A recent study conducted by HANDD Business Solutions revealed that 21% of IT professionals believe that their employees and their online behaviour are one of the biggest challenges to data security.

With an increase of cyber breaches happening because of human error, you would think that educating staff members about cyber security would be of high importance for organisations, but the report also revealed that only 22% of small and 38% of medium sized businesses have trained their employees in the past 12 months.

Every day your employees receive emails and browse the internet, clicking links that may or may not take you to the place it states. This daily activity could easily pose a substantial cyber threat to your company, which could be avoided if preventative measures are taken.

Educating your employees about cyber security and embedding it within the company culture is vital, and in doing so can dramatically reduce your company’s risk of attack.

 Here are our 4 top tips for educating staff about cyber security:

1. Speak to your employees regularly about cyber security

 Requiring your employees to sign ‘I have read and understood the company IT and cyber security policies’ on an annual basis is not enough. You need to properly explain the potential impacts of a cyber-attack on your organisation, and their responsibilities to preventing it on a regular basis.

2. Train them to recognise an attack

Even if you have done everything possible to prevent a cyber-attack, nothing is going to be 100% effective. That’s why you need to educate your employees on how to recognise a cyber-attack, and provide them with a documented step by step guide about what an employee should do if they believe they have spotted a cyber incident so that they help to minimise the impact.

3. Never ignore an employee who has concerns

Even if it is a false alarm, it is important that you don’t discourage your employees to speak up in case a real cyber-attack does occur. If false alarms are happening regularly, it may be worth reviewing your training.

4. Always keep your employees in the loop

Improper handling of a cyber-attack could make it worse than it already is. That’s why we recommend that you always issue internal communications for speaking to the press and public about the incident, and make sure you have an internal communication plan in place before anything happens. It is also recommended to have comprehensive cyber insurance in place to help you manage and recover from a cyber-attack, and minimise financial and reputational damage.

If you would like more information on how we can help to protect your business from a cyber-attack, please call us today on 01476 434050 or email joepeck@thetrustgroup.co.uk.