Cybersecurity: The Most Important Topic Your Team Can Learn About This Year

It's the 21st century. Our data is online, and hackers are constantly improving their craft. It's never been more important to be sure that your team is doing everything in their power to protect your business. There are plenty of resources to help you stay informed and keep up with the latest cybersecurity trends, but how do you turn that information into something useful and get your team involved? Here are a few tips that can help.

The benefits of a security-aware culture

When it comes to cyberattacks, employees are the first line of defense. Lack of securing your business can lead to data loss, corruption, and theft. In 2021, there were 1,862 security breaches, up 68% compared to 2020. Cybercrime costs the world economy $600 billion annually and is set to cost 10.5 trillion by 2025. These stats, and others compiled by Parachute, are shocking and paint a clear picture - now is the time to care about cybersecurity. 

Nobody wants to be a victim. Thankfully, cyber-attacks are preventable. Invest in your business by making your team aware of how crucial it is to take cybersecurity seriously. 

What to teach your team about cyber security

1 - Social Engineering (Phishing)

Social engineering --also known as phishing --- refers to many psychological manipulation attacks that manipulate team members into sharing sensitive information or installing malicious software. Social engineering can be tough to identify, especially if you don't know much about it. Even government employees and multinational professionals fall prey.

Criminals often use email to launch phishing attacks, but they can also use text, social media, phone calls, and other communication methods. Phishing attacks often involve criminals impersonating someone else, such as a cousin, Nigerian prince, or even your boss, to trick employees into revealing sensitive data.

Teach your team to check and double-check where emails are coming from, especially if they seem out of character. If the email contains a link, DON'T CLICK IT. Criminals play off of peoples' habit of clicking links right away. Instead, encourage your team to hover over the link and check the URL first. If it looks fishy, it probably is. Unsure? Ask. Pick up the phone and ask the sender if the email came from them. That's old-school 2FA.

So next time you get an email from a secret admirer at work or promotion by email, give it a second thought. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

2 - Brute Force Attacks

When hackers reach a site that requires a login, they use automated tools to crawl through it, trying username and password combinations until they find a match. Weak usernames and passwords, like those that use a company's name or employee's nickname, give attackers half the information they need to hack your credentials. 

Encourage your team to use unique usernames and a password generator to make their login credentials more secure. Automated hacking tools are less likely to crack credentials that randomly combine letters, numbers, and characters. But there's more you can do to protect your site!

Using captcha technology, such as Google ReCaptcha, which helps distinguish humans from computers., and two-step authorization (2FA) further slows down brute force attacks, often stopping them in their tracks. 

Logins are the gate to your data; they need to be protected at all costs.

3 - Good Password Management 

Most company data is stored in different software and online tools secured by logins. How you manage and share these logins is another key to online security. Most password managers only gatekeep personal records and require installation and configuration. TeamPassword was designed with ease of use and collaboration in mind. Not only can TeamPassword users store their personal logins securely, but they can also quickly and safely share logins with teams.

Good password managers keep your data safe by encrypting your logins the moment they are saved before transmitting them to a server for storage so that even the company managing your passwords can't see them. 

TeamPassword, like many password managers, offers a 14-day free trial so you and your team can better protect your data without delay. 

How should you teach them?

Not a cyber security expert? Thanks to the internet, we have access to many tools for education. Wizer is an online tool that provides security awareness training. It also includes real-life stories and examples of what happens when you don't take cybersecurity seriously. The starter plan is free, but they also offer monthly and yearly plans for more features. 

At TeamPassword, we offer onboarding calls with our customers, and we go over the basics of password security and walk you through the product. Don't have time? Please share this article with your team so that they can educate themselves. Anything is better than nothing.

Cybersecurity is important. Teaching your team about cybersecurity can decrease the likelihood and impact of a data breach, which keeps us all safer.