Security Awareness Training: Need Of The Hour

Every employee is responsible for the equipment

, assets and information which fall within his or her jurisdiction at work. All employees should be loyal to the company and alert to any breaches of security they may notice. Many companies will write their expectations regarding security of assets and information into their code of conduct for employees.

It would be a good idea for new staff to receive security awareness training before they sign the code of conduct. With the ever increasing expertise of hackers and the like, it would be advisable for companies to keep reminding staff and updating them on new potential risks.

Staff should also be made aware of which information is confidential, so there is no confusion. Proceedings of a meeting could indicate which information may be shared outside of the meeting situation. The Manager or CEO could present a workshop to raise the awareness of employees regarding security threats. Alternatively, an outside facilitator could be brought in to conduct the training.

Instructions must be clear and specific. Documents destined for the shredder should be marked as such. Access to the safe deposit should be severely limited. Companies need a specific strategy for the back-up of all computer information and files and dates attached thereto.

Company policy on internet usage should be clear and checks put in place to prevent any visit to nefarious sites, or music/ movie downloads and so on taking place during work hours on work computers. It is highly inadvisable to allow employees to take work home and transfer information via a memory stick to their home PC. Should this be unavoidable, there should be a designated desktop allocated for virus scans before employees share their viruses from home with the work computers on their return to the office.

For training purposes, it might be a good idea to conduct workshop for smaller groups of employees initially; before all employees come together to agree on the final draft of the company security policy; which each employee must sign and agree to adhere to.

Managers could remind their staff of aspects of the code at relevant times. Questions posed on a notice board like, Have you changed your password lately? will serve as a gentle reminder that it is advisable to do so at least every month. Supervisors should check that regular back-ups are done and stored safely. Employees could sign when they hand in their back-up discs to reinforce the importance of this practice.

Employees should agree to never leave their workstation when they are working on a confidential file or document. A locked filing cabinet or desk drawer should be used if one needs to visit the toilet, even if it is only for a few minutes. Employees need to be alert to co-workers who visit their work stations and idly pick up pieces of paper while they talk. Papers should be turned face down, the communication kept short and to the point, or better still, left until tea-break.

If you value the security of your companys information, your staff probably needs security awareness training.

by: Information Security..

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