Human Resources and Cybersecurity

Human Resources and Cybersecurity

The Human Resource (HR) team alongside the cybersecurity team can help make your organization. The role of Human Resources is very important in any organization for hiring, terminations, payrolls, and maintaining databases of the employees. However, the Human Resources team also plays a crucial role in Cybersecurity and helping maintain a secure environment. The data the team manages contains highly sensitive information such as Social Security Numbers, bank details, and Date of Birth making the Human Resources department highly vulnerable to attack. 

“Human error is one of the greatest threats to an organization”. The first responsibility of the Human Resources team while hiring is to take interviews and do a background check. People who are in the team should have sharp skills to identify if a person is lying or hiding which can cause the company’s future in jeopardy. In the second step, the team should do a reference check by calling the legitimate website or emailing in the references’ business emails. In the third step, a background check is a must to make sure if the candidate has been involved in any cyber crime or any crime before and to check how honest the candidate is.

With these steps, the company is already closing the door for possible insider threats that could be dangerous for the company. Since the Human Resources team receives and manages valuable personal information from all employees, it’s important for the Human Resources department’s technology platforms and tools to be secured.  

The Information Technology (IT) department developed and outlined the policies and procedures. To implement and execute the policies and procedures, the Human Resources department creates a cybersecurity culture for employees to ensure the expectation of keeping the organization safe and secure. By communicating with the employees about the importance of the policies and producers, the Human Resources team drives the cybersecurity culture in the company.

During the employees training and development program, the Human Resources department trains, educates and aware the employees about phishing emails, social engineering, and strong password policy. Human Resources should partner with the Information Technology of the organization to improve a better security environment for the company and to practice efficiently and effectively. Below are some important responsibilities of the Human Resources team and plays an important role in Cybersecurity.  

  • The Human Resources team should ensure that new hire candidates have not brought any sensitive data from their previous work to avoid any controversy and to protect the company’s cybersecurity culture.  
  • The Human Resources team should close the account of all formal employees and should practice the best access control security. 
  • The Human Resources team should make sure that if any departing employees are not taking the company’s sensitive data.  
  • The Human Resources team should take immediate action against any employee found not to comply with the security guidelines.