If your company were to fall victim to ransomware today, whom would you contact? Or perhaps a more pertinent question: How would you go about contacting them? 

This scenario might appear ludicrous, there are  instances where organizations have been immobilized during the initial hours following a breach simply due to the absence of readily available contact information. 

With email and messaging systems rendered inaccessible, communication grinds to a halt, causing confusion among employees, customers, and suppliers alike. What begins as mild panic rapidly escalates into a full-blown crisis.

Commonly, people tend to associate cybersecurity exclusively with the IT or security department. However, safeguarding your company hinges on two crucial factors: the prevailing organizational culture and meticulous planning. This is precisely why some of the most pivotal players in the realm of cyber defense aren't housed within the IT team – they reside within the human resources (HR) department.

The HR team occupies a unique vantage point, enabling them to seamlessly integrate cybersecurity preparedness into the daily operations of an organization. 

Their responsibilities encompass establishing policies and processes to mitigate risks and fostering a business environment equipped to withstand foreseeable challenges, cyberattacks included. Notably, HR teams are also prime targets for hackers, given their role as custodians of sensitive personal information belonging to employees.

Regrettably, the significance of this role often goes unnoticed. Thus, sharing five strategies by which HR can fortify your business against cybercriminals.

Maintaining eternal vigilance is the requisite price for preserving our liberty to navigate the internet. The sheer volume of threats is staggering – recent findings indicate that educational institutions fend off over 2,300 intrusion attempts on average each week, while healthcare organizations combat more than 1,600 attacks. Given the barrage of digital threats, capturing them all becomes an incredibly daunting task. Yet, a robust cybersecurity culture equips an organization to counter these attacks and minimize the scope of damage when they do breach defenses. The challenge lies in uniting everyone under a shared understanding of appropriate online conduct.

To initiate this process, it is imperative to provide training tools that equip employees with the knowledge of permissible and prohibited online behaviors. Most organizations excel in this aspect. However, the implementation of this information on a daily basis often falls short.

The most effective means of ingraining cybersecurity as an integral aspect of individual responsibilities is its incorporation into performance evaluations. Rather than chastising employees for inadvertently clicking on dubious links, the approach should be constructive, focusing on how they uphold their cyber literacy training. Cyber health-check tools can be employed by workers to analyze their online conduct and address vulnerabilities (such as employing identical passwords across multiple platforms or neglecting two-factor authentication). Moreover, these tools can be harnessed to monitor the progress towards cybersecurity objectives at an organizational level.

Regular discourse on safety measures will seamlessly integrate them into the modus operandi of your business.

HR assumes custodial responsibility for some of the most sensitive data within an organization – a fact not lost on hackers. Over the past half-decade, numerous companies have embraced platforms that empower employees to independently manage routine tasks such as vacation requests. However, these third-party platforms carry inherent risks. Cybercriminals often target them through supply chain attacks, cognizant of the potential to access vast troves of data from multiple organizations. In 2021, a widely-used file transfer system fell victim to a breach, compromising over 300 organizations. The University of California was among those affected, with exposed information spanning employees' social security numbers, driver's licenses, and passport details (prompting the UC system to provide its staff with complimentary ID monitoring services).

Primary among the duties of HR professionals is to ensure the confidentiality of employee data. Rigorous due diligence is essential before enlisting the services of any third-party HR provider. Preference should be accorded to entities conforming to international standards (notably SOC 2 and ISO 27001), while online research should uncover any past security incidents associated with the provider. It is equally vital to ascertain the storage and backup mechanisms employed for your data. Depending on your geographical location and industry, compliance with data residency regulations may be obligatory.

Updating the data retention policy should be a priority for every HR department. Even if your organization's policy isn't documented, a policy nevertheless exists – the default being the indefinite retention of all data. This exposes you to significant risks. The severity of a breach is exacerbated by the volume of data at stake, especially if you retain unnecessary data. Many jurisdictions stipulate limits on the duration for which companies should retain sensitive information – typically around seven years for records pertaining to former employees.

While cybersecurity constitutes an ongoing collective responsibility, a designated individual should assume leadership during a breach. In cybersecurity parlance, this figure is known as the incident commander. Despite diverse perspectives on the most suitable course of action, decision-making authority rests with the incident commander.

The qualifications for an incident commander are succinct: they should possess a profound understanding of cybersecurity matters within your organization. Depending on the size of your enterprise, this individual could be a cybersecurity expert, the head of IT, or even an individual like Joanne from the accounting department, provided she has undergone relevant training. Regardless of the appointee's identity, their role should be pre-established, communicated clearly to your team, and ready to be activated in the event of an incident. Given the swiftness with which cybersecurity events unfold – exemplified by instances where hackers gave a mere 45-minute warning prior to disclosing sensitive information – identifying the incident commander ahead of time is critical to minimizing response delays.

Effective cybersecurity hinges on both planning and practice. Numerous studies underscore the fact that individuals struggle to make sound decisions under stress. Much like fire or earthquake drills provide a framework for emergencies, the same principle applies to cybersecurity incidents. Allocate a two-hour window annually to execute a tabletop exercise involving key personnel, simulating the actions to be taken in the event of a hack. During these drills, a designated moderator outlines the attack's nature and scope, while participants collaboratively devise their responses.

Initial attempts at conducting such exercises may result in confusion, yet this is by design. The ensuing scramble highlights deficiencies in your strategies. Over time, these drills become second nature, enhancing your organization's capacity to effectively respond to cyber threats.