6 Tips to Help Your Employees Be Cybersmart

Six Tips to Help Your Employees be Cyber Smart

The rapid technological advances have made it possible for companies to become more efficient and more productive. But, as more data is stored and processed, cyber security threats increase as well. In fact, one study found that about 90% of data breaches occur because of human error.

In addition to investing in malware, firewalls, and other cybersecurity protocols, it’s also essential to train your employees and make them cybersmart.

Here’s how.

Make Employees Aware of the Importance of Proper Cyber Hygiene

Don’t just present employees with a new cyber protocol and a set of rules that they now need to follow. Help them understand why cyber security is important, why their efforts matter, and how a breach could impact the entire organization. Make them aware of the current cyber threats and explain what they can do specifically to minimize the risks.

Educate Them on the Strategies Hackers Use

Of course, hackers will always update their strategies and you will have to try and be one step ahead of them. And one way to do it is by educating your employees about social engineering and email phishing. This way, you are empowering your employees to quickly identify suspicious links or activity and take action.

Motivate Them

A cyber security training means time that they could have used to work on their tasks. Moreover, now they have an additional set of responsibilities that they need to keep in mind. Try to motivate them to engage and actually implement what they’ve learned by making everything worth their while. Determine what type of motivation works for your employees, be it financial incentives or work recognition.

Encourage Them to Ask Questions

It may be difficult for some of your employees to understand how and why they should do things a certain way. Let them know that they can always come to you if they have any questions or concerns. Or, better yet, assign a person to whom they can go to address any issues and ask questions.

Implement a Cybersmart Culture

For that, you will need the help of the HR and marketing department to create an internal campaign and educate employees about cyber security and the importance of following certain protocols.

Include Everyone in the Training

It’s important to understand that every employee in your organization is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Include everyone in your cyber security training, from the top managers to the lower levels. Extend the training to business partners and vendors or suppliers too and anyone who can access your company’s database and be a cyber security weakness.

Keep Your Employees Cybersmart and Your Information Safe

If you want to keep your data safe, let the experts at West County Computers investigate your IT infrastructure and identify any vulnerabilities you may have. Find out how you can get a free IT risk assessment or get in touch with us at 707-360-8652 to get an expert cyber consultant on your side.