Staff buy-in: Your company needs you
- Article 13 of 33
- SC Magazine, February 2008
All the technology in the world won't help if your employees don't follow security policies, so how can you win them over?
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Nevertheless, they can work well if you're prepared to invest in them properly. Paul King is a member of Cisco's security programmes organisation, which runs training around the world. As well as an initial induction programme that uses face-to-face training, Cisco uses e-learning systems featuring specially shot videos put together by professional video makers. “We keep them quite short, simple and interesting. There are also questions interspersed throughout, although they're not as hard as an exam.”
Cisco has an internal home page with links to take people through to the e-training videos. Using web analytics, the company monitors which employees have been watching videos. “Everyone in the organisation understands that the need for security awareness comes down from John Chambers (Cisco's CEO).” But if employees aren't watching the videos they're supposed to be watching, their line managers will be asked why.
King says the company can also tell how effective training has been through other means. A recent video on “shoulder surfing” emphasised the importance of using privacy screens when working on laptops in public places. A link next to the video took the user to a place where they could buy a screen through their department's budget. “Take-up was huge. Lots of people now have screens on their laptops. That's our measure.”
Cisco only produces a few of these videos. For the most part, it provides a constant background of security information to create a secure culture. It uses poster campaigns and newspapers among other things. A recent effort suggested employees should think of themselves as “security champions”, trying to keep the company safe.
However, Robin Adams, head of the security division at the Logic Group, cautions against relying on posters. “The feedback I get is that posters work for about a month.” Similarly, signs to remind users of good behaviour tend to fade into the background within days.
Although seminars can be expensive and not as effective in the long-term as other methods, they can work well in small companies. Firebrand offers low-level training courses that clear away jargon and acronyms - something that can creep in if security staff put on their own seminars without input from marketing, training or HR departments.
David Cole, academy team leader and senior consultant at risk consultancy DNV, suggests that role-playing works well in workshops and seminars. “There's a danger in infosec training that you end up showing slide after slide,” he warns. “But you need to make it fun. You can have training exercises and create a scenario that builds slowly over the day.”
May at Integralis uses anecdotes from his forensics career to enliven his sessions. “You get senior people turning up because they hear it's interesting. If you can add a bit of humour, they can enjoy proceedings.” He also advocates the use of role-playing: “They have to think for themselves. It's a good way of making it sink in.” Nevertheless, although he is in favour of induction courses, he considers a presentation by itself “virtually worthless”.
It could be you
Getting employees to pay attention to all these messages usually involves sticks and carrots. Annual exams can test how much has actually sunk in. Strong punishments for people who have knowingly broken security policies can set an example and demonstrate the company is serious about security. But the Logic Group's Adams says that, in his experience, painting a worst-case scenario of what could happen works “amazingly well” when it comes to convincing staff to abide by the policies anyway. “If you explain that credit-card companies might take away their ability to process cards for orders, together with the effect that would have on jobs, people really listen.” Explaining what information might be worth to criminals also helps, he adds.
Ultimately, no matter how good security technology becomes, people will always be a weak link. Ignoring this fact is, as Smith suggests, like focusing on brain surgery when the patient is dying of the common cold.
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