Most companies in business today are aware of potential cyber threats to their organization; phishing scams, ransomware attacks, viruses, and brute force hackers are always on the radar of IT experts. However, an emerging issue is forcing companies to change the way they see data breaches – that is, that the threat is only external. The company’s own personnel are now a leading cause of data breaches, even though this form of a data breach is not achieved through malicious intent. Employee negligence and error are to blame.
When asked, over 45% of surveyed businesses claimed to have experienced a data breach or data exposure due to the negligence of an employee. Of those businesses who experienced this, the average cost came out to almost $4 million. Virtually no small business can sustain such a setback, either due to the sheer financial strain on the company or the loss of future clientele due to a lack of credibility. Despite employees becoming the lion’s share of data breach weak points, you, as a business owner, can take actionable steps to train employees and prevent these scenarios from happening to you in the future.
How to Avoid Employee Negligence
Many easily identifiable issues can be fixed to dramatically decrease the possibility of an employee leading to a compromise of data. Due to the increasing nature of remote work, many of these situations are happening more often:
- Working on unsecured networks, such as public WiFi, inadvertently allowing access to unauthorized persons
- Leaving sensitive information, such as logins, passwords, or account info, written down in plain view of others
- Leaving otherwise secured computers unattended, resulting in full access for anyone who comes across them
Remote work has many benefits, but its effect on the safety and security of company information and data has been significant. However, many policies can be implemented and enforced to help combat the growing threat of employee negligence due to remote work. Read more about it here: Work-from-Home Guidelines
How to Properly Train Employees
Proper training and guidance to employees is paramount in this day and age. No employee wants to intentionally expose their business to malicious outside forces; most simply have not been trained to deal with their new situations properly. By implementing the following tips and procedures at your business, you can go a long way towards completely protecting your business’s networks and data.
- Implement a ‘clean desk’ policy, where all computers and sensitive information must be locked down and secured before leaving the workplace
- Introduce a simple-to-understand method of disposal of data such as old flash drives and hard drives. An IT department or Managed Services company can receive these old devices and dispose of them to ensure the complete erasure of any potentially sensitive information.
- Implement a channel for employees to report any breaches, threats, or scams they fear might be occurring.
- Develop a comprehensive cybersecurity and physical data security employee handbook, and review this information as often as necessary to ensure all employees are following the directions in a careful manner – no matter where they work.
- Train employees on all possible threats, scams, or breach access points.
- Teach all employees how to use a VPN when accessing data from a possibly insecure network, and remind employees that their phones might also be a possible source of a data breach.
Despite not being malicious, employee negligence can be just as disastrous as an outside attack. The experts at Alliance IT are here to help you set up your remote workforce safely in order to protect your organization.
