Don’t Make Security Harder for Your Business

Security can be tough for small businesses to optimize, but that does not make it any less important. One such way that security can work against you is actually your employees’ predispositions toward it; the cognitive biases that your employees have regarding security can put your company at risk, even if that is the last thing on their minds.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Just because someone else is using the latest and greatest security solution out there does not mean that your business should. In fact, we would say that not all of these tools deserve the same blind trust that you would like to have in them.

If a solution is universally praised in the business world as being a paragon of security, it makes sense that you would assume it as such, but we urge you to adopt a different mindset. You should always be critical of security solutions and try to identify any inherent problems with them before investing in one. Besides, even if there are no inherent flaws in the solution itself, you want to ensure that it is the correct solution for your business before jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak.

Confirmation Bias

It is also tempting to push away any information that does not already support the outcome you are looking for. You might believe that you are the exception to the rule. For example, let’s say that your business goes one year without a single security incident. This might make you think that your current security standards are enough to continue protecting your organization. This is the worst mistake you can make; threats are always evolving, and what works right now might not work months down the road. Don’t assume that you are not a target. Assume the worst and you can never be surprised when something does go wrong.

Relying Too Much on Business Jargon

Communication is an important part of any business, and this is especially true in terms of threat management and network security. That said, there might be some pressure to use specific language where security is concerned. It might be good to know this language when you are discussing security with IT professionals, it might sound great, but these terms don’t mean much to your average user.  Security must be described in layman’s terms if you want it to be used effectively by your staff.

Techworks Consulting, Inc. can help your business move past the challenges presented by network security and not only uncover security biases but also educate users on the importance of security. To learn more, reach out to us at (631) 285-1527.