Tips To Educate Employees About Cybersecurity Awareness

With the pandemic increasing the number of employees working from home to about 70%, based on a PwC survey, remote work brings its own dangers. Similarly, the use of employee-owned devices, unsecure connections, and improper device usage leave companies vulnerable to a host of network intrusions. This is where training employees about cybersecurity awareness is a must. 

Human resource and training teams should focus on helping employees prevent cyberattacks. It’s necessary to bolster your first line of defense against external threats, aka training your employees on cybersecurity awareness. 

Here are a few ways you can educate your remote workers on best security practices.

Make Cybersecurity Clear to Your Employees

The first step to getting employees acquainted with cybersecurity education is to outline a clear message about what is occurring in your company regarding cybersecurity.  Similarly, such a message needs to be understandable, relatable, and diversified.

• Understandable – Avoid technical jargon that may confuse employees and cloud your message. 
• Relatable – Make it less about the central network and more about personal computer safety and home network intrusion. 
• Diversified – A simple email outlining everything may not be enough. 

Invest in Employee Training

One of the most important concepts to grasp with cybersecurity is that maintenance is a constant job. New attacks develop monthly, if not daily, and your approach to guarding against them can’t be limited to annual training.

If you only updated your network devices once a year, your security would be a nightmare. The same is true for your people.

Utilize Password Best Practices

Experienced cybercriminals can easily crack complex passwords. however, to reduce the possibility of an employee password being compromised, it is a good idea to implement a strict password policy for all user accounts. 

According to modern best practices, passwords should be at least 8 characters long and include a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.

Get Buy-In from the C-Suite

In an organization, change needs to happen from the top. Similarly, with any digital transformation project, if you don’t find a champion who is invested in the value of what you’re trying to do, it’s going to be an uphill battle to justify the man-hours and expenses necessary to implement a solid cybersecurity plan.

Reinforce Confidentiality

Drill the importance of passwords and authentication even if they work in their PJs. Just because they’re relaxed doesn’t mean security has to be.

To avoid cybersecurity threats regarding confidentiality, train your employees by conducting the following:

• Enact periodic and unique password changes.
• Teach employees about the dangers of using universal passwords.
• Discuss the importance of VPNs, multi-factor authentication, and other secure log-on processes
• Provide concrete examples of stolen data incidents caused by an errant thumb drive or compromised personal Dropbox account.

Closing Thought

Good knowledge of cybersecurity is the first line of defense against external threats. Security awareness training teaches employees to understand vulnerabilities and threats to business operations. Your employees need to be aware of their responsibilities and accountabilities when using a computer on a business network.

Also read: How Technology Has Transformed The Global HR Practices