It's sad to say, but many business leaders tend to overlook their responsibilities regarding cybersecurity. This true on both a personal level and managerial level.
The former relates to the fact that business leaders and executives are some of the most highly sought victims of cybercrime. The latter has to do with the influence ranking employees have over their company culture.
Below, CyberPolicy examines some of the things business leaders miss regarding cybersecurity and how to ameliorate these processes.
Failing to Invest in Cyber Risk Insurance
Many executives believe their organizations won't be targeted by cybercriminals, either due to the company's size or prominence. Sure, an employee might find a virus or phishing email on their computer every now and then, but IT can handle it. Right?
Wrong! Cybercriminals make a career for themselves by preying on these kinds of confident misconceptions. In reality, small businesses are more likely to be hit by cyberattacks and viruses and phishing emails are major threats.
The best way to combat online threats is to invest in cyber risk insurance from a reputable provider. That way, even if you are victimized, you won't have to pay for the exorbitant costs out of pocket.
Neglecting to Defend Themselves
As mentioned above, business leaders are prime targets for scammers. That's because cyber crooks know that high ranking business users typically have greater access to sensitive information within an organization.
For instance, a hacker might send a phishing email disguised as a banking email to the head of your accounting department. The malicious aim is to swipe their login credentials. If successful, the hacker could run off with thousands of dollars in illicit money transfers.
The takeaway? Business leaders need to think of themselves as vulnerable employees just like everyone else.
Ignoring Company Culture
For better or worse, workers tend to mirror the qualities and actions of their employers. Let's say your manager is slated to come in at 9 a.m. every day but ends up arriving closer to 10:30. It's only natural to assume the rest of your team might start to feel comfortable showing up behind schedule, too.
The same goes for cybersecurity in the workplace. If business leaders make a dedicated effort to talk about cybersecurity issues than other employees will take notice. This can be implemented rather simply by hosting Q&A and training sessions about cyber risks once a sales quarter.
Other ideas include featuring relevant cybersecurity articles in weekly newsletters or creating Slack channels focused on security topics.
Forgoing an Incident Response Plan
It is vital that your organization develop an incident response plan. It should be something easy to reference that will guide you through the steps necessary to handle a security breach. Implementation should be led by business leaders who can oversee the entire process, although other staff members can handle specific duties.
If you don't put this into place before an attack occurs, your whole company will be left directionless in the event of a data breach.
Ready to take the cybersecurity of your business seriously? Then contact CyberPolicy for your free cyber insurance quote.
