Security Awareness Topics for Training Employees
Human link is the weakest in the network security chain as it is the easiest to trick into believing in phishing emails and other malicious forms of social engineering cyberattacks. That’s why it is absolutely essential to understand and help employees learn more about security awareness topics to avoid major data breaches and social engineering attacks. An organization can hold cybersecurity awareness training annually.
Therefore, employers must strive to give a ‘cyber security awareness 2022 training’ that educates their employees on recognizing and resisting new threats. They must also be taught and explained security practices to stay savvy. This is a critical component of a solid human risk management (HRM) program.
Now let us take a look at employee security awareness training topics that will make the workforce more equipped to avoid prospective cyberattacks due to human error. These things are important for an organization looking forward to holding cyber security awareness 2022 training.
Most Important Security Awareness Training Topics
While cyberattacks are increasing in number and attackers are becoming more and more sophisticated, we need a proper security awareness training scheme to recognize if we are being phished, pharmed, or taken advantage of in other ways.
1. Phishing
This is the most typical sort of cybersecurity assault, in which the attacker sends an email to an organization’s user. The attackers appear as someone the user trusts and persuade them to open the email by creating subject lines that evoke a sense of urgency.
When the user downloads the attached file or enters their bank details or login credentials, the attackers get their hands on the employees’ passwords which they can further use to send out malicious emails to steal information and further business email compromise (BEC).
2. Malware
A malware attack typically follows a phishing attack. Ransomware encrypts all the files in a user’s system, and the attacker asks for a ransom to decrypt those files. And if the said amount is not paid, your computer’s data will be lost forever.
Users should beware of phishing emails that ask to click on certain suspicious links that can cause the malicious software to spread in the system.
3. Removable Media
A removable media also poses the threat of a potential social engineering attack. Attackers might leave removable media at random places for the employees to find. More often than not, these media disks also are labeled with luring labels such as “Employee Promotion List” and “New Appraisal Policy,” among others.
USB sticks, hard disk drives, SD cards, DVDs, CDs, and smartphones are some of the most popular forms of removable media. This is again an important security awareness topic.
4. Browsing Safely
This is all about education. Employers must always educate their employees on topics such as web safety. If the employees are able to recognize an authentic website from a fake one or able to tell a malicious link from the real one, half the problem is already solved.
Understanding web addresses, online banking best practices, and social media best practices are all a part of browsing safely on the internet and should also be a part of the security awareness program.
5. Securing Passwords
If an organization’s employees have weak or too simple passwords, the organization might be an easy target for cybercriminals. Therefore, employers must train the employees on creating strong and varied passwords for email security, among others.
Using random passwords makes it considerably more difficult for online attackers to obtain access to a variety of accounts. Other measures, such as two-factor authentication, provide further levels of protection to protect the account’s integrity.
6. Smartphone Security
While increased connectivity via mobile phones is such a great thing as it provides flexibility to employees to work on the go from any corner of the world, it also increases the threat of a cyberattack. Thus, mobile security awareness is also important.
In the event that a mobile device is lost or stolen, important information should always be password-protected, encrypted, or safeguarded with biometric authentication. Employees must be trained on the safe use of personal gadgets like mobile phones to keep their data protected.
7. Securing WiFi
Unsecured WiFi increases the chances of the user getting phished or pharmed. Though home or workplace WiFi networks are mostly safe, public WiFi networks can pose a potential threat to the user’s system.
If the employees must use public WiFi networks, ensure that the employers provide a VPN solution. This will allow users to securely send data over an ‘encryption tunnel’ and avoid potential attacks while data transfer on public WiFi networks.
8. Physical Security
It is not always about what is being transferred online. For example, people who visit the employer’s campus might be on the lookout for a potential data breach by discovering loopholes in the security system to gain access.
So, the organization must be careful about who they allow inside the premises and who all have access to their WiFi system. There is also a ‘clean desk’ policy that avoids the risk of unattended documents being stolen or copied.
9. Data Management & Privacy
Employees in an organization must be instructed on how to appropriately manage sensitive data to ensure data security and consumer privacy. Important training materials include a data classification strategy of the company, approved business network storage sites for sensitive data, and using a strong password and MFA.
10. Remote Security
Workers working remotely should know how to protect their devices. For instance, they must never leave their devices unattended and must know how to protect them from malware or malicious websites and devices. Employers must strive to give their remote workers cybersecurity training as well.
Final Words
Data security awareness among employees is paramount in this day and age of internet connectivity and sophisticated potential security risks of social engineering attacks like phishing and pharming.
Apart from online security awareness training, physical security is also quite necessary. So, certain cybersecurity awareness topics should be covered by every employer for their employees. An effective security awareness training program can help the organization lower its security risk and the chances of loss of sensitive and confidential information.
