National parks can be enjoyed almost anywhere. Whether that be the Colorado River running through the Grand Canyon, Mount Rainer National Park’s dormant volcano, or the nearby Great Falls Park in Paterson, New Jersey, nature’s splendor is painted across the United States.

Any person may simply go to one of these parks and enjoy them. There are no special qualifications that must be met, other than hopping in your car and appreciating the view. While these may be national parks, they really belong to the people.

Thanks to the advent of the internet, your company is much like a national park, and can be accessed from almost anywhere. Maybe a traveling employee needs to access the office for network resources over VPN. Or perhaps, a potential client happens upon your webpage and is looking to strike up a conversation. Your company’s high availability increases how accessible you are to both your team and clientele, allowing you to bypass limitations that brick-and-mortar sites once imposed.

Everyone in your organization owns information security risk!

However, it raises an important question: Who owns information security risk in your organization? The answer is…everyone!

Unfortunately, this is not the reality for most businesses, both large and small. As business owners and decision makers, it is imperative to communicate the importance of information security to your staff. When it is understood why good security habits fall to everyone, you will vastly reduce your threat to accidental information exposure, phishing emails, security breaches and viruses such as ransomware that hold your data hostage.

Being connected to a global community comes with a certain level of responsibility. Sensitive data, such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII), credit card and financial data, and human resource records are important to share only with the appropriate personnel. Just like your location’s physical security (such as keeping the doors locked at night), this data needs to be protected as well.

Raising awareness to the impact of security breaches and training your team on what to watch out for, is the perfect place to start developing a greater sense of responsibility towards your company’s overall risk profile. Taking ownership and passing it along to your entire staff will reduce your organization’s vulnerability to privacy breaches drastically.

Give us a call and ask for information on our Cyber Security, Phishing, Training and Awareness program. We would love to help you equip your business and your team members with the tools they need to take ownership of security.

Learn more about building an IT business continuity plan here.

First published in our September 2018 IT Radix Resource newsletter