The Importance & Benefits of IT Security Awareness Training for Employees: Part 1

You can follow all of the business data security tips in the book, but if your employees aren’t aware of security best practices, your company is still at risk for severe compromises. Three of the biggest risks to data network security are employee negligence, employee malice, and employee mobility, meaning that people are still at the core of business network security. That’s why IT security awareness training is so important.

How Human Error Can Lead to Major Data Security Headaches

The fact is that not all data security threats come from hackers trying to break through your firewalls. All the firewalls in the world can’t protect a computer from an employee who leaves it logged in with their office door wide open. A potential attacker could just walk in and install a key logger or copy files onto a USB drive, and that data could include passwords, confidential company details, business operating procedures, and even business account information.

Furthermore, phishing scams can be another major problem. Employees may get emails that appear to be from legitimate sources within the company – such as someone in human resources or even the CEO – asking for them to reply with W-2 information or the latest report on an account. Phishing emails could also have links in the email that, when clicked, install malware or ransomware or lead to false websites where employees put in their usernames and passwords. Once this happens, the attacker has information or programs in place that could severely damage your company finances, integrity, and reputation. For more information on the kind of cyber attacks you should teach employees about, look for part two of the computer security awareness training for employees series.

What Does Your Business Gain from Conducting Security Awareness Training?

There are many benefits of it security awareness training, including:

Protecting Your Company’s Assets

When you improve security protocols and ensure your employees know and are compliant with them, you are less likely to face serious security breaches and major corruption of computers. As a result, you protect your company’s operational ability, the computers that your company operates on, and the information that your company runs on. In addition, you are also less likely to face lawsuits, fines, security audits, and other headaches that can result from data security breaches.

Saving Money

Training employees to prevent security breaches costs a lot less than repairing the damage to computers, reputations, and company assets that can result from such breaches. Plus, by training employees in IT security awareness they can spot damage and breaches sooner, allowing your company to minimize any damage and address it more quickly, reducing the costs of such an event.

Helping Employees with Both Business and Personal Computer Use

Your employees will appreciate what your company teaches them, as it will not only help them in their work, but it will also help them protect their personal data, improving their morale and adding another level of satisfaction in their work.

Protecting Customers

Customers will feel more confident working with your business when they know that your employees are trained to avoid security breaches. You will also likely face fewer incidents of breaches in customer information, and therefore, fewer lawsuits, lost customers, and other issues.

IT Security Awareness Training: The Why and the How

There are a number of ways you can make your employees aware of online security best practices, and there are a number of materials available, including quizzes, lessons, seminars, or the information to conduct your own lectures. Whatever you decide to use, it is extremely important to not only educate your employees on how they can improve IT security in your company but also why they should.

For example, if you are explaining the issue of setting lock screen timers, where a computer is programmed to lock after a certain period of inactivity, it’s important to make sure employees know not only how to set a lock screen timer, but why they should. Inform them about what can happen if someone happens across their computer while they are away from their desk and the screen is not locked.

How Your Business Can Realize the Most Benefit from IT Security Awareness Training for Employees

The main thing to remember when training employees in IT security awareness is this: train early and train often. First, whenever a new employee joins your company, make sure to bring them up to speed about IT security protocols and policies. Then, offer refreshers and updated training sessions for new and existing employees on a regular basis. After all, malware, ransomware, and phishing scam writers are constantly developing new ways to attack corporations, so your employees should constantly be developing their awareness skills to combat these and other IT security threats.

Don’t Forget About Your Hardware and Software Security Measures

The reality is that the best security protocols are comprehensive and holistic; they incorporate hardware, software, and human measures to avoid potential security threats. Customer 1st Communications has the knowledge and experience you need to make sure that your IT infrastructure is secure, including data centers, network installation, cloud services, and more. Plus, we offer other physical security infrastructure services as well, such as access control systems and CCTV. For a free consultation to find out how we can help your business, call 855-TECH-C1C (855-832-4212) or contact us online and a representative will get back to you as soon as possible.