The world has changed tracks since the pandemic hit us. We are more comfortable with technology and doing everything we can digitally. Therefore, now more than ever, there is a huge need for data security and privacy training. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, cybersecurity complaints have increased from 1,000 to around 3,000/day, which is approximately a 300% rise.
One incident of a data breach can ruin the image and trust you have developed over the years. This situation has necessitated every corporate organization to include data security and privacy training. Not only is data security training essential to keep your customer information safe, but also to maintain your reputation.
Your firm’s capital is also a target for fraudsters, in addition to private information.
Cybercriminals can also steal money from your company’s account with a bit of data breach. Data breaches cost an average of $4.35 million globally, according to Security Magazine. Therefore, you need to really work on your data security training program. Besides this program, you should consider doing a risk assessment.
Risk Assessment
Examining the places that contain and handle sensitive information is known as a data risk assessment. The assessment evaluates all databases, documents, shared files, and other software containing vital staff, consumer, or business-related confidential information for possible risk of a data breach. Every company must conduct a risk assessment to identify any loopholes or errors in their data security system.
Apart from the data security training, you must conduct risk assessments regularly to ensure the safety of your data. The assessment will also help you determine which data is sensitive and should not be leaked, no matter what. We store data at various places, so the assessment also gives us a clear understanding of where the sensitive data is stored.
Once you have conducted a risk assessment, based on the results, you should plan the training program. Your data security training should cover a lot of topics based on the level of security required, and all of them in detail. Employees need to learn how they can keep all the information safe.
If you are conducting data privacy training for the first time or are here for exactly what needs to be done, here are some data security topics your compliance training must cover.
Data Security Topics You Must Cover In Your Compliance Training
You can cover several topics in your training, but below are the top six.
How Do You Save Yourself From Phishing?
Employees use emails all day, every day. But are all the emails they receive from reliable sources? Will they be falling into a trap if they click on some link?
Phishing is when fraudsters send enticing emails to the company or employees to get confidential data. It occurs when employees click a link from an unidentified email domain. The data that fraudsters collect can be used to debit money from your company’s account or leak some confidential information about your company. So, you must ensure your employees are well-educated and informed about such frauds. Use your course to help identify scammers and escape the trap.
What software do we use?
All businesses use some or other software. Making sure they install authorized, and secure software is what you should cover in training. Malware is a software program specifically crafted to mess with your computer. Your employees should know what software your company uses and, more importantly, what it doesn’t. Knowing the consequences would make them more vigilant when installing any software.
What is a strong password?
Most of the data we have is protected by passwords. We all have a habit of using our birth dates, spouses’ names, children’s names, and other easily identifiable things as passwords. Such passwords are easy to crack for skilled and experienced cybercriminals. Teach your employees to set a strong password that’s difficult to decode. A strong password should be hard for a human or a program to figure out. It should have a mix of various symbols, numbers, alphabets, uppercase, lowercase, and other characteristics.
How to Manage The Data Safely and Securely
Your employees might need to enter, change and retrieve data regularly for specific reasons. A small mistake while managing the data can cause big trouble for your company. Fraudsters are crafty people; they know how to get into your system and manipulate the data you have. You would usually have the private information that the customer entrusted to you. Fraudsters getting hold of this information damages their privacy and your reputation.
Therefore, your data security training should help employees learn how to handle data.
Reporting The Breach
Cybercriminals are everywhere, and there is no stopping them. They use specific means beyond our comprehension to access the company’s data. So despite all the security measures, if a data breach occurs, your employees should report it as soon as possible.
Help them learn how to report it, when, and to whom in your compliance training programs.
How will The Company Deal with The Complaint?
Your employees might refrain from complaining about the data breach because they fear the consequences they might face. It would help if you made them aware of how the company deals with data breaches.
Bottom Line
No matter how necessary this training is, your employees are bound to get bored. You can use learning management systems to make the training fun, entertaining and engaging. With LMS, you can add gamification to your data security training, making it fun. You can also build communities to discuss queries and share progress.
Apart from making it convenient for employees to complete their training sessions, it also makes your life easier. Conducting training every day or too frequently can be time-consuming.
Instead, you can prepare an on-demand training course and update it whenever necessary. Data security training is essential. Whether you do it using an LMS or the traditional way, your employees must know how to save the company from cyber-attacks.
Also read: Shortage Of Highly Skilled Tech Workers Possess Challenge To Companies
