Businesses should ensure that their employees are up to speed with cyber security. That’s according to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. The institute points to research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills* that shows that 31pc of the worst security breaches in businesses in the year were caused by inadvertent human error (and a further 20pc by deliberate misuse of systems by staff). Visit – http://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/cyber-security-2014-exec-summary.pdf
Jon Buttriss, CEO of BCS Learning and Development Ltd says: “Business leaders cannot disregard cyber security issues or pretend that they don’t apply to them. In every organisation, whatever your size, everyone has a role to play in cyber security – it’s not just an issue for the IT department. Any cyber security breach has the potential to have enormous consequences for customer trust, particularly when that breach comes from inside the company.”
The former British Computer Society is partnering with Templar Executives, a cyber security firm, to provide businesses with training products and services. The first of these offerings will be Cyber Security Awareness e-learning.
Jon adds: “Businesses need to adopt a common sense approach to their cyber security, from protecting networks, data protection, implementing device security to creating policies about email, web and social media use by employees. Everyone in the organisation needs to understand the policies, principles and their individual responsibility.”
The BCS and Templar Executives’ Cyber Security awareness e-learning covers topics such as: the cyber threats; information assurance; the Data Protection Act 1998; best practice in social media; top ten golden rules in cyber security and an assessment to check understanding.
Andrew Fitzmaurice, CEO Templar Executives, says it’s critical that organisations adopt a holistic cyber security approach that takes in people, processes, policies and ICT, to embed a cyber security culture and maximise their business outcomes. “Organisations need to balance the protection and exploitation of their information, ensuring that it is proportionate and in line with their strategic objectives to maintain reputation and achieve competitive advantage. Training and education is key; e-learning is a powerful and cost effective way to develop employee knowledge, raising their level of understanding and competence to a consistent standard, commensurate with government and industry best practice.” Visit http://www.bcs.org.
