Reducing Human Cyber Risk

The increase in remote workforces and cloud-based platforms has enabled great business agility. Since the pandemic, it has become evident that remote working is here to stay. This means that cyber security awareness and training have never been so important, as:

• 95% of cyber security breaches are caused by human error (Cybint)
• 68% of business leaders feel their cybersecurity risks are increasing (Accenture)
• Only 5% of companies’ folders are properly protected (Varonis)

Technology alone isn’t enough to combat cybercrime. For example, 90% of successful data breaches involve phishing with a third of phishing emails getting past default security mechanisms. 12% of users who open a phishing email click the harmful link.

A lack of regular security awareness training, up-to-date communications and virtually no way of tracking user behaviour is often the main cause of employees falling victim to attacks.

Your employees should be considered your first line of defence. With the right support and training, your workforce can identify, avoid and report sophisticated attacks. By increasing awareness and understanding of the risks involved and the preventative action required, security-related incidents are reduced by 70%.

What’s involved with cyber security training?

Training via computer-based modules offers optimum convenience for time and location. Ongoing bite-sized training strengthens your employees’ knowledge in core areas of security such as how to prevent a data breach. This involves steps to:

• Assess current risk
• Drive secure behaviour
• Mitigate phishing threats
• Reinforce best practice
• Measure progress

At the start of the process, an Employee Risk Assessment considers two key areas:

1. Your employees’ current susceptibility to targeted phishing attacks.
2. What employee data is currently stolen/exposed on the dark web (81% of hacking-related breaches use stolen and/or weak passwords).

“Employees are often exploited and manipulated by cyber criminals,” says Eric Hughes of EMH Technology. “We’ve seen that increased awareness of cyber security helps organisations’ data to be safer and employees to act more confidently and knowledgably.”

Would you like to improve your organisation’s cyber security?

Would you like a better understanding of the cyber risk your business is facing?

Book a free Employee Risk Assessment. There’s no cost or commitment involved and you’ll be surprised at how straight forward it is to train your employees to become a cyber security asset. Contact us to find out more.