When people think about cybersecurity, their first thought is often about keeping kids safe online. While maintaining your digital privacy at home is always a good idea, it’s just as important in the workplace, where incredibly sensitive business and private information is dealt with.
This means coming up with clear strategies to develop a workplace culture that appreciates proper cybersecurity. In a world where 41% of companies believe their cybersecurity culture is impeded by a lack of interest from their staff, finding ways to overcome this hurdle is vital to your business’ data protection needs.
How Businesses Benefit from a Cybersecurity Culture
Depending on the nature of your business, warding off frequent cyberattacks might be a genuine concern. With countless companies around the world hosting both personal and business information on their servers, keeping data safe and sound is a major concern that needs to be addressed. This means your team must know how to recognise cybersecurity threats and adapt their behaviour to ensure they don’t become a victim.
If your business is targeted by a malicious outsider, they might try to gain access through social engineering, where people are tricked into handing over the information. For example, a colleague might be hoodwinked into entering their login information on a phony website or download a carefully disguised file that allows someone into your network (phishing). But with the right approach and IT infrastructure, you can ensure your employees spot these attacks and develop a workplace culture that understands cybersecurity.
Ways to Prevent Cyber Attacks Against Your Business
Don’t leave your company’s cybersecurity to chance. Take a proactive approach to training and instill a culture that rewards protecting your firm’s private information. Here are some ways to prevent cyberattacks on your business.
1. Establishing any culture starts from the top
You can’t expect your staff to heed your concerns about cybersecurity if the people at the top are known to handle sensitive information carelessly. If you want to establish a productive culture that emphasises security, make sure executives are leading by example. Plus, your company will be better protected, as C-suite executives are 12 times more likely to be targeted by cyberattacks compared to anyone else in a company.
2. Training is key
Cybersecurity threats are becoming more complex by the day, so if your business is going to remain protected, your team has to be properly educated. However, with worker ambivalence acting as one of the main hurdles to developing a cybersecurity culture, you have to do more than just throw up a few drab slideshows. Involve your workers directly in their learning. Set goals and reward the team when these objectives are met. Create a shared culture from the ground up.
3. Invest in your IT infrastructure
Although your business is bound to see the benefits from its education efforts, you also need to have the right IT infrastructure in place to ensure you’re protected on every front. For example, your business should devise and execute a cybersecurity plan that includes comprehensive firewalls, detailed threat intelligence monitoring, and regular backups to ensure your data is protected and never lost entirely.
If that's too much work, M1 offers all-in-one cybersecurity protection with Unified Threat Management that meets complex compliance requirements and defends against a range of threats to your network. Meanwhile, Web Isolation Services from M1 ensure your organisation can detect malware, prevent data loss and secure your online activity.
4. Streamline cybersecurity reporting
At the heart of cybersecurity is open communication. Your workers need to be comfortable about coming forward when they suspect that they’ve been the victim of a cyberattack. If there’s a culture of fear about how management might deal with an employee's mistake, they might hide critical information that would otherwise help your business secure its data faster and more effectively. So be sure to put in place policies that ensure such errors are treated with care and understanding.
Protect Your Business Against Digital Threats with M1
Promoting a cybersecurity culture will pay for itself in the long run. As workers understand their responsibility and become equipped with the skills needed to avoid falling prey, you can rest assured in your company’s data security solutions. Chat to the experts at M1 to find out more about our IT infrastructure and cybersecurity solutions and services.