Webinar Recap: Keeping Your Security Strong and Your Employees Stronger

CyLumena & Insperity Co-Present Webinar to Help Organizations Deal with Security & Employee Engagement Challenges During Pandemic

CyLumena and Insperity, an HR solutions company, came together to deal with two critical topics organizations are facing during the pandemic – increased cybersecurity risks and challenges engaging employees in a work-from-home environment.

Here are some salient takeaways from both presentations.

CyLumena: Cybersecurity in the COVID-19 Climate

These times are fertile ground for user fraud. Cybercriminals are preying on your employees’ emotions, distractions, looking for any gaps in cybersecurity attentiveness or practices.

While many companies are working from home or facing upheaval in “business as usual,” criminals use this opportunity to leverage high emotions and chaos to gain access to company and personal data and systems.

One example our presenter offered was a recent text he had received, seemingly from Amazon, saying that his delivery of toilet paper wouldn’t arrive without some additional information.

Because everything is in flux, it’s easy to slip in and appear normal and important for action right now.

CyLumena: Cybersecurity Threats Surge During COVID-19

Closing the economy created the work from home necessity, which required many businesses to go remote without all of the proper processes, systems, or technology in place. This is particularly true of cybersecurity, especially when employees are relying on their home networks and Internet access.

There’s been an exponential increase in cyber threats. Phishing, spam, social engineering, and ransomware are coming from every angle. Workforces had to expedite new ways of carrying out their work during shelter-in-place, which brought many new elements and opportunities for cyber criminals.

CyLumena: Get Cyber Ready – People, Process, Technology

Our presenters gave practical tips for ensuring that your employees, processes, and technology are resilient and able to carry on while staying vigilant against cyberattack.

The tried-and-true of good cyber-hygiene is needed now on par with washing our hands and keeping physical distancing. Our handling of email, passwords, accessing company assets and resources should all be guided by company policies and best practices.

Are your operational processes able to handle a surge in cyber threats?

• Document processes for seamless remote work: Ensure that cybersecurity is woven into any instructions and documentation given to employees about remote work.
• Incident response processes: Give employees the know-how and the tools to quickly report concerns and suspicious activity.
• Review & monitor access: Spikes in cyberattacks should be met with an equal surge in monitoring systems, as well as alerts to the wider organization. Keep tabs on activity and keep your teams in the loop.

 Is your #wfh technology secure?

• Multi-factor authentication: Offering this level of authentication is one of the most effective tactics to defending your perimeter and ensuring that employees are ever-aware of the need for heightened security.
• Protection tools: Three weapons should be in every defense arsenal, particularly when a large portion of your workforce is remote. Having encryption, anti-virus, and anti-malware software that’s current is crucial, as well as raising awareness with employees how these programs work and what to look for.
• Leverage SaaS when applicable: Every business should have some level of cybersecurity protection and security-as-a-service is accessible and affordable to give you a foundation of protection.

Insperity: What Was Your Engagement Level Before COVID-19?

Engaging employees is a challenge for most companies even in the best of times.

Their presenters highlighted research that says that 34% of employees are engaged, 48% are not engaged, and 18% are activity disengaged. This last group is particularly concerning because they are the folks who are unhappy and effecting others. Alarmingly, this amounts to 66% of your workforce is not engaged and possibly looking for other jobs during #wfh time.

Insperity: How to Address Each Employee Engagement Group

Enhancing engagement, particularly during these chaotic times of physical distancing is crucial to maintaining robust operations and ensuring positive experiences for customers and your more engaged team members.

• Think about your employee complement. Who fits into each engagement group? Some companies utilize a climate survey to determine engagement levels.
• Once you have a handle on how your company breaks out related to engagement, you want to sustain those who are engaged and create movement in the other two groups.
• Cherish and reward your engaged folks and look for ways to acknowledge their efforts publicly, incentivize them in creative monetary and non-monetary ways, as well as offer new responsibilities or ways to spread their wings further.
• Also, take swift action to engage the actively disengaged to affect change in their mindset or it might be time to part ways.
• For those who are not engaged, you have the greatest opportunity for positive change here. Utilize one-on-one meetings to develop SMART goals and collaborate on ways to raise their contribution and profile, as well as track their progress.

Insperity: Start Engagement During the Interview Process

An organization’s greatest opportunity to influence engagement is before someone is hired.

• Do your homework on the candidate and get to know their motivations.
• Discuss performance metrics and expectations during interviews.
• Work with the candidate to ensure all paperwork is done before start day. This starts you off with high engagement rather than busywork.
• In this same vein, have their first week or month scheduled in their calendar so that know what to expect, as well as have exciting movement to look forward to.
• Lastly, lunch before the start date can go a long way to building rapport and engaging early. Get to know them and keep practical prep talk to a minimum.

Cybersecurity Awareness is More Key than Ever

Our presenters, Chris Hart and Luke Wawrzeniak, would like to connect with you to help you address the cybersecurity concerns that the current pandemic environment is exacerbating. Let us know what aspects of organizational security concern you most.

Contact Us

Want to connect with the folks at Insperity. Glenn McFerran, CBPA, Insperity’s District Manager for Pittsburgh is happy to help. He can be reached here.