Cybersecurity Training Tips from the Pros

For every level of business, cybersecurity is a big deal. For the enterprise, they deal with a lot of would-be attacks and need their staff to know how to respond if they are targeted. For the midsize business, the convergence of underwhelming IT support and a growing workforce can be the perfect storm. For the small business, a significant cyberattack could be the beginning of the end for their business. This is why, no matter what size your business is, you need to have a cybersecurity strategy in place that includes tools, monitoring, and protocol. This month, we have put together a list of considerations your business should note to keep your network and data safe.

Create Strong Policies and Force Staff to Follow Them

In order to keep your business’ information systems secure, you need your staff to understand that they are a big part of the cybersecurity process and that the protocols you put in place have to be followed to ensure that these systems stay secure. You need to make them understand that they are the weak link in this paradigm and for that reason they need to not only take their security training seriously, but to always follow protocol. All it takes is one slip up and it could mean dire consequences for the business.

All your security policies need to be written out and viewable by every member of your organization. It’s actually a good idea to have a system in place that verifies that your employees have read and understood them. Additionally, there should be some time set aside to reinforce their understanding of these procedures and policies. The more everyone is on the same page, the better. 

Comprehensive Training

Most of the time, the organizations that deal with substantial data loss incidents and malware-related problems are filled with employees who haven’t had a lick of actual training on what to look for, how to proceed when some type of scam or hack is discovered, and how to operate in an environment where, frankly, there are so many people trying to get over on them. 

Your training platform should include everything they need to know to avoid putting your organization at risk. This includes, but is not limited to:

• How to spot a phishing attack
• How to create and store secure passwords
• What multi-factor authentication is and why it’s important
• Why using unauthorized software can be detrimental
• Why Internet use on company networks has to have limits (Social media policy)
• Why their personal mobile devices need to be registered to use company Wi-Fi
• What malware, including ransomware, is and how they hurt organizations like yours
• How to properly share and store company files

There are several line-items that aren’t posted here that can help you build a more comprehensive training platform. Give us a call at 301-571-5040 and we can help you establish a thorough list of considerations. 

Gamify or Die

You may think it is difficult to get your staff to follow procedure based on the amount of times they ignore it on a day-to-day basis. It is undeniable that this is the most difficult part of the process. No matter how important you make cybersecurity seem, there are just some people that won’t take it seriously, and this is a big problem for your business (and for their personal relationship with technology). Since you didn’t hire that person to work cybersecurity, you need a way to sufficiently test them. 

One way, that has shown proven results, is to gamify the whole experience. This not only covers the core concepts that can work to keep your business’ IT secure, it also engages your staff to a point that they may not shrug off the whole thing and end up costing themselves a job and others their livelihood. It’s proven that the PowerPoint-centric security training is antiquated and simply alienates an audience that has to be engaged with this material, so using gamification to engage your staff for this purpose seems completely legitimate. After all, people having fun learning new material may keep the fun going and do the things they need to do to keep your IT secure. 

If you would like to talk to one of our security professionals about cybersecurity training, give Washington Works a call today and we can help you put together a training platform that is sure to help minimize or eliminate data loss and network breach incidents.