What are the Most Prevalent Obstacles to Cybersecurity?

With Cybersecurity Awareness Month just around the corner, now seems to be the appropriate time to consider your own business’ cybersecurity. While there are many, many factors that contribute to how protected your business is against threats, one of the most impactful and insidious is how receptive your employees are (or aren’t) to security-centric behaviors.

Let’s take a moment and examine what a recent report reveals about this issue.

Oh, Behave! Examines Various Employee Cybersecurity Patterns

Oh, Behave! The Annual Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviors Report 2022 outlines exactly what the title would suggest, and while many of the findings inside show some cause for optimism, others are not nearly as promising.

For instance, 35% of those the study surveyed believed their devices were automatically secure, as compared to 39% who disagreed.  Also, 39% of the participants agreed the information that describes how to remain secure online confuses them. A third of participants reported that the overwhelm they feel by this information prompts them to minimize what they do online.

Incidentally, this latter statistic seems to be predominantly taken up by the younger generations surveyed—the Millennials and Gen Z—as they agreed at rates of 45% and 39%, respectively, as compared to the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, at 29% and 30%. Almost half of Gen Z and Millennials were intimidated by cybersecurity needs, too, compared to Gen X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation averaging about 41% agreeing between the three groups.

Finally, the younger generations largely felt that remaining secure was “impossible,” with 30% of Gen Z respondents reporting so. Millennials were near-perfectly split—40% disagreeing with this statement, 39% agreeing, and the remaining 21% neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Older generations were of the opposite opinion, with Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation seeing the prospect of security as much more possible, with 61% and 65% agreeing.

Clearly, Cybersecurity Education and Training is Essential Across the Board

With these numbers laid out like this, it should be clear that there are some concerns to be addressed, with every age group presenting some challenges to be overcome… including their perspective of who is responsible for information security.

While an overwhelming 59% of respondents agreed that responsibility for their own cybersecurity fell to themselves, only 25% felt they were responsible for their workplace’s information. Instead, the consensus was that it was the purview of the employer, with 43% identifying the employer as the most responsible for protecting information in the workplace.

This is simply not the reality. Everyone needs to be held accountable for cybersecurity in the workplace, as everyone could potentially allow an issue to get past. It is therefore important that everyone is made aware of their responsibility, and that they are trained to properly maintain the protections you have in place.

We Can Help You Accomplish This

Reach out to us to find out about our cybersecurity services, including user evaluation and training. Give us a call at (509) 534-1530 so we can help prepare your team for your cybersecurity needs.