In the absence of comprehensive cyber security training, cyber threats can wreak havoc on businesses in seconds, as the time from knowledge of vulnerability to release of exploit is shrinking. And yet, many organizations remain ill-equipped to handle security attacks as they happen across platforms.
It’s been an eye-opening week for cyber security news and numbers — let’s take a deeper look, shall we?
99 Percent of Employees Prefer Personal Convenience Over Enterprise Security
According to a recent survey of 1,000+ full-time office workers by business cloud company Intermedia, 99% reported committing at least one action that could seriously threaten their company’s cyber security.
A few of the risky behaviors that workers admitted to (in other words, there’s likely other actions going unreported or unnoticed!):
- Automatically saving work passwords on work devices instead of entering login credentials (96%)
- Sending work documents to their personal email via their work email (64%)
- Saving work documents to their desktop (57%)
- Accessing company documents after leaving the company (49% of IT workers, up from 28% in 2015)
“When it comes to storing and sharing data and saving login credentials, employees prioritize personal convenience over security protocols,” the report concluded.
83 Percent of Physicians Have Dealt with Cyber Security Issues
Almost four out of five physicians have experienced a form of cyber attacks, per new research by the American Medical Association (AMA) and Accenture.
The most common, which is also typically the first step in cyber attacks? Phishing — experienced by 55% of physicians who had an attack — followed by computer viruses (48%). This study also found that physicians from medium and large practices were twice as likely than those in small practices to experience these types of attacks.
For healthcare network engineers especially, where patient health could be on the line, it’s essential to have the latest cyber security training in order to protect and mitigate security risks.
Cyber Security Training is Your Best Defense
Establishing and enforcing basic security best practices is a given, but not enough on its own. After all, some of the largest cyber attacks to date wreaked havoc on corporations with well-documented security protocols in place.
So, how can you and your organization reduce these threats?
Stay ahead of the curve and ensure your organization is constantly aware and able to utilize the latest cyber security techniques through IEEE’s Cyber Security Tools for Today’s Environment training program. It’s designed to train technical professionals across all industries who support their company’s IT departments and require up-to-date information on how to protect enterprise networks from potential security vulnerabilities.
IEEE is on the cutting edge of the development of many technologies, and our courses help save time and money for your entire technical staff. This cyber security training not only helps to protect a company’s systems, but it is also seen as a valuable professional development and career growth opportunity for engineers.
Not part of an organization? Individuals can enroll in IEEE courses on cyber security, too.
With the number of employees crossing into dangerous territory on the cybersecurity front, workplace training on the issue is essential. Outside the IT department, many employees probably have no idea when their actions are threatening corporate security. The only answer is a comprehensive and ongoing workplace training protocol. Sure, cybersecurity may not be everyone’s favorite thing, but it is so important, as noted by your eye-opening stats here. We’ve found be engagement and completion of cybersecurity training when employees have more flexible access to training modules instead of sitting in hours-long training sessions. This gives them the chance to walk through procedures and best practices on their own time. More importantly, the lessons can be modified to meet the continually changing demands of the evolving cybersecurity threat and we can track completion to ensure our entire team is up-to-date on the changes.