Business technology is something most companies can’t live without. Your staff are hugely important to ensuring that it functions properly. In particular, your employees have a key role to play in keeping cybercriminals at bay.
Human Error – the Gateway for Phishing Attacks
Phishing is popular with cybercriminals because they know that people make mistakes. Of the millions of phishing messages they send, most will be caught by firewalls and security software, or marked as spam email, but there’ll always be some that evade detection. It just takes one to arrive in someone’s inbox for a successful phishing attack to occur. If your staff are alert, they will know when an incoming email looks suspicious.
Staff Training
Your staff aren’t cybersecurity experts, but they are vital to protecting your systems. Training is essential. We know first-hand how important that is. Cybercriminals often adopt elaborate strategies to hack systems, but often it’s much simpler. All it takes is an employee clicking on a link in an email. If they are aware of what phishing attacks look like, the solution is simple: identifying a potentially suspicious message, flagging it up and getting rid of it. It’s not rocket science if you know what to look for.
In reality, there’s always a chance of a cleverly designed phishing attempt succeeding. In one survey of IT professionals, 77% said that the organizations they worked for were not doing enough to deal with cyberthreats. Are they being over-pessimistic? Perhaps. But even if the figure was a lot lower, you don’t want your business to be one of those that is under-prepared. Managing human error is a crucial step.
The Causes of Security Breaches
Let’s look at the different underlying reasons for security breaches: errors, negligent behavior and sabotage.
Errors
We all make mistakes now and then, even if we’re generally capable. If someone is tired or in a hurry, it’s understandable that they might click on a bad link in an email. A single error might require some retraining and a reminder about vigilance regarding security.
Negligent behavior
One mistake is one thing. If someone makes mistakes on a regular basis, it could be that they’re neglecting their responsibility to maintain security. Not every employee who makes mistakes regularly is negligent, so it’s worth looking at possible causes. But sometimes an employee doesn’t really care. That’s negligence, and it’s dangerous. You need to nip it in the bud, and fast.
Sabotage
Sometimes an employee will deliberately put a company at risk. Usually it’s because of issues in the relationship between employer and employee. Someone with a grudge intentionally does something to put the business at risk. As long as the person is still in post, the risk persists. If an employee leaves on bad terms, it’s important to make sure that they no longer have any access to your systems, just to make sure there’s no possibility of retaliation.
Awareness of the reasons that cybersecurity fails occur is a crucial first step. Staff training will help to minimize human error that can open the door to cybercriminals, but it helps to be aware of other factors too. At Quikteks, our IT professionals can help you do the max to protect your IT systems and digital resources. For expert advice, call us today at (973) 882-4644.