Cybersecurity Training: 5 Topics You Must Cover at Your Company

Cybersecurity is something about which every single employee of a company should receive training.

With how widespread cyber attacks have become, cybercriminals can target anybody at your company. In fact, the most likely ones hackers will target are the ones with the least to do with IT and cybersecurity because they’re the easiest ones to fool. To keep your business safe, you must ensure that you give every employee of your company at least a brief introduction to the five cybersecurity topics below.

1. Password Hygiene

Password hygiene refers to the security of your business’s passwords and the level of difficulty in hacking them. First off, it’s important to train your employees to know the dangers related to weak passwords.

Here are some common ways by which cybercriminals hack passwords:

• Brute Force Attacks: This is when thousands of possible passwords are run through a program until the software guesses the correct one.
• Data Leaks: When someone from your company accidentally gives away their passwords or when outsiders manage to steal this info and leak it to the public.
• Credential Stuffing: When hackers use leaked passwords on other accounts. This is dangerous if you reuse passwords across different platforms.
• Phishing: When criminals trick email users into giving away a password. Phishing is so commonplace that there’s an entire section on it below.

How to ensure passwords hygiene:

• Make your passwords as complicated as possible. This makes them nearly unguessable.
• Never reuse passwords. This protects accounts from credential stuffing if should criminals hack even one password.
• Be careful before entering a password anywhere. Phishing scams can be extra challenging to spot.

2. Phishing

Phishing is the use of fraudulent emails, websites, or phone calls to extract sensitive information from people. It has become one of the most-used techniques among hackers. It takes all of the hard work away! There’s no need to write complex hacking code if you can just get people to give away their information voluntarily.

To protect your organization from phishing, here’s what employees should do:

• Never click on links coming from unknown sources.
• Report suspicious emails, even if they look like they’re coming from within the organization.
• Never reveal passwords or other sensitive data through email.
• Look out for unusual emails.
  • For example, if a specific manager contacts someone through email for the very first time and asks for their login information, this might be a phishing attempt.

3. Types of Malware

Employees must be aware of the most common types of malware. Once they understand the seriousness of certain kinds of malware, they might be a bit more careful online. Plus, this knowledge might help them detect that their device has been infected.

A few common types of malware include:

• Spyware: Malware that records everything you do on your device.
• Trojan: Malicious software that poses as normal software so that you would download it voluntarily.
• Adware: Malware that causes ads to keep popping up.
• Ransomware: A type of malware that encrypts a device’s data and displays a message demanding ransom.

4. Public WiFi

The dangers of public WiFi are as prominent as ever now that so many people are working remotely. Hackers can sometimes use unencrypted public WiFi as an entry point into people’s devices, which is why protection here is vital.

Here’s what employees should know about public WiFi:

• Avoid connecting to random, unknown networks.
  • Instead, use your mobile device’s hotspot.
• Use a VPN if you must connect to public WiFi.
  • This will encrypt your data even if the network lacks encryption.

5. Physical Device Protection

If outsiders steal a business device, they might be able to access all of your company’s important data. Employees are all responsible for keeping this from happening.

Here are a few basic device security rules that all employees should follow:

• Set a strong login password for your business device.
• Never leave a business device unlocked and unattended.
• Ensure the device locks quickly if it’s left unattended.

Summing Up

No company is 100% safe from cyber attacks. However, by briefing employees on these five cybersecurity issues, your chances of getting hacked will be much lower. Make sure that your employees are always alert and aware of the threats they face online every day.

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