A successful cyber attack against your company could cost you millions. Most companies try to protect their systems with anti-virus software and firewalls. But organizations often fail to consider how human error in the workplace can affect cybersecurity.
So what are some of the main ways that human error could expose your company to risk? Read on to learn how human error could cause security issues.
Weak Passwords
One of the most common human errors that can lead to cybersecurity breaches is when people use weak passwords. For example, surprisingly, many people use “password” as their password.
Some hackers will create a list of common weak passwords and try them out on accounts they want to breach. The best way to avoid this kind of breach is to have a policy that mandates strong passwords with special characters and numbers.
Social Engineering
While you might think cybercriminals use technical skills to break into systems, they tend to favor using psychological tricks. Social engineering involves exploiting weaknesses in human psychology to break into systems.
For example, a cybercriminal could infiltrate your business security systems by pretending to be your CEO. Acting as the CEO, they might call up a worker and request their username and password.
Often the criminals will make up an emergency to make their claims seem more convincing. Employee security training is essential to counter this kind of attack.
Unpatched Systems
Any piece of software is going to have glitches or oversights that result in security problems. The good news is that developers will usually send out a patch to solve these problems.
A common human error in cybersecurity is that people delay or cancel the installation of vital security patches. The longer such a security exploit has been around, the more cybercriminals will know about it. To defend against this kind of attack, you need to ensure you always keep your company systems updated.
Poor Understanding of Cybersecurity Risks
Many human errors in cybersecurity come from people not understanding the risks. For example, if you receive an email with a .exe attachment, people with cybersecurity knowledge would know to be suspicious.
On the other hand, people who lack security training might make a critical error and open the attachment. Regular cybersecurity training sessions are the only way to improve cybersecurity understanding.
Avoid Human Error
As you can see, there are many ways human error could expose your company to cybersecurity risks. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to reduce human error or minimize its impact. Of course, you should run regular cybersecurity training sessions.
You can also reduce the effect of error by working with a professional IT company. For instance, such a company could set up a robust permissions system on your network that helps minimize the damage caused by a data breach.
If you’d like to work with such an IT company in the Pennsylvania area, contact us today.
