Security awareness is not just a matter of installing software and following policies. It is also a mindset that every employee should adopt to protect themselves and the organization from cyber threats. In this article, you will learn how to create a security-conscious workplace by following some simple and practical steps.
The first step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to identify and prioritize the potential risks that your organization faces. You can use tools such as risk assessments, audits, or vulnerability scans to evaluate your current security posture and find the gaps and weaknesses that need improvement. You should also consider the human factor, as social engineering techniques are often used by attackers to manipulate or trick employees into revealing sensitive information or granting access to systems.
A security conscious workplace requires a security minded culture from the beginning. It involves everyone and is supported at the top. It is part of the organizations system - not personality driven - so it’s sustainable. It risk driven so the security treatments mitigate the risk. The security also educates the “why” for the “what” as the org scales.
Risk perception is an essential component of this phase. One factor that influences risk perception is having knowledge about what may cause a risk to materialize, the impact an event will have, and how to respond. Another important factor is whether an employee has personal experience with the risk as well as the emotions involved when thinking about it. Beyond these factors, there is also a social aspect where social norms as well as values of a person play into the equation. Beyond risk perception, risk communication is also an essential component. If a group within the organization identifies, describes, and assesses a risk but fail to communicate it to the rest of the organization, securing resources, support etc may be very hard.
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Ask staff what personally and professionally concerns them. Then establish a way for employees to report security risk, threats and vulnerabilities and prove to them their input matters by demonstrating such, with justified actions to what they report. Once employees see results, they will be more inclined to maintain a more secure (physical and cyber) workplace.
While tools and tech are essential, the human touch is invaluable. Start with a detailed risk assessment to pinpoint where you stand. Audits and scans matter, but nothing beats educating your team. Teach them about phishing, warn them about the sneaky tactics attackers use. Cultivate a workplace culture where security isn’t just policy, but a shared responsibility. And, no matter how tight your defense, always have a plan for when things go sideways. It’s about being proactive and reactive.
1. Implementing a badge system that requires employees to wear identification badges and use them to access authorized areas. 2. Creating an enhanced alarm system using motion sensors that can detect intruders and alert the security staff. 3. Giving employees the right tools to protect their devices and data, such as antivirus software, VPNs, encryption, and backups. 4. Protecting IT data by implementing strong passwords, multifactor authentication, firewalls, and regular updates. 5. Educating employees on the common security threats, such as phishing, ransomware, and social engineering, and how to avoid them. 6. Maintaining physical security by locking doors and windows, installing cameras and lights, and hiring security guards.
The second step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to provide regular and relevant security education and training to your staff. You should aim to raise their awareness of the common cyber threats, such as phishing, malware, or ransomware, and how to recognize and avoid them. You should also teach them the best practices for securing their devices, passwords, and data, and how to report any suspicious activity or incident. You can use various methods, such as online courses, workshops, newsletters, or quizzes, to deliver and reinforce the security messages.
Establishing a security conscious workplace is only the first step into creating an imbedded security culture with the ultimate goal to achieve personnel resilience. Achieving this goal doesn’t allow cutting corners and implies to address various needs of employees, considering cultural and other relevant aspects. There should be a vast array of programs such as gamification, awareness champions, and continuous engagement with repetition and emphasis on incentivizing positive behavior rather than penalizing wrong doing. From an organizational perspective it requires a cross functional approach with co-ownership and shared accountabilities to prevent traditional silos which only provide partial solutions.
Training is absolutely critical and should be both relevant and cadence - based so that overall message remains effective and easily applied. Operational risk is a topic which everyone in the worksite should have a foundational understanding of how it can potentially affect their respective areas of responsibility.
As someone passionate about fostering a security-conscious workplace, I've found that investing in regular security education and training for staff is paramount. For instance, in my previous role, we conducted interactive workshops and engaging simulations to raise awareness about prevalent cyber threats like phishing and social engineering. By providing practical examples and real-life scenarios, employees were better equipped to identify and mitigate security risks effectively. Additionally, leveraging gamified learning platforms and incentivizing participation encouraged active engagement and retention of security best practices among staff members.
You have to start with basic education or your staff will (un)intentionally defeat your program. The first thought often goes to equipment and product purchases, followed by hiring more security personnel, and then moves to education. I'd offer that the sequence should be reversed. Nothing poses a greater vulnerability than an uneducated employee. If they are empowered with knowledge to better asses their environment, and call out abnormalities within it, the organization's overall vulnerabilities are reduced. On all fronts. Corporate Security must dedicate time building relationships with all other business functions. Make it engaging, simple to remember, and be proactive. People enjoy learning when the learning is enjoyable.
To create a more aware security risk culture within the workplace, educate staff through regular training and awareness programs that emphasise the importance of security and encourage employee participation. Start with interactive workshops and phishing simulations to engage staff and identify vulnerabilities. Provide clear guidelines and best practices, such as password management and data protection. Encourage employees to report suspicious activity and commend who demonstrate security awareness. By empowering staff with knowledge and encouraging a culture of vigilance, you'll create a robust security risk culture that protects your organisation from evolving threats.
The third step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to implement clear and consistent policies and procedures that guide your staff on how to handle and protect the organization's information and assets. You should define the roles and responsibilities of each employee, as well as the rules and expectations for using the network, devices, applications, and data. You should also establish the processes and protocols for responding to and recovering from security incidents, and ensure that they are followed and documented.
Defining clear guidance in terms of acceptable usage and other information security policies and procedures and providing relevant awareness helps establish and foster best practices in terms of protecting organizational assets and or responding to or recovering from security incidents.
The organization’s governance (policy and procedures) should directly align and feed into the training and awareness programs. One feeds the other and both mutually reinforce each other.
La mise en place de procédures de feedback des incidents sécurité est essentielle dans le domaine ferroviaire. Cela permet d'évaluer les déclencheurs et d'y répondre de manière institutionnelle lorsqu'il le faut, individuelle lorsque c'est mieux adapté. La gestion de la sécurité ne doit pas se faire seulement ab initio. Elle doit aussi intervenir APRES l'incident notammant, pour s'adapter et s'améliorer. Echanger en groupe sur les causes d'un incident sécurité permet de renforcer la formation de chacun, mais aussi d'attirer l'attention sur des "petites mauvaises habitudes" auxquelles on ne prête plus suffisament d'importance... et sur leurs conséquences diectes.
Working closely with Risk, Compliance, and Audit partners to enhance the program completeness, test that the governance and controls are working, and to broaden the protection strategy perspective is important.
I don't think this is in a great step order. Your policies and procedures should be devised and then made part of the education piece. Don't educate then provide policies and define roles/responsibilities. That will create confusion and inconsistent messaging. And education should be role-based to be as relevant as possible.
The fourth step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to monitor and update your security measures and practices regularly. You should use tools such as firewalls, antivirus, or encryption to protect your network and data from unauthorized access or tampering. You should also keep your software and systems updated with the latest patches and security updates to fix any vulnerabilities or bugs. You should also review your security policies and procedures periodically and make any necessary changes or improvements based on the feedback and results.
This section is very cyber-heavy, so I think it's important to acknowledge physical security (yes, the field which has been around for thousands of years) as well. The fundamentals are similar. The tools are just a little different.
Regular monitoring and updating of security measures are integral to maintaining a robust security posture in the workplace. In my experience, implementing automated monitoring tools, such as intrusion detection systems and security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, helped us proactively detect and respond to potential security incidents. Furthermore, establishing a systematic patch management process ensured that critical vulnerabilities were addressed promptly, minimizing the risk of exploitation by malicious actors. By staying vigilant and proactive in our approach to security maintenance, we were able to effectively safeguard our organization's assets and data against emerging threats.
We live in a time when the security landscape is ever changing, with global conflicts adding pressure to international trade and markets, and with businesses having to evolve and change against significant threats whether that’s cyber, human or physical. Business’s have to remain flexible and adaptable, changing their security posture regularly to defend their organisations against the myriad of threats.
Improvements should be proactive, and at times reactive to coincide with the evolving threat landscape. Be open to the suggestions of other experts.
It is not clear how this contributes to a security-conscious workplace... You should be monitoring and updating your policies, procedures, and the effects of your education and how your security culture is maturing and evolving.
The fifth step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to reward and incentivize your staff for their security awareness and behavior. You should recognize and appreciate their efforts and contributions to enhancing the organization's security culture and performance. You should also provide them with incentives, such as bonuses, prizes, or recognition, for completing security training, passing security tests, or reporting security incidents. You should also create a positive and supportive environment where your staff can share their ideas, concerns, or questions about security.
Audits will tell the story as to where they are in their maturity. Set the bar low enough to be attainable and meaningful, yet high enough to ensure continuous improvement year over year. Consider interesting, unique awards that groups will want to display and talk about.
Don’t wait until something actually goes wrong to inform employees of what should not have happened. Reward and identify good behaviour and practices to reinforce these in your everyday work.
Rewarding employees behaviour for early identification and reporting of events and incidents, would go along way in promoting security culture and a maturer security-conscious workplace. Encourage staff on sharing of ideas, best practices, concerns, worry free or anonymized reporting of malicious activities.
Rewards are great, but the biggest incentive is change. If people can see that you take their involvement and feed back seriously then they are far more likely to want to get involved.
The sixth step to creating a security-conscious workplace is to test and evaluate your security awareness and readiness regularly. You should conduct simulated attacks, such as phishing emails, fake calls, or physical intrusions, to measure how your staff respond and react to real-life scenarios. You should also collect and analyze data, such as security metrics, surveys, or feedback, to assess the effectiveness and impact of your security awareness program and initiatives. You should also use the results and findings to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your security culture and make any necessary adjustments or improvements.
Just as tactics, techniques, and procedures develop among malicious actors, one's security program must continually evolve. Use near-miss and loss events as training opportunities to present discussions, tabletop, practical, and full-scale exercises.
Continuously testing and evaluating security awareness and readiness are essential for gauging the effectiveness of security initiatives. In a recent endeavor, we conducted regular phishing simulation exercises to assess our staff's ability to identify and report suspicious emails accurately. By analyzing the results and identifying areas for improvement, we tailored subsequent training sessions to address specific knowledge gaps and reinforce security protocols and, leveraging user behavior analytics (UBA) tools enabled us to gain valuable insights into employee behavior patterns, allowing us to refine our security awareness strategies further. This iterative approach to testing and evaluation proved instrumental in fostering a culture
Be careful with your red team exercises and physical security intrusion testing. You need to have an RoE (Rules of Engagement) defined for such activities and secure the approval of your cloud service provider ahead of time with a consent letter. Otherwise you and your red team might be arrested or charged with breaking the law which, unfortunately, has happened on more than one occasion for companies who are unaware of the responsibilities for obtaining such permission. A "safe word" should also be communicated ahead of time to someone in charge of physical security so that any misunderstanding can be de-escalated quickly and without mishap.
For testing and evaluation: Situational awareness will describe a form of situational awareness was being used in the reporting. Keep in mind to find the X Factor so that all is taken into consideration. Then the results will give guidance to comprehending the true narrative.
Regular testing and evaluation of security education and awareness program using multiple methods via simulated phishing or other social engineering exercises, physical and cyber penetration testing, table top exercises and via surveys or feedback and lessons learned from output of such exercises and or real incidents. Rinse and repeat the process, improve and mature the security program.
Security Awareness is one of the most underrated areas of security management. If done professionally and embedded into longer term strategies, it has the potential to significantly influence an organizations culture whilst having a positive, sustainable impact on risk mitigation in many areas with human error often being the root cause for incidents.
Essentially awareness arises from the culture of the organisation. Security awareness was once a mandatory "you will do" part of the workspace and has in many cases become more of a "can you please", so how do we build on that? in reality it is as simple as getting people to care, care about the products, the brand, the company, each-other and selves, once this comes together so does the buy in needed to create a security culture within a workforce; Listening to the needs of all levels, Ensuring relatable and understandable guidance, policies and procedures, educating and up-skilling throughout and by highlighting & mitigating risks will all help to remove the stigma around security and add to a better environment for all!
One aspect worth considering is the role of leadership in championing a security-conscious culture throughout the organization. In my experience, executives and senior management play a pivotal role in setting the tone for security awareness and prioritizing investments in security initiatives. By demonstrating a commitment to security through their actions and decisions, leaders can inspire confidence and trust among employees and cultivate a collective sense of responsibility for safeguarding organizational assets. Additionally, fostering open communication channels and soliciting feedback from employees can help identify areas for improvement and ensure that security measures align with the evolving needs and challenges of the workforce.
I do believe that Security Awareness is cornerstone for strong security framework at any organization…. cause at the end whatever layers of technical controls organization build can be simply hacked and compromised by one wrong human act ! But if organization has robust level of awareness… this will close the circle with other controls implemented ( technical and policies) On the other hand , i do believe, as experts, we need to move from just “Security Awareness” approach to “Smart Security Culture” approach which focus more into employee behaviors and push them to adapt positive habits when it comes to securing and protecting themselves and their business as well !
Below are few practical steps to foster a security-conscious workplace: 1. Regularly provide relevant security education and training to your employees. 2. Recognize employees who actively contribute to security awareness. 3. Consider incentives for following security practices.