Believing These 3 Myths Can Increase Insider Cybersecurity Risk

There are so many common myths and misconceptions about every subject that it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t believe in a few. Many of these myths are harmless – it’s probably not going to hurt you to avoid opening umbrellas inside the house, for example. But others can cause bigger problems. If you’re a business owner, believing myths about your organization’s cybersecurity risks can put your company in greater peril of being compromised. Take a look at some cybersecurity risk myths that you shouldn’t believe in.

“No One Wants My Data – My Business is Too Small”

No business is too small for an opportunistic cybercriminal.

Some of the biggest headlines about cybersecurity breaches are about big organizations, so it may seem as if it stands to reason that the big companies are the ones most at risk. However, this is untrue. Even if they don’t make big headlines, small and medium-sized organizations are definitely at risk.

For one thing, no matter how small your company is, you have something valuable in your data. Intellectual property, sensitive client information, and even confidential information about your employees – or yourself – can all be exploited in some way. And cybercriminals are opportunistic. Some of them target smaller organizations that are less likely to have strong data protection in place. They can make as much money by stealing data from several smaller companies as they can from stealing data from one large organization, and chances are good that they’ll fly under the radar longer that way.

“Insider Cybersecurity Breaches Are Always Malicious”

There often seems to be a disgruntled employee involved in headline-making cybersecurity breaches. This can cause business owners to believe that all such breaches are malicious. If you believe that your employees are happy and loyal, it’s easy to believe that you’re not at risk. Unfortunately, this is a dangerous assumption.

To begin with, you may not know that you have a disgruntled employee until it’s too late. But even if you’re correct that your employees would never knowingly compromise your security, it’s easy for them to do it accidentally. Many cybersecurity breaches occur when employees are careless, poorly trained, or tricked by someone outside of your organization into doing something that will compromise your data.

“Employee Monitoring Software is Enough to Protect My Data”

Employee monitoring software is even more effective when combined with comprehensive employee training.

Employee monitoring is a great start, and is a necessity when it comes to protecting your data and intellectual property. With it, you can monitor for unusual activity that might be indicative of a cybersecurity breach. But that’s not enough by itself.

The best way to handle insider security breaches is to prevent them from happening in the first place, and proper training can go a long way toward accomplishing that. Your employees need to know why security practices are so important, how to recognize phishing emails and other similar scams, and how to avoid careless or reckless actions on company devices. Comprehensive training is the best complement to employee monitoring software.

For more information about how employee monitoring software can shore up your organization’s cybersecurity, take an online test drive.