When it comes to cybersecurity, policies and training set the expectations within your employee population. We’re not talking about watching a 5-minute video during onboarding and then never thinking of it again. To protect their most valuable data, organizations need to pay close attention to their cybersecurity programs, communicate expectations to employees, and implement their strategies in day-to-day activities.

Three Keys to a Cybersecurity Initiative for your Workforce

Communication

This is going to help your tone from the top, it’s going to make your mid-level and your kind of operation-level employees understand that every level of your organization takes this seriously. It presents a united front, so that if an email comes in for one of the targeted phishing or spear phishing attacks via email, every single person in the organization can understand what’s expected of them with regard to clicking on those links or opening unknown attachments.

How do you do this? It can be as simple as a statement from your CEO saying,

“This matters to me. It matters to me because it has implications on our business. It has implications for our employees. And it has implications for our customers. So we’re responsible for making sure that they have a fantastic customer experience and that includes protecting their sensitive information.”

Policies & Training

Your policies and training set the expectations within your employee population. It’s going to establish it as a priority within your workforce. Overall compliance training, specifically on a topic as important as cybersecurity, isn’t something that you just address at onboarding and then never think of again.

Your training strategy needs to rely on an ongoing cadence, communicating your expectations to employees and making sure that they understand these are actual strategies they need to employ in their day-to-day activities. Ongoing training will have a significantly better outcome than just a piece of information they touch once and put it away. It helps ensure the program is something that people feel responsible for living up to.

Support

Technology evolves rapidly, and your HR team needs someplace to turn to ask questions. For example, a lot of states have their own specific privacy information requirements. Or, your team needs a really great bring-your-own-device policy customized for your organization – hitting the culture and the tone of your industry that would really resonate with your employees. Your team needs resources to make sure they have all of their bases covered.  

Ready to Get Started?

Develop a comprehensive cybersecurity initiative that harnesses technology, best practices, and the concerted efforts of your workforce to maintain a hacker-free workplace. KPA makes it easy.