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The recent cyberattacks and data breaches have shown that cybersecurity is not just an IT concern, it has now become the whole organizational concern. Cybersecurity has been traditionally seen as an IT job. But today there is a need to carry this challenge to company-wide as cyber threats will keep growing. HR professionals here can play a significant role in minimizing these emerging challenges by ensuring workforce skills are updated to drive cybersecurity initiatives.
Considering a report, most companies have assigned chief information security officer for cybersecurity initiatives, while just a slight number has assigned this to HR. Despite this, as cybersecurity cultural initiatives acknowledged as a team effort involving HR and the CISO, many organizations' HR teams have taken vital steps towards it by augmenting data protection measures under the GDPR.
With increased cyber-related incidents, cybersecurity these days has moved from the tech silo to the business frontlines. And as a business front door, the HR departments should be a key enabler for this. They also should be acting as a leader in implementing cybersecurity culture within their department.
So, here are the reasons why it does matter to the HR team and how they can mitigate cyber threats.
The first and foremost reason for any cyber incident in an organization is employees with bad security habits. They often lead to data breaches that are not only defaming a company's reputation but also costing a huge amount. This scale of attack would also result in the loss of trust between both clients and consumers. Thus, HR professionals can ease this challenge by recognizing people within the organization that present the most threats.
Most of the cyberattacks, around 60 percent, come from either malicious intent or accident from an insider, an IBM report found. It indicates that the employees were either directly involved in the leak of private and personal information. So, the HR department here can thwart this by investigating triggers and potential employees that could result in a security breach.
While recruiting the right candidate for the job, it becomes essential to understand what is needed from the job and if that aspirant is fit for the organizational culture. The HR team also needs to comprehend the cyber security requirements the company seeks. So, when it comes to cybersecurity, HR can become a safety guard for an organization only by understanding the different roles that fulfill the companies demand.
Moreover, how HR can get started into cybersecurity?
As cybersecurity is a company-wide responsibility, it is significant that HR and other departments need to work closely with IT teams to manage cyber-related concerns. To do so, there should be an organizational framework that can bring various elements together, such as technology, policies and procedures, ensuring everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.
The HR departments only need to learn the basics of cybersecurity rather than learning all the technical details and aspects. The most essential thing HR professionals need to know is to control user access. For that, they should have just enough access to software, settings, online services and devices connectivity functions, as per the government's Cyber Essentials guide.
Putting the right policies and procedures in place is vital for driving the cybersecurity initiative within an organization. It is also imperative that access rights should be outlined in a user access control policy, approved as part of the onboarding process, reviewed on a daily basis, then withdrew when an employee leaves the organization. Thus, policies and procedures should be determined by the organization's circumstances and meet with its legal obligations.
