We’ve finally arrived at the end of the year, and while you may be thinking about the holidays to come, now is the perfect time to do an end-of-year recap and brushing up of your I.T. skills.
Having adequate and most importantly up-to-date knowledge of the ways that bad actors may try and coerce you or someone in your organization into giving them unfettered access serves as the first line of defense and should always been taken seriously and with great care. At the Collier Clerk’s offices, we dedicate many resources into providing our employees and partners with access to as many ways to be informed of and exposed to real world security scenarios with detailed recaps and tips to help prevent would-be events from ever occurring. Three main avenues we take are: KnowBe4 Trainings, Free CollierU (Collier University) courses and materials and regularly randomized simulated email phishing practices.
Our chosen orthodox method of introducing and reinforcing general I.T. awareness is through our KnowBe4 partner trainings. These are bite-sized virtual courses consisting of videos, quizzes and interactive games that hammer home hard hitting concepts while keeping a lighthearted tone and friendly vibe. Positive feedback provided from our employees have given us confidence in their effectiveness and relatability which ensures that Clerk employees are keeping a steady and armored front-line defense against malicious attacks and bad actors.
The Clerk’s office provides access to Collier University (CollierU), a learning portal which hosts hundreds of free courses on a broad range of topics from law to computer science to cybersecurity. By utilizing these free courses Clerk employees can improve their existing knowledge or dive into brand new topics and expand their toolbelts which in-turn allows the day-to-day needs of the organization to be met more effectively.
While having preemptive knowledge is always welcome, few things can beat the effectiveness and tactility of a real-world scenario – even if the threats are simulated the processes are real. For this reason, the Clerk’s office regularly simulates scenarios that our employees may encounter during their daily duties like email phishing, spam callers, unauthorized area access and more. These tests allow our security experts to evaluate the status of our organization (the “heartbeat”) and data gathered allows for us to tailor future experiences.
The axiom “A chain lock is only as secure as the weakest chain on the link” is circulated throughout many security-focused fields and can be applied to the Clerk’s office in respect to our cybersecurity efforts. While no individual person is foolproof, having access to materials and learnings for our employees allow our organization to be as strong as possible while also meeting the dynamic needs of each department. We ask that YOU also help us by keeping your knowledge and skills up-to-date and always staying aware of what’s on the horizon as the landscape is ever changing at a rapid pace. By reading this portion of the newsletter you are already engaged, and we thank you for your cooperation.