Sometimes companies do not pay enough heed to the cybersecurity requirements from the employees’ side of the table, which leads to dramatic consequences for the organization itself. After analyzing several cyberattack cases, it can be said with surety that non-IT personnel is the weakest link in the potential cyberattacks. For example, employees with local administrator rights may unknowingly disable security solutions on their computers and let the virus spread from their computer onto the entire company network.
The staff either intentionally or unintentionally by careless attitude or lack of knowledge may be putting your business at risk. Here are a few possible reasons for how and why this is happening, and how offshore IT support can help.
Uninformed employees
Against the backdrop of a complex and growing cyber threat culture, the majority of companies believe that employees are their biggest weakness in cybersecurity attempts only because of their careless actions. Often uninformed employees put business IT security strategy at risk.
They may share inappropriate data via mobile devices or may lose the mobile devices exposing their company to a data breach, and the employees may use inappropriate IT resources.
Employee actions cause cybersecurity incidents
The staff may make some mistakes that can very well put their company’s data or systems at risk. The companies have a legitimate reason to be worried because even the slightest carelessness or an accidental slip up can cause the company dearly. It may happen because perhaps they are not properly trained to handle IT issues or to protect the business in their capability.
But the vulnerability is the outcome of only the human error vector. In many cases, internal staff-initiated security issues through malicious actions of their own. Companies have again and again reported security issues that involve staff working against their own employers
Irresponsible employees – the damage
Another reason that contributes to cyberattacks is irresponsible employees. Irresponsible behavior is hiding incidents when they happen instead of asking someone to assist them. Such irresponsibility from employees’ end can have a hard-hitting impact on a company’s data and system integrity when one is linked to a security incident. Company’s loss of highly sensitive or confidential customer/employee information due to such actions of irresponsible employees, including the loss of payment information. That kind of irresponsible behavior has the potential to cause a far-reaching and damaging impact on a business’s reputation – internally and externally, both.
BYOD- bring your own device
BYOD is the new trend in the office world and it has advantages and disadvantages both. While it cuts costs for companies, it also introduces security threats. Both businesses and employees are well-versed in this trend of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) now but tackling security management is still a headache.
For small companies, the primary concern is employees’ BYOD practices- what kind of security techniques do they implement and what network do they use. Whereas for enterprises, the primary struggle is with security management. Mostly, businesses are worried about the inappropriate sharing of company data by employees via the personal mobile devices that they bring to work.
A solution to the employee dilemma
IT security policies are necessary but not enough
Yes, IT security policies are important for every company, whether you work on BYOD culture or remote work but those are simply not enough. A policy, alone, can not provide the protection your business needs from threats. Why? Because most IT security policies are not followed by the employees that they are put in place for, and also they cannot cover every potential risk.
Companies are aware of the fact that employees do not follow their IT security policies and hardly a few of them are really working to improve this. Those, who will continue to ignore this will sooner or later have to pay the great price if they get hit by a cyberattack.
Policies should be curated in a way that they are easily understandable by employees of all cadres. But that is not the case. In the name of policies, the employees are given a stack of documents to sign. Security policies are written in such a difficult way that they simply cannot be absorbed or understood by employees, implementation is secondary. To help employees effectively understand the gravity of the topic, the document should be communicating risks, dangers, and good practices in clear and comprehensive instructions.
The IT Helpdesk provider can introduce employee-focused security measures like an employee engagement and training program, which are the most popular tactics being used by companies to safeguard themselves against future cyberattacks.
The best way of protecting a business from potential cyberthreats is a blend of the right tools and practices. In addition to awareness training for employees, the security system should include the right and latest security solutions that make the corporate network more manageable for the in-house IT security teams. An outsourcer is always equipped with the experts and technology required to secure and protect an organization from any and all kinds of threats.
By outsourcing your IT department to a service provider, you will be saving yourself from the trouble of choosing all the security solutions and training your staff. By not doing so, there is a higher possibility of your company paying the cost of not having a security system in space than you would pay to an outsourcer.
Overall, while the whole security process may require much more work to make businesses completely secure from the actions of their employees, but there has been a start, which is refreshing. Many companies are now recognizing this problem and starting to address the threat from employees’ carelessness or lack of knowledge, with training programs, security solutions, and human resources.