How to Get Your People on Board with Your Security Strategy

It can be tough to get your staff to care about your business’ network security, especially if they don’t consider it part of their day-to-day tasks or responsibilities. However, network security is not just isolated to your IT department; it matters to everyone, and if you can convince your staff to adhere to best practices, your security will be that much more effective moving forward. Here are seven tips you can use to get your staff to care about network security.

Be Up Front

There is an inherent secrecy about cybersecurity that flies in the face of what needs to be done when training your employees, which is being up-front and honest about the threats that malicious entities on the Internet can pose to your organization. In theory, your employees should have a vested interest in the continuity of your business, so therefore, they should also be invested in protecting its future through protecting its network security.

Make it a Personal Investment

Your business stores quite a lot of information, including employee personal data. If they know that their data is at risk if they are careless with their approach to security best practices, they will be more likely to stick to them. After all, why would they willingly put their own data on the line?

Top Down Security

Everyone within your business needs to know that they can become the target of a hacker at any given time. This includes those in management and at the executive level. Security should start at the top. If employees notice that their superiors are taking appropriate action, they will be more likely to fall in line.

Gamify Your Process

When incentives are involved, anything can become more engaging. Gamification can empower your employees to engage in better security practices by offering them a score based on their efforts. A little healthy competition can be a huge motivator when nothing else seems to work.

Standardize Procedure

To get people to follow the rules, there must first be rules to follow. If you can establish procedures that are easy to follow, your employees will be more likely to stick to them. Be sure to have policies that are clearly outlined and accessible to employees whenever they need to learn more about them, and above all else, be sure to keep them consistent.

Start from Day One

Both current and new employees need to be made aware of how important cybersecurity is for your business. If you establish proper security practices right from the start, your employees will be more likely to stick to them over time. After all, trying to get your veteran employees to follow new rules and regulations will likely lead to some pushback, at least initially.

Keep Training

The most important part of training your staff on security practices is ensuring that they are kept up-to-date over time and routinely tested on their adherence to security protocols. Through comprehensive training and routine retraining, you can make sure that your employees are not only understanding the security measures you implement, but also that they are putting them into practice.

i-medIT can help your business implement security measures and training policies to keep your employees safe and knowledgeable about the countless threats out there. To learn more, reach out to us at 630-549-6199.