Skills That Can Turn Your Team Into A Cybersecurity Asset

When it comes to data security in the workplace, your team might have a bigger impact on how vulnerable you are than you might think. In fact, data breaches often begin with an error in judgement made by an employee, rather than someone cracking through the security set-up that you have. Here, we’re going to look at how you build a team that is ready to defend the business, whether or not they’re a part of the IT team.

An Understanding Of What Tools You Need

First of all, you need to make sure that you (or whoever is making the decisions about data security measures) is well versed in understanding what different options are available to them. It’s important to take a look at both the hardware and software security options that are available to you, such as anti-malware, firewalls, virtual private networks, and Cloud servers, and to be able to compare them to make sure that you have the best security scope for the entire business network. Working with the right cybersecurity advisors can, of course, help you build this knowledge up more quickly. However, it’s best to have some idea of what you’re choosing between when it comes time to make replacements or new installations.

Bring Your IT Team Up To Standard

As your IT scope grows in the business, you may find that having a basic IT team that is there for problem-solving may not meet all of your needs, especially if you’ve grown more cognizant of the threats out there. As such, you can consider hiring someone who specializes in data security and add them to the team. However, you can also look at programs that offer a masters in cyber security online and incentivize a member of your existing IT team to take it. Having someone who already understands your systems becoming better able to protect them can be a significant advantage in the office.

Make Sure Your Staff Knows When To Practice Caution

As mentioned, it’s not just your IT staff or the decision-makers who are going to have a big impact on your cybersecurity. Every member of your team who uses digital technology to do their work is going to be a potential threat when it comes to breaching. As such, online security training for your employees is vital to arm them with the knowledge that can prevent them from making some of the most blatant mistakes. Teaching them about phishing scams, about how malware can be sent via email, and how to verify any other party that gets in touch looking for sensitive information can help them be much more readily able to take a step back and stop themselves from accidentally opening a breach.

A Policy Of Routine Checks & Updates

The battle lines are redrawn constantly in the war for cybersecurity. The most basic way to make sure that you stay protected is to make sure that all of your systems and software stay updated, such as by investing in patch management tools. However, your IT policy should evolve to consider new threats as well, on top of routine checks of any known threats to the system. Basically, you are most at risk when you take your eye off of the threat of data breaches, so you should make sure that it’s a routine consideration to look over your IT scope for any new threats or out-of-date systems or software that should be brought back up to scratch.

Proper Employee Account Management

Aside from teaching your team how to more responsibly use the data that they have access to, it’s also important to make sure that you’re providing that data access responsibly, as well. For instance, many software suites have access level management, that allows you to determine what kinds of files and data individuals and members of teams have access to. It’s wise to set this up so that you can easily make sure that people don’t have access to any data that they shouldn’t. What’s more, employees regularly have access to data after they have left the company. It’s essential to make sure you have an outgoing process that involves revoking any accesses they might have to data they could either intentionally or inadvertently leak in future.

To make sure that your business is truly secure, you’re going to need to have a good understanding of the security tools that are available, the IT team that brings all the right expertise, and the broader understanding of the risks out there that your team should be avoiding.