Cybersecurity Awareness Ideas for Legal Professionals
October is coming to an end, and with it, Cybersecurity Awareness Month, an internationally recognized campaign to raise public awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. If you are like us at Dye & Durham, you conducted several activities internally to highlight the importance of cybersecurity to your team. The theme in Canada this year, Step up Your Cyber Fitness, focused on stretching cybersecurity muscles and taking things one step at a time. It was the perfect opportunity to incorporate fitness puns while emphasizing the importance of practicing online safety.
If you didn’t do anything in your organization, don’t sweat it. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is marked annually, so we’ve compiled a few ideas to help you plan for next October. Besides, raising awareness about online safety practices should be an ongoing activity, so feel free to use any of the methods below at any point during the year.
- Establish objectives: Every successful campaign begins with an objective. Ensure you set clear goals for your campaign to avoid falling into the trap of doing things just because everyone else is doing them. Remember, organizations have different needs and are at varying levels of cyber fitness, so campaign objectives will differ. As with physical fitness, aim for sustained incremental growth so you don’t overwhelm your employees. Start with the basics to ensure foundational knowledge is in place, and then tailor campaigns year-round to increase fitness. Not sure about your organization’s current cyber fitness level? This quiz can help.
- Involve everyone: Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. A breach in your firm’s systems can occur at any level, so knowledge about safety practices should not be limited to your technology team. Everyone, from management and senior partners to administrative staff, should be involved in your planned activities. The active involvement of senior staff members can encourage participation and foster engagement among your employees.
- Make it personal: Aside from teaching safe practices, highlight the dangers and costs of cyber threats. Review real-life case studies of how breaches have impacted organizations and the employees of those organizations. Show potential losses in numbers and demonstrate how this can adversely affect the work environment. Doing so fosters a sense of ownership and makes individuals more aware of the impact of their actions. Additionally, remember that online safety goes beyond workplace practices. Demonstrate to your employees how cybersecurity matters to them personally. Give helpful tips on practicing online safety at home and on their personal devices.
- Make it memorable: Go beyond sending out emails or training videos through your corporate communications channel and think up ways to get your team truly engaged. Consider some of the following:
- Gamification: Everyone loves a good game. Planning interactive games, quizzes, competitions, phishing drills, etc., is a great way to have fun with your employees while reinforcing cybersecurity best practices. You may also include rewards to drive competition and increase participation. Numerous sources on the internet or organizations can help you set up interactive activities tailored to your organization’s needs. Make sure your communications and IT teams approve of whatever resources you use. This Government of Canada resource is also a great place to start.
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- Storytelling: Storytelling is a powerful learning tool as stories evoke emotion and help people remember things better. Create a safe space and encourage your team to share personal experiences of phishing attempts or cyber-attacks─ successful or otherwise. Sharing stories can happen in person during lunch and learn sessions or anonymously through a digital channel, depending on your employees’ comfort level.
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- Visualization: Placing visual cues like fun stickers, posters, or even short, animated video clips with simple reminders to lock screens, not share passwords, etc., in common areas around your office can be a great way to generate buzz and remind your team about best practices.
- Get feedback: The best way to measure the success of your campaign is to get feedback from your team. Ask for their opinions on if they found it helpful and suggestions for improvement. Try testing their knowledge after the campaign and compare it with the results pre-campaign. Take the feedback and incorporate it into your plans for the next campaign.
Safety Everyday
Staying safe and secure online is a crucial practice management consideration for law firms and legal professionals who handle sensitive information constantly. As cyber threats continuously evolve with increasingly sophisticated perpetrators, firms must adapt their practices to remain secure and ensure business continuity.
One way to do this effectively is by deploying a comprehensive practice management solution that enables legal professionals to handle sensitive information efficiently while reducing the security risks of using multiple software tools. Dye & Durham’s new Unity® Global Platform gives legal professionals everything they need to manage their practices, including client onboarding, conveyancing workflows, firm and trust accounting, due diligence searches, wills, cloud-based legal document storage and more – all from a single destination. The Unity® Global Platform offers top-tier security and privacy controls so only authorized users can access your confidential information. To learn more or book a demo, contact us.
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