Matt’s banging on about Cyber Security.......again!
Securing Customers Personal information is every employee's job- here’s why!
Recent cyber events, extortions, hacks, hacktivism whatever you want to call them, have surged in the last 18 months.
As always, I encourage all organisations and consumers to do more to protect private and personal information. You only need to look at recent news broadcasts and the daily papers to see major corporations are still dealing with this problem, Facebook, Marriot hotels, British Airways, Sony, Ashley Madison, and the list goes on and on.
In Australia, New Zealand, in fact, all countries across the globe, organisations have been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. There have been regular reports of breaches from a small enterprise to large multinationals and Fortune 500 companies.
As the environment in which we live grows more technologically based and connected, our digital identity has become our new passport to how we play, shop and even exist. Our online activity is now influenced by how we behave in the real world.
However, research shows that there is a growing amount of discourse from the customer who has doubts about the ability and credibility of corporates and governments to protect our data. Nearly 38% of Australians do not trust institutions and business, including government, financial services, Telcos, card networks (who carries them these days?), with their personal information.
It's not surprising, considering the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) received more than 800+ breach notifications of data breaches from Australian organisations last year alone! It's been revealed that approximately one-third of that number was because of human error (Damn humans causing so many problems!). This only further highlights the need for all organisations to promote better security practices amongst all employees from the c-suite down.
We all need to take responsibility for systems and process to protect customer information. As cybersecurity fast becomes a whole of business responsibility. Everyone from the c-suite to the front line must be prepared and follow the set protocols
All employees have a duty of care to practise smart security, to have knowledge of cybersecurity and to understand the implications if threats or breaches occur. I recommended employees play an active role in positioning themselves and their organisations as trusted partners for customers when it comes to protecting their personal information.
There are Five Key Cyber Security Pillars that all employees should be aware of;
Know the Threats - Employees should familiarise themselves with the potential internal and external threats to the organisation and understand their role in protecting data assets
Understand the Policy – It's likely your company has implemented effective strategies against extortion and breach. However, you must do your part to adhere to those processes and flag when something doesn’t look or feel right.
Dispose of Information Properly and Securely – From hard drives, USBs, down to printed paper. Make sure that you dispose of for these records securely ensuring that they don’t fall into the wrong hands
Know your Surrounds – Be mindful of where and when you are accessing sensitive information. Don’t access your work station from a phone whilst sitting or standing on a train for example. Do you really need to work in that café with all those prying eyes?
Avoid Public Networks – Almost all free WiFi networks are unencrypted, meaning that anyone on that network with you has the opportunity to see exactly what you are looking at online! These are the ideal domain for hackers to infiltrate devices and connections
As Employees, Managers, C-Suite Executives and Directors, it is all of us who must rebuild the confidence in the public’s eyes and ensure that the consumer can feel safe in the knowledge that their personal and private data is safe. We must be the ones to do this! Setting a culture of responsibility from within is a great step forward to achieve this!