3 Ways to Engage Employees with IT Security Policies

The weakest link in a cybersecurity chain is often the users themselves. Not even the best security solutions can keep your organization secure if your employees are not cyber-aware and adequately trained. And the growing reliance on a remote workforce only intensifies this risk.

As such, employee buy-in is of critical importance when it comes to cybersecurity. As a business or IT security leader, your workforce needs to understand one essential truth: security is everyone’s business.

So, let’s look at some of the ways you can create a security culture within your company.

1. Educate Employees

Good cyber hygiene starts with a comprehensive understanding of the risks involved. You’ll find that most employees don’t know or understand the ways in which they can make your organization vulnerable. Open and ongoing training plus education are key to getting employees involved and engaged with compliance and IT security policies.

Explain the “why” behind new security protocols and procedures and ensure employees understand the importance of both personal and organizational security. Training employees to think proactively about their cybersecurity will lead to better cyber practices.

2. Practice and More Practice

Phishing is becoming more sophisticated with time. Unfortunately, recognizing a phishing attack can be challenging even for experienced professionals. Because every phishing attempt will look different, provide your employees with regular practice so they can recognize such attacks and maintain the cyber hygiene best practices they have learned.

Make a game of it and reward success and participation to encourage employees to report attacks when they do occur. Moreover, it’s just as important for employees to understand when an attack has taken place as it is to provide the channels to report these attacks.

3. Get Leadership Buy-in

If your C-suite executives are not following cybersecurity protocols, it’s unlikely that anyone else is doing so in the organization. Leaders not only set the rules, but they’re also role models and can encourage everyone else to follow in their footsteps.

Through internal demonstrations, company leaders can share policies and get everyone involved in following protocols. Make cybersecurity part of your organization’s culture and have leaders from C-suite execs to mid-managers model proper cyber behavior.

Cybersecurity Is Everyone’s Business, Not Just IT

Security is a team effort. All it takes is for one weakness to emerge for the entire chain to crumble. Getting everyone involved can help avert missteps and make cybersecurity a fundamental part of company culture.

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