Top 3 Things to Teach Your Staff About Cybersecurity

In most any business, you will have an array of cybersecurity savvy-ness among the staff. You’ll have the folks who are incredibly proactive and aware, and you’ll have the ones that click on the “85% Off Ray Bans” email and get their personal information stolen. 

At ABQ-IT, we’re here to not only equip our clients with cybersecurity measures, but also to educate them. And part of that is helping business owners/higher level management realize that some cybercrime prevention lies in their internal education for their staff. So, here are the top 5 things you can teach your staff about cybersecurity so you can take preventative measures against cybercrime.

Teach About Email/Text Scams

You shouldn’t assume that your staff knows what to look for when identifying an email scam. Scammers are getting better and better at what they do, and even the laughable Ray-Ban scam took victims to a fake Ray-Ban website that was almost imperceptible from the official site. Just because someone is tricked by a scam doesn’t mean they are dumb or naive. That’s why you must have your team educated on what to look for. Key indicators to watch for are:

  • If it’s an offer that seems too good to be true
  • An email coming from an odd email address 
  • When you hover your mouse over a link (never click on a link if you suspect it’s a scam!), you can see that the link doesn’t seem right
  • An email or DM on social media that seems not quite right, out of character, not their voice, random outreach, request for money or personal information
  • Any email requests from companies you would otherwise trust asking to verify credit card information

Make sure your employees know—when in doubt, don’t open it and don’t click on it. If it’s truly important, someone will reach back out to you. This education will protect your employees on a personal level but also protect business hardware and sensitive information.

Teach Them to Keep All Software Up to Date

New software updates come out all the time, and it certainly can be annoying to stop what you’re doing to let the software you’re using update. But, it’s essential to teach your staff to perform all updates on software. Often, updates include increased security and are created when that software company is made aware of a vulnerability with the current version.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 

“In addition to updating antivirus software, it is key to update software associated with operating systems, web browsers, and other applications, as this will help secure your entire infrastructure.”

Teach and Enforce Safety with Company-Owned Hardware and Software

In many businesses, it’s common for employees to take their work laptop home to finish something up in the evening. And in our current hybrid and remote working world, many people have company-owned hardware at home on a regular basis. Make sure employees know their work laptop is for work only and to keep it safe. Laptops and cell phones are easy to steal, and in the right hands, they’re easy to get a lot of sensitive data off of too.

Based on your industry and the size of the business, it may be important to use a VPN to keep data secure. If you’re using common cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox, educate employees on how to share files within your business and outside of the business so you’re secure information isn’t accidentally being shared where you don’t want it to be. 

Take These Measures In-House, ABQ-IT Can Help With the Rest

Educating your team will greatly reduce your risk of a cyber attack. Still, there is more work to be done. ABQ-IT helps businesses identify their cybersecurity weak points and helps them prepare for the future. From firewalls to setting up private networks, ABQ-IT helps businesses of all sizes protect themselves from cyber-attacks. Contact us today to learn more.