The latest Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon has shown that 82% of online breaches happen due to human error. Other reports and studies show even higher numbers, which is a severe issue.
That is why companies need to pay attention to their employees and how they affect organizations’ overall security. Data breaches can lower revenue, destroy your company’s reputation and make it challenging to grow your business.
The most important question is, what can be done about this? In this article, I’ll discuss how to reduce human errors that lead to security breaches and how to ensure your employees and your company are protected.
Invest in Cybersecurity Training
One of the best ways to reduce human errors leading to security issues is to proactively invest in cybersecurity training. By using this approach, you can boost cybersecurity awareness throughout your organization. Most human mistakes happen due to a lack of knowledge, and that’s where training helps.
You can organize lectures, have seminars, share news, do tests or simply have conversations about online security and how it works. Your focus should be on malware, whaling, phishing, ransomware and social engineering since these are the most common attacks.
Provide your employees with suitable training courses that discuss potential scenarios and show examples so they can relate, contextualize and understand these attacks. Furthermore, putting the right training in place helps you communicate the proper procedures and protocols more efficiently.
Set Up a Better Authentication Process
Weak passwords and poor password management are the two common reasons passwords get exposed. It may sound strange, but many companies don’t set password strength requirements, so employees typically use generic passwords.
First, your employees should be obligated to create strong passwords, which you can discuss during training. In addition, you can also set up several mechanisms to protect your passwords. First, include a password manager where all passwords can be stored securely and updated whenever needed.
Secondly, create a robust access level system for people who can access SSH keys, server credentials and privileged accounts. That way, you can control access and improve accountability.
Another essential password protection is two-factor authentication. This access management and identity security system requires two authentication steps for access. In most cases, users are required to enter their credentials, after which they must enter a randomly generated password sent to their email or mobile phone.
Set a Robust Data Access Management System
Access control systems regulate who can use and view resources within a computing environment. It’s a simple but effective security concept that reduces your organization’s risks on multiple levels. It goes beyond multi-factor authentication, credentials and PINs.
These systems implement approaches like the principle of least privilege, which gives users minimum permissions or levels of access to do their jobs effectively. They prevent users from accessing data they don’t need and block any unnecessary systems, connected devices or applications.
At the same time, data access management systems allow you to manage access centrally and set access policies. With these policies, people can’t access sensitive data unless they are supposed to.
It is also important to use data access management platforms to enable temporary data access to sensitive data instead of allowing persistent access. This limits the risk of users exposing sensitive data.
Don’t Allow the Use of Unauthorized Software
One of the habits employees have is using and downloading software they don’t need at work. Not only can this kind of software hinder productivity since it is used primarily for entertainment, but it can contain malware or other harmful programs.
A company needs to have a group of tools such as CRM software, collaboration tools, project management systems and marketing automation tools that are verified and updated regularly to ensure there are no security issues.
Create a software use policy and list all software that should be installed and present on work devices. You can also prevent access by using your access management system to limit the use of unsecured solutions.
Conclusion
The easiest way to protect your business from cybersecurity breaches caused by human error is to stop general apathy in your organization. You shouldn’t wait for issues to happen before dealing with them.
Your employees need proper cybersecurity training, a sound data access management system, vital password requirements and a strict software policy.
However, apart from the measures mentioned above, companies should also create a culture where employees are encouraged to discuss cybersecurity, share ideas and concerns and ask questions. That is how you create a safe environment free from cybersecurity breaches.