Cyber security heavily relies on the work performed by your team of IT professionals, but that’s just one element in defending your organisation against a cyberattack.

Your staff also play a large role in the prevention and, sadly, the occurrence of cyberattacks. In 2021 alone, 85% of data breaches involved some form of human error, and 94% of malware was delivered via email.

Malicious actors like hackers and spammers know that your employees are often the weakest link in your cybersecurity system – and it’s something they commonly exploit.

How can we educate our staff to identify potential cyber threats? And what safety nets are available in case a cyber breach does occur? *Cough* cyber insurance! Let’s explain:

Australia’s ‘Six Shields’ of cybersecurity

The Australian Government has recently announced that it will build six ‘shields’ of cybersecurity around our nation in order to defend our shores from cyberattack. At the top of the list, the first shield is education. The government is proposing long-term education for citizens and businesses so that by 2030 we have a solid understanding of cyberthreats and how to protect ourselves from them. This shield also emphasises the importance of recovery after a cyberattack, and that we’re able to bounce back from a cyberattack by employing the right methods.

How to educate your team about cybersecurity

Educating your team on cybersecurity is one of the most important strategies in protecting your organisation. Simple ways to start include:

• Training your employees in identifying false or suspicious content
  Identification of suspicious content like phishing emails, for example, can prevent a large-scale cyberattack. Some of the common traits of phishing emails include urgent calls to action, threats, poor spelling and grammar, mismatched email domains, unfamiliar senders and suspicious links attached. Training your employees on how to spot these emails is an effective method of cyberattack prevention.

• Holding regular training sessions
  Intermittent training to detect such threats often isn’t enough for employees. To best educate our staff, the training on cybersecurity must be regularly-occurring. Through repetition, we become better and better at tasks, and this is no different in detecting suspicious content on our systems.

• Cyber drills
  Training is great, but testing your staff’s ability to respond to cyberthreats is even better. This allows you to see how well-prepared your employees are in the event of a real cyberattack. Cyber drills involve sending simulated phishing attacks, and seeing how your staff respond to them. Afterwards, you run a staff training session to debrief, discuss the results, and formulate a plan to improve.

Real Innovation Group cyber insurance

You can take all of these steps and more but, as humans, we’re still prone to making mistakes. This is where cyber insurance is essential. Even the big players like Medibank, Optus and Telstra gave fallen victim to hackings, which has made getting cyber insurance a lot more difficult. Our ICT support, however, is fully insured.

Keep your organisation educated on cybersecurity with Real Innovation Group. Our managed cyber security services come with insurance, so your business is always protected. Prevent problems, get innovative solutions and save money all at the same time when you talk to the team at Real Innovation Group and inquire about our industry leading cybersecurity services.