Shining Light on Employee Cybersecurity Awareness in Retail

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Individual users are often referred to as the weakest link in cybersecurity, as human error is a major contributor to security incidents of all kinds. However, employees can also be a significant asset when adequately trained in cybersecurity hygiene and best practices.

The dangers of cyber threats in the retail sector are numerous and costly, ranging from the theft of sensitive employee, enterprise, and customer data to attacks on critical organization systems such as point of sale systems and web stores. Cybersecurity awareness can mitigate these dangers and bolster your defenses, lowering the chances of accidental breaches and deliberate attacks alike.

Cybersecurity Risks in Retail

There are many dangers to an organization, even with proper cybersecurity measures in place. On top of the traditional cybercriminal acts of credit card theft and the like, attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated and larger in scale, targeting entire systems in ways that can be catastrophic. A report from Terranova Security, “Building Cybersecurity Awareness: Why Training is a Must for the Retail Sector,” explores some of the root causes of the cybersecurity concerns currently plaguing retail organizations, including:

• Overreliance on technology. With the growth of digital commerce, cybersecurity has become more and more important for retailers over the years. The adoption of evolving technologies may be accompanied by security solutions like firewalls and authentication mechanisms, but the human element is too often discounted almost entirely.
• An outdated view of the retail threat landscape. While most retail organizations are likely concerned with threats like payment fraud and credit card theft, cybercriminals today opt for more advanced and difficult to detect attacks. Many sophisticated threats like ransomware are more likely to occur simply because organizations are not looking for them or defending against them adequately.
• Misplaced responsibility. Cybersecurity presents an especially potent risk because a large proportion of employees do not understand their role in the overall security posture of the company. Up to 52% of employees believe that the issues of IT and cybersecurity are “not at all related” to their functions.
• Increasing third-party integration into an evolving threat landscape. Massive amounts of sensitive data move through countless hands every day in retail. Many retailers rely on third parties as suppliers or service providers. The integration of a wide variety of third-party vendors, payment providers, and others makes it difficult for businesses to effectively cover the attack surface at the many vectors that can provide a chance for bad actors to infiltrate the organization.

How Cybersecurity Awareness Training Can Help

Retail organizations may shy away from implementing a cybersecurity awareness training program for a variety of reasons. However, cybersecurity awareness training is vital for all businesses in retail, in spite of these factors. Some of the ideas used to object to cybersecurity awareness training are:

• Employees already have sufficient knowledge of cybersecurity—Not all employees will have knowledge of cybersecurity practices, and even a broad understanding of cybersecurity does not guarantee that their knowledge will align with your specific needs as an organization.
• A lack of budget and other resources for cybersecurity awareness training—Budget and staff constraints can make it difficult to attain an adequate cybersecurity posture, but it is a question that those allocating resources must consider: Are we prepared enough to thwart a cyberattack without awareness?
• The time that training would take away from work—The above is also true of the resource that is workable hours—the time employees are missing from work can pay dividends by preventing cyberattacks and other security incidents down the line.
• Low employee interest in cybersecurity training—It is essential for employees to understand their role in the cybersecurity culture of the organization, and an effective training program will engage and compel employees to learn vital skills that will benefit them in both their professional and personal environments.
• Smaller businesses doubting that cybercriminals will target them—It is true that high-profile, high-value attacks receive more attention in the press, but small and medium-sized businesses are just as vulnerable to cyberattacks, if not more so. The recovery costs from a cyberattack for a small business may be so great that they are forced to shut down.

Cybersecurity awareness training can prevent security incidents in multiple ways. Employees who receive training in cybersecurity practices are better equipped to detect, identify, and handle cyberattacks. They are less likely to make mistakes that can lead to major data breaches or fall victim to social engineering tactics such as phishing, especially via business email compromise.

Employee security awareness training may also be a requirement for organizations to comply with internal policies, obtain compliance certification, conform with regulations or to gain coverage for cyber insurance. Organizations without sufficient security measures are at great risk of being targeted by cybercriminals and have an increased chance of accidental breaches. Cybersecurity awareness is a significant factor in decreasing liability and preventing catastrophic security incidents.

Conclusion

Building an effective cybersecurity strategy requires approaching the issue from many angles. While most organizations are cognizant of the threat from external bad actors, many may be unaware of the extent to which their own employees can put them at risk. Protecting your business against the dangers of cybercriminal activity and unintentional security incidents alike.

Employees who don’t receive cybersecurity training can be a great liability to an organization, but an effective cybersecurity training program used in tandem with robust and layered security measures can turn employees into your greatest line of defense. Retail companies must take steps to ensure that their systems are protected against a wide variety of attacks, and employee cybersecurity awareness training is a vital part of a solid cybersecurity strategy.

To read the full Terranova Security report, “Building Cybersecurity Awareness: Why Training is a Must for the Retail Sector,” download it here.