There’s no doubt we’ve all had to change our work habits as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Companies have had to adapt rapidly to smooth the transition to work from home. But companies will have to do more than adapt if they’re going to make cyber resilience a long-term priority going forward. As the edge of the network expands to include thousands of home networks and devices, it’s going to fall on leadership to establish a culture of cyber resilience, so employees internalize cyber security best practices instinctively.
What is a cyber resilient culture?
We asked Principal Product Manager Philipp Karcher what a cyber resilient culture is and what it takes to establish one at an organization. He said a culture of cyber resilience recognizes that everyone – not just IT – has role in cyber security. Karcher defines cyber resilience as the application of the same principles of IT resiliency so that employees:
Business benefits of security training
When businesses internalize this culture, they’re better prepared, better able to respond and better positioned to experience growth, Karcher says. Asking employees to devote time and effort toward security awareness is an investment in the future of the business.
On the other hand, businesses that don’t actively work toward a culture of cyber resilience are more vulnerable to cyberattack. Their employees are more likely to practice poor password hygiene, click on something they shouldn’t and make other mistakes, like misconfiguring access rights or accidentally sending someone the wrong file.
Cyber Resilience training delivers results
While IT resilience focuses on hardening data and applications, your overall cyber resilience as an organization depends equally on making users resilient. This should include a program of training and communication on security issues employees need to be aware of and education on how to properly respond to incidents.
We believe that when you look at the results of Webroot’s training program, it’s no wonder why it was recognized as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Security Awareness and Training Solutions, Q1 2020. According to data from the Webroot Threat Research team:
Webroot also partnered with leading cybersecurity education content provider, NINJIO, to deliver engaging three-to-four-minute Hollywood-style micro-learning videos that feature updated COVID-19 content and encourage cyber resilient behavior, like identifying phishing emails and malicious URLs.
In addition to regular employee training, Karcher says businesses should publish regular communications on security topics in the form of emails, internal social media, posters and videos. Examples include coverage of real-world threats they need to defend against in their work and personal lives, and industry news about other businesses that were adversely affected by attacks.
Cyber resilience can only become a part of culture through sustained, long term engagement – not just annual check-box training.
Interested in implementing a culture of cyber resilience? Take the first step here.
