What Every Business Owner Needs to Know About Security Training

The effectiveness of your business’ IT security is largely contingent on how your IT operates. As a result, it is extremely important to ensure that your staff understands the role they play in protecting your business’ assets. This month, we discuss what you should prioritize when putting together a security training platform; an essential part of any business’ attempts to keep their IT secure. 

Security Posture

One term you may have heard is “security posture”. This speaks to how aggressive a person is in protecting themselves online. Much of today’s computing is done through cloud-based apps and many companies have embraced remote workforces and need their staff to actively participate in their organizational cybersecurity efforts. This means tightening up their security practices. 

Every person that uses computing systems needs to actively participate in cybersecurity efforts if the organization is going to maintain data and network security. Here are four considerations that can help you plot out your cybersecurity strategy. 

Get Employees to Relate

Educating a bunch of people (who don’t work in security) to learn about something as yawn-inspiring as network security isn’t impossible, but it takes a little creativity. If someone can relate to a victim, it’s easier for them to do things they wouldn’t typically do because they don’t want to be responsible for another. Use real world examples in your education materials. Chances are some of them have been the victim of identity theft or they’ve had their data leaked as a result of negligent behavior. Show them that many of the things they can do to protect the company are things that they already do to protect their own data. 

Continuously Promote Security

If history has taught us one thing about people, it is that people are impressionable. If they are constantly surrounded by a certain message, they will typically accept that message. Creating a company culture that is rooted in security will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. If your company consistently pushes the need for comprehensive security, you better believe that most of your staff will get the message loud and clear.

Provide Consistent Training and Test Regularly

Pushing security can go a long way, but without training that is designed to educate around exactly the problems being addressed by the procedures that are put in place, the whole thing is completely pointless. Employees need to understand:

• How to avoid becoming a victim of phishing
• What network resources they have access to
• The importance their role has in protecting company and customer data
• Solid password management and best practices
• What to do if they make a security mistake

If every employee you have has a good handle on these five concepts, there is a great chance that there won’t be a network security disaster coming from your staff. Finding ways to consistently train your people can often be difficult, but in today’s cyberthreat climate, it is extremely important. 

Lead From the Front

Obviously, in the average employee’s mind, network security—like physical security—is nothing they are inherently concerned with. If they follow procedure, there should be no problem for them. They figure that decision makers take the time and effort to address these issues and deploy the systems that are needed to protect the business. Not only that, many workers consider workplace security a C-suite issue. Firewalls, antivirus, multi-factor authentication, mobile device management, and intrusion detection are largely looked at in the same way as digital surveillance, access control, printer management, and a slew of other security systems that are controlled by people outside their expertise. In fact, many people look upon these systems as ones that serve to protect the business from them rather than working to protect the business. 

Being a security mentor means that you are supportive more than demanding. People that aren’t that strong with technology won’t always get it. The problem is that they must, so instead of being frustrated at their lack of understanding, create documentation and resources that will help them. Work with them to make them understand just how important it is that they follow these procedures. They don’t need to understand the workings of complex IT systems, they just need to avoid the big mistakes that could cause major problems for the company. 

At Washington Works, we can help you put together a plan to help you protect your business from end to end. Our consultants can help you put together procedures and a training plan that will give your business the resources it needs to stay secure. To learn more, call us today at 301-571-5040.