Knowledge and understanding of potential threats.

Recognizing Insider Threats

Insider Threat: Security risk that originates form individuals within an organization (Can be intentional or unintentional).

Lifestyle Incongruence: When an employee’s spending habits or lifestyle suddenly exceed their known income, which can be an indicator of espionage, embezzlement, or bribery.

Password Management

Specialized tool used with a web browser to remember all the different usernames and passwords for various sites.

Avoiding Social Engineering

Manipulative tactic used by attackers to trick individuals into bypassing an organization’s security.

Situational Awareness: Mindful of surroundings, tasks, and potential consequences of one’s actions.

Shoulder Surfing: Attacker may peek over one’s shoulder to try to view any sensitive data on your screen.

Eavesdropping: Attacker tries to listen to private conversations or meetings to breach security.

Piggybacking/Tailgating: Unauthorized individual closely follows someone with legitimate access.

Dumpster Diving: Attacker sifts through trash for discarded data.

Operational Security (OPSEC): Stresses data protection against social engineers for business aspects such as routines, project details and internal procedures. Involves staying discreet about work schedule and business deals.

Mitigations:

• Foster a culture of security with regular cybersecurity training.
• Educate all employees on recognizing phishing attempts and valuing data privacy.
• Encourage employees to report suspicious activities.
• Conduct practical exercises like simulated phishing attacks.
• Remediate individuals who fall for simulated attacks.

Policy and Handbooks

Policy: System of rules that guides decisions and actions to ensure compliance with organization standards and legal ethics.

Handbook: Booklet offering detailed guidance on organization-specific procedures, guidelines, and best practices for individuals.

Remote and Hybrid Work Environments

Remote Work: Work setup where employees work from locations outside a traditional office.

Hybrid Work: Combinational of traditional office settings with remote work.

Remote and hybrid face added risks. Core risk is weaker security of home and public networks compared to office infrastructure.

1. Emphasize use of secure connections such as VPNS.
2. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication.
3. Educate employees on cybersecurity trends.
4. Consider using company-issued devices with up-to-date security software.
5. Implement automated backups for data protection.
6. Select secure collaboration tools with end-to-end encryption and compliance.
7. Maintain clear communication between cybersecurity teams and remote employees.

Creating a Culture of Security

Involves integrating cybersecurity through change management, strategy, and data protection.

Organizational Change Management (OCM): Recognizing human role in security, ensuring staff engagement, and policy adherence. Should begin at top with executive leadership.

1. Development Phase: Create comprehensive policies, Educate employees about threats, Implement clear guidelines for handling sensitive data, Build foundation for employee empowerment.
2. Execution Phase: Training updates, Simulated cyberattacks, Consistent communication.
3. Reporting and Monitoring: Initial monitoring after the rollout of a security program, Recurring check-ins to maintain program integrity, Educate employees on reporting suspicious activities, Encourage an environment where reporting is valued, Create feedback loops to use insights for future actions.