How to Make Cybersecurity Part of your Business Culture

Most businesses and government organisations are now aware that cybersecurity is not merely the responsibility of IT. They recognise that everyone is accountable for protecting systems, people and information from attack. They also know that many attacks occur from within rather than from external parties. So how can they make part of their business culture?

Education is key. An education program should complement and explain robust security policies that detail the assets a business or organisation needs to protect, the threats to those assets and the rules and controls for protecting them.

An effective program makes every worker acutely aware of cyber threats, including emails or text messages designed to trick them into providing personal or financial information; entice them to click links to websites or open attachments containing malware, or deceive them into paying fake invoices that purport to be from a senior executive.

It teaches them how to recognise common threats, the actions they need to take and people they need to inform when targeted and the steps to take if they do fall victim to a malicious individual or software. In addition, the program should teach workers how to recognise and respond to poor – or suspicious – cybersecurity behaviour by a colleague.

Cybersecurity education also needs to extend to a business or government organisation’s senior leadership team, who should also visibly support its objectives and model appropriate behaviours. It should also encourage workers and managers to pass on lessons learned to friends and family to help them avoid being compromised by malicious cyber activities.

Perhaps most importantly, it is not good enough to run a cybersecurity education program once and consider it a box ticked. A business or government organisation should run programs regularly and update them as needed to account for changes in policies and the threat landscape. It should also provide ongoing information and direct people to resources such as the Australian Cyber Security Centre for assistance.

Cybersecurity policies and education programs also need to complement the effective use of proven, regularly updated security products to protect systems, people and information from cyber threats.

For more information, contact us at: sales@firstwavecloud.com