Personnel may take cybersecurity requirements for granted at times, resulting in disastrous consequences for the organizations for which they work.
The human factor played a significant role in making businesses worldwide vulnerable during the recent WannaCry ransomware epidemic. Many companies around the world had not updated their systems two months after Microsoft patched the disclosed vulnerabilities with a new update. Several cases followed, with non-IT personnel serving as the weakest link: for example, employees with local administrator rights who disabled security solutions on their computers, allowing the infection to spread across the entire corporate network.
So, what role do employees play in the fight against cybercrime in the workplace? To answer this question, Kaspersky Lab and B2B International conducted a global survey of over 5,000 businesses.
The outcomes have been astounding. We discovered that slightly more than half of businesses (52%) believe they are under attack from within. Their employees, whether on purpose or through carelessness or a lack of knowledge, endanger the businesses for which they work.
How To Prevent Cyber Threats From Insiders?
We’ve gotten pretty good at protecting our perimeters, but most of us do a poor job of protecting our businesses from current and former employees, business partners, contractors, interns, and even customers. While the majority of our attention is focused on internet-based attacks, insiders are responsible for the vast majority of security incidents and can cause the most harm. It makes sense: they are intimately familiar with our network layouts, applications, personnel, and business practices.
Insider problems are exacerbated by institutional weakness. The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General cited the bureau’s failure to implement and enforce strong insider security procedures as a primary reason for Hanssen’s success over 20 years in a revealing report.
The FBI is not alone in this regard. Insiders are typically subject to few controls; organizations typically rely on trust rather than technical or procedural safeguards. As a result, systems can be sabotaged, data destroyed, credit card information stolen, and so on. The Department of Justice’s list of computer intrusion cases is a laundry list of inside jobs.
IT can’t Do it Alone
Information security efforts will be successful only if all members of the campus community are aware of the risks and take precautions to avoid them. The twelve Security Awareness blogs contain ready-made content aimed at increasing security awareness.
Every day, higher education institutions use a large amount of data. Payroll information, health insurance information, payment card information, and student information, including financial aid information, are among the most sensitive data elements shared. These data elements are shared within institutions as well as with the vendors with whom we do business daily. Not only IT departments must understand the information security requirements required to protect these data.
Every department that works with data must understand how to properly secure the information entrusted to them. We offer the following tips to share with your campus community because information security is a shared responsibility.
Why cybersecurity Awareness Is Important?
These facts are usually sufficient to persuade people that cyber security awareness training is essential for data protection. Usually.
In 2020, only 1 in 9 businesses (11%) provided non-cyber employees with cyber security training or a security awareness program. According to the recent Cyber Security Skills report from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport.
Where training is provided, it is usually mandatory. However, it is not the case in three out of ten (30%) private-sector organizations.
As a result, it appears that many people are still skeptical about the benefits of cybersecurity awareness training for information security.
Here are seven compelling reasons to reconsider:
- Make Defense More Robust
Technological defenses are an effective tool for preventing breaches. However, technological defenses require human input.
Firewalls must be enabled. Security alerts must be acknowledged. The software must be updated.
Few businesses today would even consider operating without technological safeguards. Nonetheless, technological defenses cannot reach their full potential without security awareness training and cybersecurity education.
Today’s attackers rarely bother attempting to attack businesses solely through technological means. People are typically targeted by today’s attackers because they are seen as an easy way into protected networks.
- Social Responsibility
Cyberattacks can spread quickly, as WannaCry and NotPetya demonstrated in 2017.
The more infected networks there are, the more vulnerable other networks become. And the vulnerability of one network increases the overall threat to others.
That is, the lack of security awareness training in one organization exposes other organizations to risk. It’s similar to leaving your front door unlocked with the keys to your neighbor’s house inside.
Security awareness training is beneficial to more than just you. It benefits your customers, suppliers, and everyone else who is connected to your network.
- Culture Of Security
Creating a security culture has long been regarded as the holy grail for chief information security officers (CISOs). However, achieving that goal is notoriously difficult.
More organizations are moving in the right direction thanks to security awareness training.
Creating a security culture entails incorporating security values into the fabric of your organization. Training that covers situational awareness (why someone might be at risk), as well as work and home-life benefits, is an effective way to get people on board.
Advanced training platforms can assist in the monitoring and development of security culture, making people your first line of defense against social engineering attacks.
- Customer Confidence
Consumers are becoming more aware of cyber threats. They also want to feel safe and secure as customers.
That is, a company that takes steps to improve cyber security will gain consumer trust. And we all know that a trustworthy company fosters customer loyalty.
This is not speculation. According to a recent Arcserve survey, 70% of consumers believe businesses aren’t doing enough to ensure cyber security. And nearly two-thirds of consumers would avoid doing business with a company that had been the victim of a cyber attack in the previous year.
Customers care about security credentials. Customers perceive you as more responsible when you implement security awareness training, which can only benefit your business.
Cyber security is a multi-front war fought across all attack vectors, and it is a daunting challenge for even the most experienced professionals. As a result, our customers at NAC are typically top IT professionals who understand the importance of utilizing a managed service provider for maximum security. As working with an IT service provider is a requirement in today’s work environment, cyber threats will continue to pose significant risks.
