With cyberattacks on the rise, it’s important to provide dynamic cybersecurity awareness tips for employees and training that cover common threats and best practices and cultivate a security-first culture.
Q2 2024 saw a 30 percent increase in cyberattacks, the largest jump in two years. This rise in cyberattacks specifically targeted vulnerable education, government and healthcare organizations. With the large amounts of sensitive data online, employees logging in from multiple devices, and the rise in remote collaboration, cybersecurity in the workforce is paramount. Employees are both the first line of defense and the largest point of vulnerability. With the right cybersecurity awareness tips for employees, organizations can reduce their risk and gain a competitive advantage within their field.
Top Cybersecurity Awareness Tips for Employees
A cybersecurity training program for employees is not a one-and-done project. It’s not enough to require workers to watch one or two online videos a year and assume they’re staying on the cutting edge of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.
High-profile company security incidents gain more exposure every day, most due to human error. For example, Pegasus Airlines exposed almost 23 million passenger data files and sensitive flight information through employee negligence. In 2017, Equifax exposed the personal and financial information of 146 million Americans in an improperly addressed email, leading to a Congressional hearing and financial ramifications. Hackers accessed one of Silicon Valley’s most reputable venture capital firms, Sequoia, via a successful phishing email opened by an employee, revealing the financial data of over 1,300 corporate clients.
Cybersecurity awareness training for employees should be proactive, ongoing, and dynamic. It should involve real-life scenarios and encourage cross-departmental ownership. Some of the best cybersecurity practices are also the most simple, like strong passwords, regular software updates, and establishing a cybersecurity–first mindset within your organization.
Here are seven tips and training techniques we recommend implementing in your company.
1. Understand Common Cyber Threats
It’s often the routine mistakes that cause damaging cyberattacks. Recent research found that almost 95 percent of cyber incidents involve human error and that the first line of defense begins with your employees. About 57 percent of organizations experience 1 or 2 phishing attempts a week, and almost 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent every day. Conducting cybersecurity awareness training for employees to recognize signs of phishing emails — odd sender names, being addressed as “Dear Customer,” typos or other odd formatting, or time-sensitive “warnings” that encourage a user to log in — reduces your vulnerability significantly.
Not only is phishing rampant, but it’s often the gateway to malware and ransomware infiltrating your network. In 2023, organizations detected 6.06 billion malware attacks worldwide, and the most frequently blocked were worms, viruses and ransomware. The two main attack vectors were email and websites, highlighting the need for proactive team member training around prominent cyber threats.
2. Implement Strong Password Practices
About 30 percent of internet users have experienced a data breach due to a weak password, and 66 percent of Americans use the same password across multiple accounts. Even the National Public Data System’s sister website accidentally published its own passwords, exposing the data of 2.7 billion people. The hackers alarmingly put this data up for sale on the dark web and listed it at $3.5 million.
Strong password protocols are crucial, like using complex passwords instead of simple phrases like “cityname123.” A combination of letters, symbols, numbers and capitalization makes a password much easier to guess. Plus, encourage employees to change their passwords regularly, at least every 90 days, and never use the same one multiple times on multiple accounts.
Password managers also add another layer of protection, auto-filling them for certain websites but providing another layer of deep encryption. Password managers also promote safe password and login sharing among team members instead of sending credentials in an email or instant message.
3. Establish Safe Internet and Email Practices
About 94 percent of internet users experience phishing, making it the most dangerous and prevalent form of cyberattack. The most common types are malicious URLs, malware or ransomware attachments, or attacks sent from a compromised account. Safe browsing practices include updating your internet, blocking pop-ups, clearing cookies regularly, and running antivirus software on your computer or other important internet protocols.
It’s equally important for employees to avoid suspicious links and attachments and verify all email sources before responding. If something looks suspicious, it should be immediately reported to IT. Your team members should all know exactly how to report the activity easily and quickly.
4. Conduct Regular Software Updates
Old, outdated software is another major point of vulnerability. Unpatched vulnerabilities account for 60 percent of cyberattacks. About 73 percent of these breaches happen in a system that’s over a year outdated. Keep a regular and consistent patch schedule, and turn on automatic updates so your IT team never even has to remember. Encourage individual employees to regularly accept software updates on their personal devices, and if they are no longer using an application, thoroughly wipe it from their system.
5. Ensure Secure Use of Personal Devices
Almost 30 percent of Americans work remotely, and most organizations provide flexible or hybrid work options. These days, personal devices like smartphones and laptops are more likely to access sensitive company data — putting it at risk for a breach. While working from home and on-the-go does improve employee productivity and performance, it comes with heightened security concerns around man-in-the-middle attacks through unsecured Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or ransomware infiltration through an out-of-date app.
Train employees to maintain the same level of security rigor and security awareness whether they’re on a desktop at the office or a tablet at home. This might include VPN training or multifactor authentication requirements for personal devices.
6. Establish a Culture of Cybersecurity
The old method of cybersecurity awareness training for employees is fairly outdated. Simply watching one or two videos a year doesn’t often impact employees’ behavior or emphasize the extreme importance of their everyday activities. Instead of your standard training videos, consider hands-on role-playing activities or scenario-based training.
Send practice phishing emails or create a simulated security breach in which employees report the threat and follow company protocols. You could even ask different departments to brainstorm their biggest areas of vulnerability, such as software they know no one uses, poor passwords shared over messaging, and more.
Changing the organization’s mindset also plays a role. Shifting it from an “IT responsibility” to cross-departmental ownership allows employees to feel involved and personally responsible. This might start by including security training in hiring and onboarding, establishing its importance early on.
7. Report and Respond to Incidents
If employees encounter a phishing email, suspicious activity, or an unfamiliar attachment, they must know exactly what to do next. They should immediately report the incident to IT and not click on anything. Depending on your company’s exact procedures, team members should immediately change their passwords to a more complex passphrase and disconnect their device from your company network if they believe it’s been compromised.
If the worst happens and a data breach is successful, your business needs to take immediate action to disconnect infected devices from the overall network. If communication systems are down, you’ll need a way to alert employees of the data breach, so make sure you have backup communication protocols in place.
Security Awareness Training as Your First Line of Defense
Your business can have the most sophisticated and innovative cybersecurity infrastructure, but if your employees click on phishing emails from personal devices at home, it’s all under threat. Cybersecurity is an always-on, proactive initiative that belongs at the table with executive leadership, not relegated to the forgotten corners of the IT department. It starts with your organization providing the top cybersecurity awareness tips for employees and implementing those practices.
User access management isn’t a one-and-done step within your organization. We look at the dangers of user access complacency and how you can combat it.
For hands-on, dynamic cybersecurity awareness for employees, our Cybersecurity experts are ready to discuss your needs. Contact us
