We will today insist on why raising awareness is very good , but that it is just as vital as you are trying to raise awareness around you . And for some who are business leaders, why educate your employees can save you a lot of worry.
1 – To help them
If you are on this blog you already have a personal approach to raise awareness on these issues of cyber security. You have seen or will see in the threads of the articles that cyber security awareness has a lot of little things here and there. You have surely via certain articles become aware of certain danger which can exist which you did not even suspect. Besides, most of the article ideas are due to the fact that certain behavior attracts our attention and point out to me that on this or that element there is a lack of awareness.
So pass on the basic rules around you, if only at first to help your personal and professional entourage . This will allow them to increase their own security and then as I will highlight it right after that will also increase yours and that of everyone.
2 – Direct collateral damage
If you do not sensitize your entourage you could be a victim of their carelessness because of their non-sensitization. Indeed your wife or husband who brings back a USB key found on the ground or who downloads an application on an unofficial site etc. In 3 minutes it could negate all the efforts that you have undertaken to increase your security. Of course it could also contaminate your network with a post or a smartphone which has been infected without knowing it.
In a company, an employee who is not aware could inadvertently open an e-mail with ransomware. And so cause, if not the closure of your business, at least strike it a major blow in its operation. In the end if you ensure concrete security on your computer, your procedures, your databases, your e-mail etc., but leave your door unlocked it will have been for nothing . The same is true if you don’t share the right rules in cyber security.
3 – Indirect collateral damage
Of course if I speak to you first of direct damage, there are of course indirect. The carelessness of a person here or there around the world allows cyber criminals to take advantage of it and very often through this person, more precisely these digital tools, take action against other entities on the part the world. Does that seem distant to you? Well think that your subcontractor must also be aware of all this because it could become the Trojan horse of an attacker against you in a targeted manner or not.
That if ever a criminal arrives to control many PCs, Smartphones, iPhones, Macs, Servers all over the world, he increases his nuisance capacity all the more . The aim being to raise awareness is to reduce the number of indirect actors who unwittingly help cyber criminals. And for that the first weapon is the awareness of all, that is why as soon as you can raise awareness even if the person is not in your immediate environment in private or professional life.
4 – Raise awareness before tooling
The last reason and one of the most important, that I learned from our experience in project management, you must make your interlocutors adhere to and understand , and not convince , that what you explained / presented to them is is good for them and you do it for their good. The goal being over time by recalling some good principles here and there with concrete examples that they can of themselves say yes I will pay attention and yes I am concerned .
As a director, I strongly advise you not to impose certain awareness readings , but rather to offer them these readings in your various points with them or simply with an awareness flyer with the salary slip . Please note that this should not prevent you from holding seminars or awareness-raising meetings on the subject with your colleagues / employees.
The purpose of all awareness is twofold: first, to help and raise awareness of the dangers to the people you raise regardless of their function or relationship with you. In a second step with a commitment to awareness and therefore an awareness on the part of your interlocutors and without having imposed on them, you can move on after the implementation of a reinforcement of your cyber security: c that is to say the establishment of tools to help secure you and those around you .
Conclusion
You will understand that your digital security goes of course through the efforts and the attention that you bring to this subject, but there is also a large part which falls to our immediate entourage. To reduce the overall impact and reduce the risks for third parties, the awareness of those around them will eventually echo and in the end, snowball effect, we can educate a large number of people.
Of course it takes time, but it is in our opinion and it is besides the goal of this blog, only like this that we can really improve the security of all.