Of all the potential threats to cybersecurity, humans hold the biggest risk to it. For the most part, technology is efficient, automated, transparent, and most importantly, it is trustworthy. Of course though, we cannot rely solely on technology and must be able to trust the humans we have designated to serve and protect our organizations. The purpose of this essay is to act as the Chief Information Security Officer to a hypothetical organization, allocating our budgets to adequate employee training as well as cybersecurity technologies, mitigating, as best as possible, the risks of human factors in cybersecurity.
The Importance of Employee Training
Reducing the chance of human error as much as possible is a necessity in regards to cybersecurity. Having competent and adequately trained employees is critical to mitigating cybersecurity risks within an organization. As CISO of this hypothetical organization, I would ensure that training covered phishing attacks as well as how to identify and respond to them, good password hygiene and management, as well as having a budget set aside for simulating cybersecurity attacks. Phishing attacks are a common tool in which hackers will harvest vital credentials through sending their target an email containing a link which will redirect them to a fake website. Making sure that employees are trained in identifying these attacks as well as how to handle and report them will aid in keeping the organization’s information secure. In regards to password hygiene, having a two-factor authentication system set in place for employees can reduce the risk of password attacks. Finally, setting a budget aside to allow employees to experience a simulated cyber attack can also test their competence and knowledge on how to respond to these attacks as well as better prepare them on how to handle a real-life cyber attack which could possibly strike the organization.
Budgeting Technology
As technology evolves and advances, cybercriminals become more advanced as well. Investing in technology to mitigate the risks of a cyber attack is crucial to a CISO to provide for their organization. Some technologies that I would budget for as CISO would be a behavioral biometrics system as well as an artificial intelligence software. Behavioral biometric systems are algorithms that analyze and track user behavior, detecting suspicious activity and potential hackers through changes in user behavior and patterns like typing speed, for example (ECCU, 2023). Artificial intelligence can be used for a wide variety of things, including for cyber security. AI can work to analyze and sort data, identifying potential risks in security and threats. Artificial intelligence can also be used for password management which can also aid in minimizing human risk in cybersecurity (ECCU, 2023). These two technologies amongst others can greatly reduce human impact on cyber threats.
Conclusion
To conclude, employee training as well as having up-to-date cybersecurity technologies are two very important factors to budget for as CISO of an organization. Ensuring that employees are properly trained on how to identify and respond to cybersecurity threats and attacks such as phishing and password attacks greatly reduces human contribution to cyber threats. With the advancement of both today’s technology and also cybercriminals, it is critical that your organization budgets for and has the proper technology to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats. Some technologies can include a behavioral biometrics system to analyze user behavior as well as artificial intelligence to use patterns and data analysis to detect potential threats. Budgeting for adequate employee training and technologies are both crucial to mitigating cybersecurity risks, especially risks caused by human factors.
References
University, E.-C. (2023, August 24). Why Artificial Intelligence is the future of Cybersecurity. EC. https://www.eccu.edu/blog/cybersecurity/artificial-intelligence-the-future-of-cybersecurity/
University, E.-C. (2023a, August 24). Exploring the latest cybersecurity technologies and Trends. EC. https://www.eccu.edu/blog/technology/the-latest-cybersecurity-technologies-and-trends/