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As we all know, online security is pretty hot news right now. With some of the biggest companies in the world suffering immense data breaches, it comes as no surprise that businesses, both large and small, are starting to take this topic very seriously indeed.
While it’s all well and good to install the latest firewalls and follow all of the other crucial advice that your ICT team prompt, your employees’ actions can also matter.
Sure, most companies will have some form of disaster recovery, such as DRAAS from UKCloud, to help them in the very worst cases. However, in a bid to stop your company even getting to that point, let’s now mull over some of the worst mistakes that employees can make when it comes to your business’ online security.
Mistake #1 – They open every attachment that comes their way
As most internal ICT teams will testify, attachments can prompt major issues. They are something that result in viruses and all sorts of other problems onto a computer.
While some systems will look to filter attachments accordingly, some bad ones will always sneak through the net. This is where a degree of common sense needs to be implemented – you need to educate your employees on what is a “good” attachment, but more importantly what a “bad” one entails.
Mistake #2 – They fall for phishing
One of the big trends of online security nowadays is phishing. This is a process where an email is sent to an individual, which claims to be from someone else. Suffice to say, the likes of financial institutions are usually used in these cases, where individuals are then duped into handing over their passwords or even bank details.
Again, education is key, and understanding when to open an email and when to discard it as a matter of urgency.
Mistake #3 – They use their own devices
The BYOD (bring your own device) policy was once popular, seemingly for a good reason. After all, companies didn’t have to pay for equipment, while it also encouraged employees to work from home.
Now that online security is under the spotlight, this isn’t the case as much. Personal devices don’t tend to have as much security installed on them, meaning they are sitting ducks for online hackers. Try and dissuade your employees from using their own equipment so your business’ data isn’t at risk.
Mistake #4 – They don’t install updates
This final point might be more of a mistake for your internal ICT team – it really depends on how your business operates.
Regardless, failing to install software updates is one of the quickest ways for a company to be targeted. These updates will “patch” up various security holes and ultimately make you less vulnerable to attack. They are crucial to install and if your employees are opting not to, you need to put procedures in place to ensure when they need to follow such updates.