Human Factor in Cybersecurity

Realizing that you have a limited budget (the amount is unimportant), how would you balance the tradeoff of training and additional cybersecurity technology?  That is, how would you allocate your limited funds?  Explain your reasoning.

                Working on a limited budget it’s obvious that both the technological side and the training of employees are vital for a company’s security posture. I wouldn’t ignore that cybersecurity technology will need to be in place to detect and possibly thwart threats without any damage occurring and human interaction needed. However, I find that I may put more focus on training employees and making them acknowledge the fact that humans are the most dangerous part when it comes to cybersecurity.

                Why are humans the most dangerous when it comes to cybersecurity? According to an article by cydef.ca 88% of data breaches occur due to human error. Also, according to IBM, the average cost of data breaches from human errors sits at $3.33 million (cydef.ca). With these costs in mind, I find it more logical to focus on human training and awareness to mitigate these major costs. My main focusses would be the following:

Cybersecurity awareness training – programs that help employees see real-world simulations of what these threats can do to a company.

Access rights and privileges – basically controlling which employees have access to which files, restricting employees from access to all files helps mitigate insider threat data leaks.

Regular data backups – when a disaster happens and there is no data to go back to, restarting from nothing is going to be a financial disaster and will make you lose your clients you may have had.

Good cyber hygiene – keep all systems and software patched and up to date for the latest firmware upgrades. (cydef.ca)

                In conclusion maintaining more focus of the human factor in a business can help you save from potential future costs on data breaches as well as keep you more secure from cyber threats when your employees are more aware of the threats and the damage they can cause when allowing these threats to enter a business’s network.

Works Cited

 “The Human Factor: The Hidden Problem of Cybersecurity.” CYDEF, 28 Dec. 2021, cydef.ca/blog/the-human-factor-the-hidden-problem-of-cybersecurity/.