TALKING

Everyone in the organization , including employees with no background in technology or cybersecurity , has a role to play in cyberthreats .

One of the best ways to test how resilient your organization is against phishing is to send mock phishing emails to users . The emails contain links designed to emulate those that users might encounter in actual phishing content . By tracking how many users click the links , you can assess how many users are susceptible to phishing . You can also identify specific users who would benefit from more education about why phishing is dangerous .

Actually getting everyone in the typical organization to adhere to cybersecurity best practices is often easier said than done . If most of your employees know little about IT , it can be quite challenging to make them understand and react to security risks that affect IT resources and services .

Fortunately , there ’ s a secret weapon – process automation – that IT leaders can leverage to help make security a collective responsibility across the organization . Process automation is one of the most effective strategies that businesses can embrace to enforce a security-centric culture for every employee .

IT process automation is the use of automated tools and services to manage processes that occur within an organization . Classic examples of IT process automation include auto-configuring access rights for new employees and automatically generating emails to inform users when they ’ re close to running out of space in their email accounts .

The main benefits of automating processes like these from a business perspective are straightforward . Process automation saves time and resources for IT teams . It also reduces the amount of time that users have to spend waiting on the IT department to complete processes that they depend on . In both senses , process automation leads to higher productivity at lower costs .

That said , the value of process automation isn ’ t limited to saving time and increasing efficiency . Process automation can also go far to enhance security across the organization .

For proof , consider these examples of how process automation lowers the security risks associated with every user in the organization .

Process automation can help businesses fight one of the main scourges of modern cybersecurity : Phishing attacks .

You could perform phishing tests manually , but doing so at scale is unrealistic . A better approach is to automate the generation of mock phishing emails and repeat tests on a regular basis , using process automation tools .

Organizations often invest a lot of resources in securing the business tools that their employees are supposed to use .

But all that effort is for nothing if your employees use unsanctioned solutions at work – a practice known as rogue IT . For example , an employee might use a thirdparty email service that your IT department does not support or monitor . Some employees make decisions like this in a deliberate effort to circumvent corporate security controls , but in many cases , the employees simply don ’ t understand how the use of third-party software can create security risks . They don ’ t know that they are more vulnerable to phishing attacks on a platform where there are no anti-phishing safeguards in place , for instance .

Process automation can help to mitigate the risks associated with rogue IT by ensuring that officially supported systems are well integrated with business processes . For instance , if the productivity software that employees use on an everyday basis is integrated with your corporate email service such that routine emails are automatically generated on the sanctioned email platform , you reduce the risk that employees will choose to use third-party services .

The typical security team monitors infrastructure and applications to detect threats . But to gain as much visibility as possible into potential risks , organizations should do more than just monitor IT resources . They should also examine the behavior of every user within the business to detect potential risks .

Process automation helps here because when you automate processes , you create a trail of digital

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