HR Software News

Cybercrime training 'vital for employees'

Posted by Editorial Team

As more and more offices become reliant on technology to complete day-to-day tasks, it is important to ensure devices are protected against cybercrime.

Having a weak IT defence system can lead to a company not only facing downtime, but also suffering long-term repercussions.

Security breaches can undermine consumer confidence and be financially damaging as customers take their business elsewhere.

Rebuilding a reputation can be difficult, costly and time-consuming, with some firms unable to rebuild their client base after a serious data breach.

At a time when the economy is unstable and many companies are struggling to stay ahead, it is perhaps more important than ever that businesses have guards in place to avoid falling victim to cybercrime.

Field product manager at Sourcefire Leon Wild explained how one of the most basic, but important steps an organisation take to protect itself is to educate its staff.

"Awareness is critical. It's not the only critical thing but it is critical. Having your employees aware of what they should and more importantly what they shouldn't do is critical," he stated.

It was suggested that firms may want to consider training their employees to have an understating of what they need to avoid and the company policies they should follow.

"We can't expect to educate all of an organisation's staff to be so smart that they can spot some new targeted zero-day threat - it's just impossible.

"But a generalised level of understanding of what people should and should not be doing is really important," Mr Ward remarked.

It was suggested that taking on a security expert to deal specifically with this aspect of IT is a wise move, while alternatively businesses could outsource this service to a third party provider.

According to Mr Ward, there are plenty of outsourcing companies with the expertise to deal with security management if a firm does not have such internal resources.

One area where organisations may want to take care is when it comes to outsourcing cyber security to the cloud.

It was claimed by Mr Ward that the cloud is a "two-headed beast" in terms of security, as it requires companies to trust those providing the service.

The expert noted there could also be business continuity challenges if a firm wishes to move from one provider to another in the future.

However, Mr Ward acknowledged that small firms without a large internal resource base could stand to benefit a lot from handing their infrastructure over to an outside party "who can do a better job of managing it".

Mr Ward's comments follow those of Encription.co.uk managing director Tony McDowell, who explained how individuals can use new guidance from the government to learn how to make their devices safer.

He noted that an organisation called Get Safe Online will become "very high-profile shortly" and this campaign will provide advice and tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

The expert claimed more needs to be done to aid small and medium-sized enterprises, as that is where a lot of problems and issues lie.

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