By David Meyer, OneLogin
The retail industry is currently victim to the most cyberattacks of any industry sector, according to a study by TruShield. Retail employers often assume these attacks are the work of anonymous hackers, however, another study by CloudLock found that 1% of users introduce 75% of risk to an organization.
Too often organizations mistake security risk in a company as being primarily a technology risk — making sure you have the right systems in place — when in reality it’s just as much, if not more, an organization-wide risk. It’s for this reason that the information technology and human resources department, together, make a smart team in fighting cyber risk.
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Using these three best practices, HR and IT departments can partner together to mitigate cyber risk and prioritize cybersecurity.
1. Integrate HR Tech With Your IT Tech
A study by Clearswift found 75% of employees want their HR department to take a stronger lead on information security in their organization. Retail HR departments can take advantage of this opportunity by integrating their systems with IT systems. An integrated HR and IT system allows retailers to better control which information is shared with each employee, and to have more insight into who’s accessing what company information and when it’s happening. An integrated system also allows employers to instantly restrict access for departing employees or employees that are moving vertically through the organization.
2. Identify Suspicious And Malicious Employee Behavior
Hackers, and often disgruntled employees, are using organizations’ networks against them. Insider threats typically stem from two types of disaffected employees:
- Employees who are casually sharing company data without understanding potential ramifications of sharing that information; and
- Employees who have malicious intent with company data.
HR is often the first to know when an employee is unhappy, and IT is often the last. That being said, HR needs to collaborate with IT to alert them of “at-risk” employees, so they can monitor suspicious employee behavior and prevent potential threats before they turn into full blown breaches.
3. Invest In Employee Cybersecurity Training
The culture of retail cybersecurity is undergoing a major shift. Floor employees are bringing more devices to work and, as a result, more cybersecurity risk. Despite increasing risk, many employees don’t understand the consequences of their poor security practices.
Retail employers need to make cybersecurity a priority by implementing ongoing cybersecurity training programs and encouraging their workers to maintain good security habits. In the modern era, where employees are using every app on every device, security comes from a combination of good IT and HR systems, which protect employees and give them the right guard rails and effective cultural training.
David Meyer is Vice President of Product and Online Business at OneLogin, Inc. As a product visionary executive, Meyer has been building groundbreaking enterprise, cloud and consumer software for 20 years in close collaboration with some of the world’s most demanding brands. As OneLogin’s vice president of products, he drives the direction of the product, working with customers to build the future of identity. At OneLogin he is responsible for the product roadmap and leadership of the product management and engineering teams. Prior to OneLogin, Meyer co-founded the education company, UniversityNow. Earlier in his career, he served as senior vice president at SAP leading teams that pioneered cloud software and vice president of product management at BEA Systems, Inc.
