5 Ways to Build Privacy Awareness at Work

Data privacy and data security go hand in hand. Our lives and the digital world become more and more intertwined every day. While the digital world has afforded us a whole new level of convenience and access to information, it is imperative that employees remember the best practices for protecting company data and ensuring it is being used the right way. Here are five ways businesses can build privacy awareness at work to shore up their data and empower employee cybersecurity. How #PrivacyAware is your organization?

CREATE A PRIVACY CULTURE

Building strong security behaviors is key to building a strong security culture. By getting leadership involved, this ongoing process is driven not from the IT department but from the top of the organization down. Next, appoint privacy ambassadors to champion all security efforts. Create a privacy awareness campaign where you educate employees on your data privacy policies. Share messages about privacy around the office, on internal message boards, in company newsletters, and emails.

ORGANIZE A PRIVACY AWARENESS TRAINING

Periodic cybersecurity training sessions including, in-person, web-based and simulated compromise-and-breach scenarios are the most effective methods to teach and reinforce good behaviors. Invite outside speakers to talk to employees about why privacy matters. Engage staff by asking them to consider how privacy and data security applies to the work they do on a daily basis. Check out these cybersecurity training topics to be included in your workforce trainings.

HELP EMPLOYEES MANAGE THEIR PERSONAL PRIVACY

Better security and privacy behaviors at home will translate to better security and privacy practices at work. Teach employees how to update their privacy and security settings on personal accounts. With the help of BeSafeOnline.org, we compiled an interactive infographic PDF to help review and update data privacy settings to the most popular apps and online services.

ADD PRIVACY TO THE EMPLOYEE’S TOOLBOX

Give your employees actual tools they can use to improve their privacy. Company-branded camera covers or privacy screens for their devices and virtual private networks (VPNs) to secure their connections is a great place to start. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has been found to block 99.9 percent of automated attacks when enabled and can ensure your data is protected, even in the event of a data breach. And the great news is, many organizations are increasingly offering it to individuals as an opt-in — if not mandating it completely — so it is easier than ever to enable.

LET THE EXPERTS HANDLE IT

Only 44 percent of companies have both a prevention and response plan for IT security incidents. Most employees aren’t privacy or security experts. Be sure to build in mechanisms to make it easy for them to report privacy or security concerns to your internal or external experts. Your trusted CMIT advisor is always here to help.

Adapted from 5 Ways to Help Employees Be Privacy Aware

Written by: Chris Zambuto | Chief Information Security Officer @CMITBostonCambridge