7 Ways to Communicate the Importance of Data Security to Your Staff

Simply telling people they need to use good data security habits isn’t enough to help them partner with your organization to protect your business. Data breaches are a fact of life. If your company has ever been hacked, you probably already know this. And if you haven’t been hacked yet, it’s only a matter of time before someone takes advantage of your outdated security protocols and steals sensitive information from your company’s servers or employee devices. Good communication and training go a long way to limiting your risk and improving the security of your data. Here are some ways to emphasize the importance of data security to your staff.

Create Stories from Real World Examples

One of the best ways to communicate the importance of data security is to tell stories from real-world examples. Just telling hypothetical concerns doesn’t have the same impact as a real story. Communicate about what happened in the Target breach and how customers were impacted. You could communicate about the financial fallout for individuals who have had their identities stolen as a result of a data breach. When you’re telling your employees about a breach, it’s important that you show them how it can affect their lives.

Emphasize That Data Breaches Can Affect Everyone

Data breaches can affect everyone. Your employees, customers, and partners are just as much at risk of having their personal information stolen as you are. Emphasize that data breaches can have serious consequences for your business. If a breach occurs, it could damage your reputation and lead to financial losses. These losses can be catastrophic for smaller businesses that can’t afford to pay for things like free credit monitoring for those who had their information stolen.

Over-Communicate What Your Staff Can Do to Help

Just telling your employees that breaches are bad is not the right approach. You need to give them a call to action. They need to know how they can be part of the solution instead of the problem. It’s important to communicate what your staff can do to help. The more you educate them on the ins and outs of data security, the better equipped they’ll be to make good decisions to minimize the risk of a breach or other data-related incident. For instance, you may be wanting to create a secure file system in the cloud. Many of your employees might even consider Dropbox safe. However, with the right approach, you can teach them why they shouldn’t use Dropbox for secure document sharing and how other platforms like Virtual Data Rooms are more secure.

Create a Course in a Learning Management System

A learning management system (LMS) is a platform that allows you to create and manage training courses. You can use an LMS to train your staff on best practices for data security. They’ll go through modules and exercises that help you test their understanding and to help them create new habits. You can teach them how to protect sensitive information, how to recognize phishing scams, and what steps they should take if they suspect they’ve been hacked. Make sure that everyone takes this course upon hire, but also takes an updated version once or twice a year during their tenure. You can even use gamification techniques like badges or points systems so that people feel motivated by their progress in the course.

Send Periodic Emails with Reminders to Change Passwords

Sending system reminders is important. You can even communicate in an email about how to create a secure password using letters, numbers, and symbols. This will help you stay on top of your team’s passwords, and make sure that they’re using the strongest ones possible. Offer them the option to use a password manager if necessary as well so that they don’t need to remember long passwords off the top of their heads.

It’s the Law

The law requires that all organizations have a data security policy in place and train staff on it. If you don’t have a data breach reporting procedure, your company could be fined a portion of its revenue. You need a data security policy in place to comply with the law.

Create Materials in a Language They Can Understand

Using tech speak on a non-tech audience is an easy way to alienate your target audience. Create materials using words that make sense and connect with users who aren’t knee-deep in servers all day long. Data security is a complex topic, and most people don’t have the time or inclination to become experts on it. It’s your job to make sure they can understand the importance of data security and their role in it.