Solving the Human Aspect of Cyber Risks

Capital Markets CIO Outlook | Friday, January 04, 2019

Attackers today are developing more complex viruses, but the biggest part of cybersecurity of any business is the human aspect. The human aspect of cybersecurity refers to the risks posed to an organization when people, affiliated with that organization, interact with technology. Most of the time, the people in question will be employees but they could also be suppliers or any other third party with legitimate access to an organization's network. But the definition conjures up both the malicious actors and the people who could unintentionally cause threats. Companies can implement secure infrastructure to be safe from external threats with firewalls and private networks but that will not mitigate the risks and threats from inside the organization.

 The internal threats can happen through

• Shoulder surfing, the act of one person observing someone typing their password. This unauthorized access could be disastrous to a business.

• Internal threats can come from employees writing down passwords and sticking them to their computer monitors this makes it very easy to obtain login details that could then be used to defraud or infect a company.

• Thumb drives inserted into computers gives access to the personal details and passwords of the user. An attacker would just have to slink the USB drive into the back of a computer.

• Baiting methods gambit users using information obtained about the person. For example, the hacker could check social media which gives the attacker some baits about user's interests.

What can companies can do to solve these issues are also pivotal. Below are three steps companies can adapt to safeguard themselves from the human aspect of cybersecurity.

• Avoid clicking on links and sharing passwords.

• Make security training the part of the business.

• Aid users with the security tools they need.

Efforts like these could help reduce the impact of human error.

Check out: Top Risk and Compliance Solution Companies