Tip of the Week: 3 Ways to Get Employees to Care More About Network Security

Your firewall and virus protections could be fully updated, your network sealed tight, your privacy and permissions measures comprehensive--and you could still be vulnerable to security breaches. What’s more, this vulnerability would come from the single element of your security solution that can’t be updated with a few clicks: your end users.

Whether or not your end user is directly responsible for the attack that bypasses security, they need to know how to handle themselves when they encounter the issue. Therefore, in order to protect your business assets you must educate your staff to remain vigilant, as well as what to remain vigilant against.

Step 1: Raise Awareness
Many large businesses rely on computerized reading materials for their employees to click through annually for their security compliance training. The trouble is that most employees just click through these materials, and actually absorb little-to-no information from the exercises they complete. Keep in mind that this assumes the topic of network security has been brought up at all. In the case of many SMBs, often times, security training isn’t even provided. Therefore, taking time to train your employees in an engaging way will go a long way in preventing common security issues.

Step 2: Give Your Users a Reason to Invest Themselves
It’s an unfortunate reality that your end users will likely have little appreciation for security, especially when they are just focused on completing their necessary tasks. Of course, in order for this to change, you need to not only educate users of the importance of security, but give them a reason to care about it on a personal level.

However, getting your users to care is only half the battle: you also have to make sure they put these lessons into practice. By utilizing different mediums during the training--text, audio/video demonstrations, maybe even a practical, hands-on example or two--you can reach all learning types and provide your users with guidelines to follow for when they encounter a security issue.

Step 3: Evaluate
There are resources available for you to simulate security threats to see how your employees respond to them. By discreetly running these tests on your workforce by phishing them, phone scamming them, even hiring someone to try and infiltrate your organization, you can get a practical look at how prepared your staff is to handle actual threats that come in. Depending on their performance, you may then make any changes to future training sessions as necessary.

A security solution is only as effective as its weakest link. By improving the awareness of your employees, you are strengthening a potential vulnerability against an attack. For more IT best practices, tips, and tricks, keep coming back to SCW’s blog.