3 Reasons Your Employees Should Be Educated on Cloud Security
We’re often told that employees are an organization’s greatest asset, but without adequate cloud security training, they could cost your company dearly. Employee negligence, TechRepublic reports, is the leading cause of data breaches in small- to medium-sized businesses across North America and the United Kingdom.
Of course, most employees want to do the right thing by their organization; they just don’t know how. Better cloud security education can teach your employees how to keep your sensitive data safe.
All Employees Use Cloud Technology
In the modern workplace, all employees utilize cloud technology. Employees use the cloud whenever they access their emails. Many also deal with the cloud again when accessing or altering electronic records.
When employees work remotely or use their own devices in the office, they’re typically using cloud technology again. As with any company tools, training leads to correct and safe usage.
Employees Are Increasingly Involved in Potentially Risky Scenarios
In the past, employees worked in external offices on computers owned by their employers. Organizations could easily monitor employee behavior and ensure their workers adhered to best practices. However, cloud services have come at a time where employees expose their employers to greater risks than ever before.
More companies are embracing Bring Your Own Device initiatives, where employees use their own technology rather than their company’s. These devices may lack security measures found on employer-owned technology.
BYOD employees also often blend their professional and personal tech usage, which can expose businesses to more risks. Similarly, more employees are working remotely and logging on to cloud-based business systems from home, vacation spots, and public transport.
In this modern working environment, employees must know how to keep cloud-based data safe and identify and respond to threats, often independently of their organization.
Cyber Threats Are Constantly Increasing and Evolving
Cyber threats are on the rise. Between 2010 and 2015, malware virus numbers grew by 560 percent. Almost one-third of these viruses were created in 2015. While there are also phishing scams, hacks, and other types of online attacks to consider, analyzing this data alone shows how quickly cyber-crime is growing and evolving.
Employees must be educated on new threats and how to respond to them in the right way. Cloud security should also be a key component of education programs, as businesses rely more on external data storage.
As education quickly becomes obsolete in the digital world, training programs should be reviewed and regularly adapted to give employees the best information. Revised programs should consider the latest threats and the adoption of new technologies, like cloud access security brokers.
IBM provides a blueprint for good cyber-security training practices, requiring all employees to undertake a digital education program each year. This program teaches IBM employees practical information like how to securely handle client data, how to identify phishing emails, and what can and can’t be shared on social media.
Employee training programs can be expensive, but consider this. TechRepublic’s report shares that a single cyber-attack typically costs more than a million dollars. Rather than asking yourself whether you can afford to train your employees in cloud security, perhaps you should ask whether you can afford not to.
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