Information security is an ongoing challenge in every organization. How do you keep cyber criminals from gaining access to unauthorized business data? The key to unlocking this compounding and progressing question is your employees. Your employees are your top brand advocates, so why shouldn’t they also be your first wall of protection when it comes to securing your business data? If this is the case, it’s important to prepare and provide them with the necessary tools of defense. Here are three ways to engage your employees in protecting business data.
1. Have a policy for document and device security
There should be a culture of protecting confidential information in your organization, where every employee understands the importance to not leave important documents and devices unattended. Laptops, mobile devices and sensitive documents should remain in the possession of employees at all times or secured in storage to prevent theft of data.
2. Forbid repeated passwords
People are often under the assumption that their password is so strong, no cyber criminal will ever hack it. They take it a step further and believe it’s safe to use the same password for both business and personal platforms. Criminals can and will guess your password, and if the same password is repeated across multiple personal and business accounts, they have access to all of those applications. A strong password is the cornerstone to business data security, and a unique password should be used for different business applications. Require your employees to use a combination of numbers, symbols and capitalized characters in their passwords, and implement a policy that requires a password change every few months.
3. Educate your employees about the dangers of phishing scams.
Phishing scams are more common today than ever before. Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting businesses with phishing scams because they know many employees will take the bait. This issue comes down to a core rationale—lack of education. Consider holding quarterly meetings with your employees to educate them about phishing scams and how to avoid the dangers of the attacks. Suspicious emails and bogus website links are signs of phishing attacks, and should be quickly identified and reported to your organization’s IT and/or HR department. Educate your employees to avoid opening suspicious emails and clicking on unfamiliar links and attachments in emails.
Your employees are the most important assets to your organization. Ensure they are well equipped with business data security and well educated on the importance of protecting personal and business data. An organization with engaged employees will lead to an organization with secure and protected data. R4 Services provides secure and accurate document storage for businesses in the Chicago area. Click here to learn more.
1. Have a policy for document and device security
There should be a culture of protecting confidential information in your organization, where every employee understands the importance to not leave important documents and devices unattended. Laptops, mobile devices and sensitive documents should remain in the possession of employees at all times or secured in storage to prevent theft of data.
2. Forbid repeated passwords
People are often under the assumption that their password is so strong, no cyber criminal will ever hack it. They take it a step further and believe it’s safe to use the same password for both business and personal platforms. Criminals can and will guess your password, and if the same password is repeated across multiple personal and business accounts, they have access to all of those applications. A strong password is the cornerstone to business data security, and a unique password should be used for different business applications. Require your employees to use a combination of numbers, symbols and capitalized characters in their passwords, and implement a policy that requires a password change every few months.
3. Educate your employees about the dangers of phishing scams.
Phishing scams are more common today than ever before. Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting businesses with phishing scams because they know many employees will take the bait. This issue comes down to a core rationale—lack of education. Consider holding quarterly meetings with your employees to educate them about phishing scams and how to avoid the dangers of the attacks. Suspicious emails and bogus website links are signs of phishing attacks, and should be quickly identified and reported to your organization’s IT and/or HR department. Educate your employees to avoid opening suspicious emails and clicking on unfamiliar links and attachments in emails.
Your employees are the most important assets to your organization. Ensure they are well equipped with business data security and well educated on the importance of protecting personal and business data. An organization with engaged employees will lead to an organization with secure and protected data. R4 Services provides secure and accurate document storage for businesses in the Chicago area. Click here to learn more.
RSS Feed
