To improve your cyber-defense posture, I encourage you to consider the following:

Implement an encryption button for email that ensures data is transmitted safely to its destination and prevents the exfiltration of private information.
Insert a pop-up alert that appears before opening any attachment in an email, along with a phishing button that can be used to report an email of concern to your IT team – one that an employee is suspicious of. A strong culture of defense includes the prolific use of these buttons by every employee.
Ensure all employees receive training in the form of regular phishing campaigns orchestrated by your third-party audit firms when performing Pen/Vulnerability examinations. Your internal IT department can utilize training software, which provides templates and up-to-the-minute realistic scenarios that test employees' recognition of things within an email communication that are likely to be malicious. By clicking on a phishing test, a "fail" if you will, the software elicits a response training module for the employee to take. The module reinforces what could have been recognized as a threat and teaches our employees to be more speculative and careful about the emails and document attachments they open.
Help employees who eschew robust password requirements by providing the use of a token credential for password encryption and generation. This tool significantly reduces the risk of password compromises and potential infiltration into your network.
Share regular reporting of employee response rates and phishing prone percentages with your executive management and board to ensure engagement in cybersecurity in all aspects of your operation.

Providing these tools and focusing daily on awareness and preparedness has led to a remarkable change for our employees. You might presume employees will have a negative response to extra training and tools, but rather than seeing resentment for additional training, we have seen a reduction in fear, anxiety, carelessness and error throughout our credit union. In addition, we have realized consistent, measurable improvement in the reduction of the number of employees who fall for a scam email.

Instant Insights /

Cybersecurity: It's Not Just an IT Responsibility

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