It's now crystal clear: every business needs Cyber Security Awareness Training. With cyber crime at an all-time high (and rising), businesses need every possible defense at their disposal. What is your business doing to prepare? Is your first line of defense strong? The first line of your defense is your own people. Educating your team about cyber crime and cyber security will help prevent breaches and thwart scams. Many cyber criminals rely on people's good nature and lack of awareness to steal your private company data. Those attacks, known collectively as 'social engineering,' deceive people into willingly giving up personal credentials and other sensitive data. Cyber Security Awareness Training can train your team to remain skeptical and identify those attacks before data falls into the wrong hands. How can you get your team started?
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The best place is to start is by breaking the ice: communicate to your team that Cyber Security Awareness is going to be a priority moving forward. Most people treat cyber crime like they treat natural disasters. They assume it won't happen to them and don't spend enough time thinking about prevention or response. Company leadership needs to make clear that Cyber Security is something that has to be taken seriously by each person on the team. Once the gravity of the situation is properly conveyed, your team will become more receptive to next steps. Effective communication can prime your team to take action.
Before you dive deeper into Cyber Security and fully assess your company security strategy, set some simple internal policies to start shoring up your defenses. For example, make strong passwords mandatory and require multi-factor authentication for all company accounts. Set a policy about how sensitive data will be communicated. If the communicated policy is no one is to ask for sensitive data over e-mail, it will help raise red flags for your team if a cyber criminal poses as leadership and asks for info that way. Setting common sense internal policies are an effective way to secure your business as you move toward full-blown Cyber Security Awareness Training.
You may not have to look very far to find community education classes that can help educate your team about Cyber Security Awareness. Look for a Learning and Collaboration Center that offers courses on Cyber Security and Security Awareness. That can help get your team started on training as you devise a long-term internal training strategy. It's also smart to explore partnerships with MSSPs that have a wealth of experience in the Cyber Security space and can help you develop effective training for your team.
No matter how you choose to get started, the time is now. Cyber Security is an issue that affects everyone in your company. The cost of a data breach is heavy and it's critical to make sure that every layer of your defense is strong. That starts with arming your team with the information and tools they need to help in the fight against cyber crime.
