In the first three weeks of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’ve covered security fundamentals, physical protections, and social engineering identification. This week we explore secure teamwork – securely collaborating and sharing information with coworkers, clients, and partners.
While teamwork fuels productivity, it can also open dangerous vulnerabilities if proper precautions aren’t taken. When confidential data is shared or access to accounts is granted, additional risks emerge. Follow these tips when collaborating to keep your organization’s data secure.
Cybersecurity Teamwork
With rising cyber threats, fostering security awareness through company-wide training initiatives should involve employees at every level. Cybersecurity is ultimately a team effort.
Provide cybersecurity awareness training for both technical and non-technical staff. Employees are the last line of defense against cyberattacks.
Promote an organizational culture of working together vigilantly. Effective collaboration requires mutual understanding of vulnerabilities, secure data handling, and proactive reporting of suspicious incidents.
Unifying everyone under shared security awareness empowers your company to face cyber threats with confidence. Put that teamwork to the test safely through company-wide cybersecurity drills. Training together builds trust and readiness.
Leverage your team’s collective experience and diverse perspectives on cybersecurity vulnerabilities and innovations to strengthen defenses company-wide. Turn awareness into action.
Don’t Share Account Credentials
Sharing logins is an easy pitfall when collaborating but a serious security no-no. Every employee should have their own unique credentials granting only necessary access.
No employee should ever provide their username and password to other internal team members, not even managers. Privileged account access should only be granted with additional oversight controls.
Sharing logins masks individual user activity and accountability. It also allows unmonitored access from that point on.
Stick to official provisioning channels and single sign-on to properly control account access during collaborations. Never share or use someone else’s password.
Limit Document Access
When sharing documents internally or externally, limit access through permissions to only those who absolutely need it.
Set files so they can only be viewed or edited by authorized accounts. Establish approval workflows for access requests.
For an additional layer of protection, require multi-factor authentication to access sensitive files, even internally. This safeguards confidential data from compromise if a shared login is abused.
The principle of least privilege applies to collaboration. Only allow what is strictly necessary to get the job done securely.
Sanitize Metadata
Before sharing documents outside your organization, be sure to sanitize them by removing sensitive metadata.
Metadata like author name, edit history, comments, and more could contain confidential information that sticks with files if not scrubbed before distribution.
Use built-in tools or dedicated software to purge document metadata down to only the essential visible content needed to collaborate securely.
Encrypt Confidential Files
When dealing with highly sensitive data, encrypt files to convert content to secure ciphertext accessible only with a decryption key.
Store and share encrypted versions of confidential documents. This protects information even if shared accounts are compromised or files fall into the wrong hands.
Combine access controls and encryption to collaborate securely on sensitive projects. Encryption provides an added safeguard for your organization’s crown jewels.
Confirm Recipient Identity
Mistyped email addresses or misdirected messages lead to costly data leaks. Before hitting send, always double-check check you’re emailing the right recipient.
Verify you have the precisely correct email address and contact name especially when using auto-complete from your address book.
Don’t rely on reply chains – check the To field each time. If emailing sensitive data, pick up the phone or check user directories to confirm.
Catching incorrect recipients before mishandling confidential data prevents embarrassing and damaging breaches.
Prioritize Secure Collaboration
With the right training and technology, teams can work together securely across departments, partners, and third parties.
Protecting access, encrypting data, sanitizing documents, and verifying destinations keep confidential information secure when sharing across your digital ecosystem.
Promote a culture focused on privacy and security in everything from internal file shares to external partnerships. Avoid obscuring ownership and access through collaboration convenience – stay in control.
Wrapping Up
Ultimately, collaboration in cybersecurity comes down to building a culture focused on security awareness training across teams. By unifying around best practices, establishing clear policies, educating executives to staff, and leveraging threat intelligence, your security team can enable productive teamwork without introducing dangerous vulnerabilities.
Stay vigilant together to avoid a security breach. Cybersecurity is a team effort – train, collaborate, and succeed as one!
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Q&A
The following are some variations of frequently asked questions around the topic of “How to collaborate securely?”. We hope you found the answer you were looking for and also take some time to dive deeper into ways to strengthen your cyber awareness education!
