Crisis Management Musts: Training Employees to be Cyber-Safe

Written by Jonathan & Erik Bernstein | Edited by johntalaguit
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    Reduce the risk of employee error allowing hackers through your employee cyber-safety training and education

    You can have the best security systems in the world, but that all goes “POOF” if an employee allows the bad guys into the bank vault. Well, cybercrime is no different, and the scary thing is that, unlike with physical theft, people don’t even realize they’re helping someone attack your organization while they’re in the midst of doing so.

    Luckily, there are assets online to help you train employees to help security rather than hinder, including StaySafeOnline.org. Here’s a preview of the type of helpful advice you’ll find there:

    Talk to Your Employees About
    • Keeping a clean machine: Your company should have clear rules for what employees can install and keep on their work computers. Make sure they understand and abide by these rules. Unknown outside programs can open security vulnerabilities in your network.
    • Following good password practices: Making passwords long and strong, with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, along with changing them routinely and keeping them private are the easiest and most effective steps your employees can take to protect your data.
    • When in doubt, throw it out: Employees should know not to open suspicious links in emails, tweets, posts, online ads, messages, or attachments – even if they know the source. Employees should also be instructed about your company’s spam filters and how to use them to prevent unwanted, harmful emails.
    • Backing up their work: Whether you set your employees’ computers to backup automatically or ask that they do it themselves, employees should be instructed on their role in protecting their work.
    • Staying watchful and speaking up: Your employees should be encouraged to keep an eye out and say something if they notice strange happenings on their computers.

    A bit of training and regular reminders can turn your employees from ideal attack targets into defensive assets that help protect the well-being of your entire organization, and with the continued rise in cyber attacks, you’re more likely than ever to need that protection. Don’t wait, train employees to be cyber-safe today.

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    For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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    [Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also the editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

    – See more at: https://management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2014/12/31/hackers-wreak-havoc-on-german-steel-mill/#sthash.clKehVrj.dpuf

    Jonathan & Erik Bernstein