to avoid these scams. Research shows that one in every 99 emails contains a phishing attempt, which amounts to around five emails per employee in a regular workweek.
Maintain the Reputation of Your Organization
Training your staff about security awareness might seem like an unnecessary expense. You might think that most employees know what to do (and what not do) in order to protect sensitive information, but this isn’t always the case.
Take phishing, for example. Research shows that 76% of businesses were a victim of a phishing attack in the last year. Moreover, phishing accounts for 90% of all data breaches. The problem is widespread, and most employees just don’t know how to spot the signs of these scams.
Training staff might require an initial outlay, but it will provide you with a long-term return on your investment. A cyber attack isn’t just costly in a financial sense—the average attack sets small companies back $200,000—but it could jeopardize your entire business reputation. Customers and clients might be wary about your organization after a successful phishing attack or data breach has compromised their information and look elsewhere.
Training staff will prove lucrative for organizations of any size. Employees in all departments will learn how to recognize the signs of phishing attempts, for example, and how to avoid clicking on malicious links in emails, social media messages and other communications.
Improve Compliance
As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, governments are implementing stricter data compliance policies for organizations like yours. Neglecting to train your staff about security awareness is no longer a viable option because you could face harsh penalties for non-compliance.
Recent legislation from both domestic and international lawmakers stipulates that organizations across several industries need to improve their data security or face penalties. Take GDPR, for example, which impacts organizations in the U.S. who collect and store data from customers in the European Union. Or HIPAA, which governs health-related data.
Training your staff about data security can reduce cybercrime like phishing attacks and save your company more money in the long run by maintaining compliance.
Takeaway
Cyber awareness training will benefit your organization in a number of ways. You can teach staff how to avoid phishing emails, recognize security vulnerabilities, use the Internet and social media safely, improve compliance and prevent sensitive data from being compromised. As a result, you can keep information safe and maintain the reputation of your business.
