In today’s digital landscape, safeguarding customer, employee, and company data has become increasingly challenging. The term encompasses a wide range of procedures taken to protect computer systems against unauthorized access or attacks, while “data privacy” refers to policies and practices governing different types of data, the proper collection, use, and disclosure of data, and compliance with applicable privacy laws. Unfortunately, even a single error made by an employee has the potential to undermine the most forward-thinking data security and privacy strategy.
Additionally, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated; common sense isn’t enough to protect employees anymore. This is especially true in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when threat actors use AI to breach security and access private data by leveraging more effective targeting and deploying more convincing phishing attempts.
The Effect of Poor Data Security and Privacy
Companies that neglect to take appropriate measures to safeguard their data create security vulnerabilities in the workplace. The personal information of both their customers and employees (such as credit card details or health records) is not only at risk but also exposes the companies to major problems when private data is compromised.
Not only do data breaches significantly diminish customer and employee trust, but they can also have severe financial repercussions for a business. In fact, the global average cost of a data breach was $4.45 million per breach. For the United States, that number goes up to $9.48 million per breach, the highest of any country.
Closing Data Security and Privacy Gaps
Closing data security and privacy gaps is therefore an ongoing imperative for businesses. Data security is everyone’s responsibility, but leadership plays a key role in highlighting data security and privacy best practices through consistent communication and education. Safeguarding data remains the crucial goal, but other benefits include fostering trust, building stronger relationships with customers and staff, and avoiding negative media backlash associated with data breaches.
Mistakes by employees, contractors, and vendors—using weak passwords, opening attachments from an unfamiliar source, misconfigured settings—lead to the about 95% of security incidents. Maintaining high levels of data security can involve creating strong passwords, encrypting data, and recognizing phishing attempts.
When employees and others have access to personal or sensitive information, they can be a risk even with the most robust data security program. To mitigate these risks, training is critical to ensure that employees are well-informed about protecting sensitive information, understanding common security risks, avoiding costly mistakes with the prevalence of AI, and knowing how to respond in case of a breach.
EVERFI Data Security and Privacy Training
To reflect the most recent trends and best practices, EVERFI has rebuilt and launched training for Data Security & Data Privacy in the Workplace. Through this training, employees can gain insights into improving online security and system health, protecting data privacy, practicing effective data processing, safeguarding data, as well as addressing AI-related security concerns.
The course encourages data security accountability while equipping participants with the practical knowledge to protect sensitive data and everyday tactics to minimize the potential for cyber threats.