Page 60 - Cyber Defense eMagazine - September 2017

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR STAFF ON CYBERSECURITY

Should every company train its employees on cybersecurity? Modern businesses depend on
data and confidential information completely and this data nearly always is managed by people.
So if your staff is unaware of the latest types of cyberattacks and basic rules of information
security, your company is practically powerless and extremely vulnerable to data breaches.

According to Kaspersky Lab research, more than 60% of businesses around the globe already
invest in different training programs. And anyway, cybercrime and data losses rise enormously
and they are expected to cost companies $8 trillion in the next five years. This is an indicator
that no business is immune from hackers. And now is the best time for every business to launch
employee cybersecurity training.

Humans are considered the biggest problem and weakest link in cybersecurity as they make
mistakes but some mistakes are totally unacceptable. These might include clicking on
suspicious links, opening unknown email attachments, using the same passwords. These
common errors are the result of a lack of training and security awareness.

So, where to start?

To minimize careless cybersecurity mistakes and encourage employee vigilance, you should
talk with your employees on cybersecurity regularly. Regularly means at least once a month.
Security issues should always be on the top of employees’ minds. Inform your staff about the
latest techniques and penetration methods that hackers use. Employees should know what
impact a breach could have on a company as a whole and on each staff member separately;
they also should be aware of the danger posed by social engineering, phishing, malware and
ransomware attacks etc. Bear in mind that if held annually, all the information of security
trainings will be forgotten almost immediately.

Faux phishing attacks

An effective method of training employees is faux phishing attack. Using this method you may
train employees on how to recognize and handle emails that may contain dangerous links and
attachments. Moreover, staff members will learn to recognize phishing attempts and malware-
loaded communications. Why is this critical? 30% of data breaches, according to Verizon 2016
data Breach Investigations report, are caused by employees’ negligence, for example opening
suspicious emails.

Again on passwords

Your cybersecurity trainings should include classes on the importance of strong passwords. Do
forget about “123qwe” as the reliable one. Verizon states that 63% of data leakages happened
mainly because of weak or stolen passwords. Passwords must be complicated, contain upper-
and lower-case letters and numbers but at the same time be easy-to-remember.

60 Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2017 Edition
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