The pandemic altered how businesses operate. In today's digital era, almost every transaction made by customers and employees highly relies on technology. That is why it gets easier for hackers to get into your business system and steal all your valuable information in a matter of seconds.

To help private individuals and business owners, the US government declared October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It is an effort to call awareness of cybersecurity risks and to help us protect our valuable information as we increasingly share more of it online.

In today's blog post, you will learn how you can implement a strong cybersecurity culture within your business and among your employees.

What Is a Strong Cybersecurity Culture 

The term "cybersecurity culture" relates to your business' workforce, assumptions, knowledge, values, and norms concerning cybersecurity. These are highly influenced by your business's goals, policies, structure, and processes.

Here's how you can tell whether your business has a strong cybersecurity culture:

  • Your employees assist and correct their co-workers to help each other become more secure.
  • Your employees feel comfortable with your IT security team, especially when asking cybersecurity-related questions.
  • Your employees would feel safe reporting cybersecurity incidents, even if they caused the situation.
  • If you and your employees have a common belief that cybersecurity plays a significant role in the success of your business
  • You offer frequent training or briefings on cybersecurity for your employees – especially for new hires.

Why Your Business Needs a Strong Cybersecurity Culture

Here are the two reasons why you need to focus on building a strong cybersecurity culture within your business:

1. To have a more secure workforce. 

Only a strong cybersecurity culture has the power to influence the attitudes, behaviors, mindsets, and norms of employees toward cybersecurity. The stronger your cybersecurity culture is, the more your employees will adopt cybersecurity behavior and compliance policies, and they will be better at handling your business's sensitive data and information. As a result, your business will become more secure from the hands of cybercriminals.

2. To help you successfully achieve your business goals.

A robust cybersecurity culture can help with achieving your business goals. Customers, business partners, and potential investors want to ensure that your business has proper cybersecurity measures before building a relationship with you. With the increasing news of cyberattacks, they become more conscious about the digital services and products they consume. That is why a strong cybersecurity culture helps you have a solid competitive edge over your competitors. It can potentially help you improve your overall revenue and other business goals.

How to Build a Strong Cybersecurity Culture

1. Instill the concept that cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility

Many businesses believe that the IT security department is the only one responsible for securing the business' digital assets. However, in building strong cybersecurity, you must require all your employees to be a part of this mission. Cybersecurity belongs to everyone – from the executives down to those in the lowest position of your company.

Incorporating cybersecurity into your mission and vision can instill this mentality into your employees. Be sure to update your business' objectives and articulate that cybersecurity is non-negotiable.

2. Make cybersecurity training fun and engaging.

It is crucial to transform how you do cybersecurity awareness training for your employees. Let's be honest. Some employees dread being exposed to dry training talks and examples they cannot relate to. One way to make them feel more engaged in the training is through gamification. Combining play and interactive learning can make the training more fun and appealing. You can also incorporate points, rewards, challenges, and leaderboards to get your employees motivated and excited to participate.

3. Educate them in a simple way

One of the reasons why non-techy employees hate cybersecurity training is that cybersecurity-related communication is often full of jargon, and communication is dry. That's why you need to keep the training simple. Watch the language used in training and ensure that the information is communicated clearly. It will help non-techy employees feel a sense of belongingness in the training.

4. Ensure that training is tailored 

Each employee has different needs. There isn't a one-size-fits-all to cybersecurity training. Your employees and each department in your business may have different levels of competence and cybersecurity maturity. You must address their unique requirements and obligations in building a strong cybersecurity culture.

5. Reward employees for positive cybersecurity behavior

In your journey towards building a strong cybersecurity culture, you must emphasize rewarding employees who practice positive cybersecurity behavior. Approaching cybersecurity awareness training with a positive mindset can help you gain your employees' trust and lead them to execute long-term positive cybersecurity behavior.

This October, you can participate in National Cybersecurity Month by doing your part in building a strong cybersecurity culture within your business. Preparing your employees to take action against cybersecurity threats is essential in keeping your system and entire business secure.

Need help with employee workflow and training? Aurora Infotech is here to help! We created a Remote Access Checklist to help you set up a productive and secure Work-From-Home technology solution. Click here to get access and start acting on improving your cybersecurity today.

You can also call us today at 407-995-6766 or e-mail info@aurorainfotech.com to set up your FREE discovery call with one of our experts.