Cyber Security – Need a road of awareness!

Stephane Nappo Once said, 

“Security culture can achieve more than prohibition posture.”

You will be surprised to know that, “More than 90% of cyber-attacks happen due to human error”. It is said that most of the time attackers or hackers infiltrate the company’s network through its weakest link. Generally the weakest link is always that smallest error which we ignore or don’t know about. Most of the Cyber Security providers in Chicago or across the globe always say that awareness programs among employees can stop a lot of cyber-attacks.

Apart from the lack of awareness, most of the organizations do not even have any incident response plan for these attacks. People attack when they find loopholes. And these issues are definitely a loophole in the organizational structure which needs to be covered. Understanding about the concept of cyber-attacks and its terminology along with plugging the loopholes is a necessity in today’s technically advanced era.

On this, Tim Cook rightly said,

“If you put a key under the mat for the cops, a burglar can find it, too. Criminals are using every technology tool at their disposal to hack into people’s accounts. If they know there’s a key hidden somewhere, they won’t stop until they find it”.

So, now we know what we are doing wrong. Next step is taking measures to right the wrongs. Paul Herbka once said, 

“Security in IT is like locking your house or car – it doesn’t stop the bad guys, but if it’s good enough they may move on to an easier target”.

And every Cyber Security providers’ target is also to reach the point where the system is so good that the attacker moves on to the next target. So here are some measures where we can bring the change:

·      Create Internal Awareness: A 3- minute awareness video is not doing the deal anymore. Organizations need to be aggressive in creating awareness among the staff to bring security. A panel on careers at SecureWorld Kansas City said,

“Information security is one of the few spots in the business where you can be involved in almost every part of the business.”

Hence, irrespective of the job role and profile of the employee, include them in awareness programs.

·      Knowledge is the Key: Just like, knowing that snake bite is poisonous, people tend to stand far from snakes. One must know about cyber attacks as well. Arranging advanced level cyber training with the help of Cyber Security providers Chicago can help in sharing the knowledge across the employees. Each department from Sales to Marketing to IT needs to be guided thoroughly for company’s protection.

·      Don’t Hide Rather Share: Not talking about media but your employees and professionals. Share the threats and attacks with them. If they know what’s going on they might work more attentively. 

·      Incident response plan: Don’t close your eyes and wait for the attack to happen before taking any precautionary measures. In this Cyber Era, every organization should have strict protocols to detect the attacks and a response plan. A proper response plan can reduce the level of damage to the company while securing the data. Marco Ciapelli, very bluntly said that,

“Let’s face it: the future is now. We are already living in a cyber society, so we need to stop ignoring it or pretending that is not affecting us”.

·      Introduce General Guidelines: Yes every training and awareness program offers a basic guideline to the attendees. However, most of them don’t take it seriously. Hence, issue a guideline from the management side, which should include measures like using strong passwords, regularly updating passwords and software, etc. It will be a strong step in the right direction. 

In the end, let’s wrap up with one more quote from the panel on careers at SecureWorld Kansas City,

“Change is challenging. And security is like a moving target, so make sure you are able to deal with and work through frequent changes.”

Stay updated and alert to keep your organization as safe and secure as your home. Running a business is a risk, if one can overcome that then they can overcome this too. Just here the fight is with the invisible opponent. 

Also read about: How to Protect Your Online Store Business From Cybersecurity Threats?

Anil Kondla

Anil is an enthusiastic, self-motivated, reliable person who is a Technology evangelist. He's always been fascinated at work especially at innovation that causes benefit to the students, working professionals or the companies. Being unique and thinking Innovative is what he loves the most, supporting his thoughts he will be ahead for any change valuing social responsibility with a reprising innovation. His interest in various fields and the urge to explore, led him to find places to put himself to work and design things than just learning. Follow him on LinkedIn

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